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9.22.13

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Military Resistance 11I12

Our Military Brass Gets A Slap On The Wrist For Things That Would Get Enlisted Soldiers Demoted And Dishonorably Discharged

Billions Get Spent On Programs We Dont Need That End Up Getting Scrapped, And The Ones We Need Die From Lack Of Funding
All While Our Bosses (Congress) Vote Themselves Pay Raises, And Take Taxpayer- Funded Vacations, And Dont Do Their Jobs
Letters To The Editor Army Times September 9, 2013 Regarding Nearly half of soldiers say Army isnt committed to them, armytimes.com, Aug. 21: In the past year, weve had talk of involuntary separation, cant have tattoos, taking away our retirement, taking away our medical, cutting our pay, freezing our pay, not paying us, stopping promotions, rolling back promotions, cutting our BAH, cutting our GI Bill, stopping tuition assistance, lowering standards for political correctness, higher-ups not listening and generally not caring about problems reported. And thats just off the top of my head all while our bosses (Congress) vote themselves pay raises, and take taxpayer- funded vacations, and dont do their jobs. Our military brass gets a slap on the wrist for things that would get enlisted soldiers demoted and dishonorably discharged, and they are generally immune from their own cutback ideas. And billions get spent on programs we dont need that end up getting scrapped, and the ones we need die from lack of funding. I came in looking to be a lifer. The only reason I re-enlisted past my first term was my family. Sam H Cunningham

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

3 US Troops Killed In Afghan Insider Attack, Another Wounded

September 21, 2013 By RAHIM FAIEZ, AP & Reuters KABUL -- An Afghan wearing a security forces uniform turned his weapon against U.S. troops Saturday, killing three in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, in another apparent attack by a member of the Afghan forces against their international allies. The Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier opened fire on US soldiers in a military training camp, killing two on the spot, he said. A third later died of his wounds, he added. We can confirm that three ISAF service members were killed and one wounded by an individual wearing an ANSF uniform in Gardez, said Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi. Gardez is the capital of eastern Paktia, a volatile province that shares a porous border with Pakistan and is a hub for the Haqqani network, an insurgent group associated with the Taliban. The attack took place inside a base of the Afghan army in the city, according to a security official in Gardez, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give details while the incident was still under investigation. A U.S. Defense Department official confirmed that all three soldiers were Americans, but that no further details would be released until after their relatives had been notified. NATO said the shooting was carried out by a gunman wearing the uniform of the Afghan National Security Forces, but it gave no further details.

POLITICIANS REFUSE TO HALT THE BLOODSHED THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR

MILITARY NEWS

Veteran Killed By VA Overmedication:

My Husband Served Honorably And With Pride And Dignity-- Not To Come Home And Die On The Couch
The People In Charge Said, We Want You To Sign Off On Narcotic Prescriptions On Patients You Dont See
And I Knew Immediately It Was Illegal. And The People In Charge Dont Care If Its Done Right
A dozen VA physicians whove worked at 15 VA medical centers told us theyve felt pressured by administrators to prescribe narcotics and that patients are not being properly monitored. September 19, 2013 By Jim Axelrod, CBS News Veterans by the tens of thousands have come home from Iraq and Afghanistan with injuries suffered on the battlefield. Many of them seek treatment at Veterans Affairs hospitals. Now a CBS News investigation has found that some veterans are dying of accidental overdoses of narcotic painkillers at a much higher rate than the general population -- and some VA doctors are speaking out.

Five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan left 35-year-old Army Spc. Scott McDonald with chronic back pain.

A coroners report determined Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Scott McDonald had been overmedicated and that he died from the combined effects of five of his medications. / CBS News His wife Heather said over the course of a year, VA doctors in Columbus, Ohio prescribed him eight pain and psychiatric medications. It just got out of control, said Heather. They just started pill after pill, prescription after prescription...and hed come home with all brand-new medications, higher milligrams. Then a VA doctor added a ninth pill -- a narcotic called Percocet. Later that evening, Heather came home from work and found Scott disoriented on the couch.

