United States Iraq Veterans Against the War

This video from the USA says about itself:

Iraq Veterans Against the War: Decade-Old Group Grapples with New War, PTSD Epidemic, VA Failures

3 October 2014

Ten years ago, six members of the U.S. military came together to break their silence over what they had witnessed during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. They banded together and formed the organization Iraq Veterans Against the War, or IVAW. Over time, they gathered like-minded veterans across the United States to form a contemporary GI resistance movement. Celebrated its tenth anniversary, IVAW members say it is a bittersweet moment as the United States has resumed bombing in Iraq.

Today, IVAW chapters are in 48 states and numerous bases overseas. The group has called for reparations for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan — for both human and infrastructural damages caused by the U.S.-led invasion. They have also called for adequate healthcare to be provided at VA facilities, including mental healthcare, for all returning veterans. We host a roundtable with three IVAW members: co-founder Kelly Dougherty, who was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq from 2003-2004; Brock McIntosh, who served in Afghanistan and applied for conscientious objector status; and Scott Olsen, a former marine who served two tours in Iraq and was critically wounded after being shot in the head by a police projectile at an Occupy Oakland protest.

Take a moment to see all of the Democracy Now! reports on Iraq Veterans Against the War in our archive.

VA SECRETARY APOLOGIZES FOR FALSE CLAIM HE WAS IN SPECIAL FORCES “Robert McDonald, the secretary of veterans affairs, wrongly claimed in a videotaped comment earlier this year that he served in special operations forces, the most elite units in the armed forces, when his military service of five years was spent almost entirely with the 82nd Airborne Division during the late 1970s … Saying he was in special forces, McDonald said, ‘is not right. I was not in special forces. What I said was wrong.'” [HuffPost]

WHEN CHILDREN OF VETS FACE THE SCARS OF WAR “In households nationwide, hundreds of thousands of wounded parents have come home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their children are struggling to navigate the invisible wounds — traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, which together afflict an estimated 30 percent of the 2.7 million former troops. The everyday toll on children is unprecedented, advocates for veterans’ families say, because their parents have complex injuries that would have ended their lives in wars past, before recent medical advances, and suffer from the psychic scars of multiple deployments.” [WaPo]

VA MISSPENT $6 BILLION “The Department of Veterans Affairs has been spending at least $6 billion a year in violation of federal contracting rules to pay for medical care and supplies, wasting taxpayer money and putting veterans at risk, according to an internal memo written by the agency’s senior official for procurement.” Take a look at the most explosive reveals in the report. [WaPo]

35,000 VETS DENIED VA HEALTH CARE BECAUSE OF ‘COMPUTER GLITCH’ Those affected are combat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many have been waiting for more than five years to be approved. [Jennifer Bendery, HuffPost]

THE VA STILL CAN’T FIX A ‘GLITCH’ THAT’S RESULTING IN 29,000 VETS WITHOUT CARE “It’s been seven months since top officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs learned that tens of thousands of combat vets were being denied VA health care enrollment because of a computer system error. Not much has changed.” [HuffPost]

THIS VET FILMED HIMSELF TRYING TO GET A VA DOCTOR’S APPOINTMENT And it isn’t pretty, folks. [Jen Bendery, HuffPost]

Thousands of former California National Guard soldiers have been dunned for tens of millions of dollars they received in bonus payments paid out almost a decade ago in exchange for their service in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the Pentagon claiming the bonuses were unauthorized: here.

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