Scott McDonalds widow, Heather, recalled her husband getting eight pain and psychiatric medications. She plans to sue the VA. / CBS News

And I asked him, Heather recalled, You didnt by chance by accident take too many pills, did you? And hes like, No, no. I did what they told me to take, Heather. I popped a pillow under his head and thats how I found him the next morning, exactly like that. McDonald wasnt breathing. The coroners report ruled his death accidental. He had been overmedicated and that he died from the combined effects of five of his medications. Theres an overuse of narcotics, Dr. Phyllis Hollenbeck, a physician at the VA medical center in Jackson, Mississippi. Its the first reflex for pain. Hollenbeck raised her concerns with the federal government about the VAs practices about prescribing narcotics. The people in charge said, We want you to sign off on narcotic prescriptions on patients you dont see, she said. I was absolutely stunned. And I knew immediately it was illegal. It works on the surface. It keeps the veterans happy. They dont complain. Theyre not coming in as often if they have their pain medicine. And the people in charge dont care if its done right. CBS News obtained VA data through a records request which show the number of prescriptions written by VA doctors and nurse practitioners during the past 11 years. The number of patients treated by VA is up 29 percent, but narcotics prescriptions are up 259 percent. A dozen VA physicians whove worked at 15 VA medical centers told us theyve felt pressured by administrators to prescribe narcotics and that patients are not being properly monitored. I have seen people that have not had an exam of that body part that theyre complaining of pain in for two years, said a doctor who presently treats pain patients at the VA and had asked not to be identified. Its easier to write a prescription for narcotics, and just move along, get to the next patient. Were letting people come in and prescribing massive doses of narcotics and they also are on drugs for mental health problems, the doctor continued. By giving those kinds of quantities of pills, one might assume that requires a rather close eye being kept on the patient. You would think so. But it isnt the case, said the doctor. We gathered data from five of the states with the most veterans. We found they are dying of accidental narcotic overdoses at a 33 percent higher rate than nonveterans. Heather McDonald said she plans to sue the VA.

He never should have been taking those many pills, said Heather of her late husband. But he trusted his doctors. My husband served honorably and with pride and dignity-not to come home and die on the couch. The VA declined to talk to CBS News about the specifics of the McDonald case and this story.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. Frederick Douglass, 1852

The Nixon administration claimed and received great credit for withdrawing the Army from Vietnam, but it was the rebellion of low-ranking GIs that forced the government to abandon a hopeless suicidal policy. -- David Cortright; Soldiers In Revolt

Drunk On Betrayal

From: Mike Hastie To: Military Resistance Newsletter Sent: September 21, 2013 Subject: Drunk On Betrayal Drunk On Betrayal I took this picture of a drunk Vietnam veteran at the Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Portland several years ago. It was a very emotionally gripping image to take on Veterans Day. There were hundreds of Vietnam veterans at the memorial that day, who were trying desperately to hold it together. I saw many vets with teary eyes,

lost in their own thoughts of an unspeakable trauma called betrayal. It is a severe mental state of mind I call Political Incest. That is when a soldier is sacrificed on the altar of war profiteering, while at the same time being led to believe that his service was a noble cause. There is another word for this, Rape. So, how does a veteran come to believe that he or she was emotionally incested for the cause of profit? If that door is opened, and all of that painful suppressed energy is released, betrayal turns into rape rage. That is when your rage makes you want to take revenge, the kind of revenge that can destroy your own life, and severely alter the lives of your own family. That is when you become a stranger in your own country. That is when your belief system is psychologically dismantled. That is when you enter an emotional whiteout. That is why veterans commit suicide, or drink and drug themselves to death. That is when you find yourself in a padded cell of a psychiatric hospital screaming your heart out, as I did in 1980. That is when you realize that everything was a lie. That is when you write something as crude as this: The last thing I felt before I left Vietnam was Dick Nixons dick withdrawing from my ass. That is raw. And Raw spelled backwards is War. Political Incest is the unspeakable. It is the unbelievable. It is the great truth that has great silence. It is Taps being played at a funeral. It is a pastor saying at the services that this veteran suffered for all of us. Little does he understand that veterans are prophets coming home from war and trying to reveal that unspeakable truth that war is all about profits. An unbelievable amount of wealth that goes into the coffers of the rich at the expense of the coffins of the poor and working class. It is the kind of immoral greed that makes you want to overthrow your government. How much longer are the wealthy corporate monsters going to suck the life out of its

own people, and murder an unthinkable number of civilians for the lying cause of W A R---Wealthy Are Richer... When will the rest of the world finally stand up and say to America that enough is enough, that your economic profiteering massacre is destroying the earth? That War Capitalism is a piranha eating the flesh of all in its murderous path. Lying is the most powerful weapon in war. Mike Hastie Army Medic Vietnam September 21, 2013 The only thing worse than death is betrayal. Malcolm X Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T) One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions. Mike Hastie U.S. Army Medic Vietnam 1970-71 December 13, 2004

Movements Are Bound To Be Confused At The Beginning, Confused Because The Thinking Of The Masses At First Moves Among Contradictions, Lack Of Clarity, And Lack Of Cohesion, And Also Because Of The Role That Prophets Still Play In Them
On The History Of Early Christianity, By Friedrich Engels, Die Neue Zeit, Vol. 1, 1894-95 [Excerpts]

And just as those who have nothing to look forward to from the official world or have come to the end of their tether with it opponents of inoculation, supporters of abstemiousness, vegetarians, anti-vivisectionists, nature healers, free-community preachers whose communities have fallen to pieces, authors of new theories on the origin of the universe, unsuccessful or unfortunate inventors, victims of real or imaginary injustice who are termed good-for-nothing pettifoggers by the bureaucracy, honest fools, and dishonest swindlers all throng to the working-class parties in all countries so it was with the first Christians. All the elements which had been set free, i.e., at a loose end, by the dissolution of the old world came one after the other into the orbit of Christianity as the only element that resisted that process of dissolution for the very reason that it was the necessary product of that process and that it therefore persisted and grew while the other elements were but ephemeral flies. There was no fanaticism, no foolishness, no scheming that did not flock to the young Christian communities and did not at least for a time and in isolated places find attentive ears and willing believers. And like our first communist workers associations, the early Christians, too, took with such unprecedented gullibility to anything which suited their purpose . In fact, the struggle against a world that at the beginning was superior in force, and at the same time against the innovators themselves, is common to the early Christians and the socialists. Neither of these two great movements was made by leaders or prophets although there are prophets enough among both of them they are mass movements. And mass movements are bound to be confused at the beginning, confused because the thinking of the masses at first moves among contradictions, lack of clarity, and lack of cohesion, and also because of the role that prophets still play in them at the beginning. This confusion is to be seen in the formation of numerous sects which fight against one another with at least the same zeal as against the common external enemy. So it was with early Christianity, so it was in the beginning of the socialist movement, no matter how much that worried the well-meaning worthies who preached unity where no unity was possible.

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Yard Sale To Ease Military Retrograde From Afghanistan

Gen. Dunfords personal bicycle is expected to be one of the yard sale favorites. September 22, 2013 by Ross Magee, The Duffel Blog KABUL Facing the daunting task of redeploying the entire ISAF Coalition and all of the equipment they have accumulated during a decade of war, ISAF Commander Gen. Joseph Dunford has ordered radical changes to the retrograde mission, launching a command-wide yard sale this Saturday from 0900-1300. With NATOs 2013-14 budget for Afghanistan retrograde reduced from $1.3 billion to $73,000 in the aftermath of recent economic crises in Cyprus and Lichtenstein, ISAF was struggling to figure out how to get all their materiel out of the country. After nearly 16 hours of video teleconference discussions with field grade officers from across the theater, Sgt. Pando Romano, Director of Coalition VTC operations, had an epiphany, though some observers described it more as a mental breakdown. Romano leapt upon the conference table and shouted at the room full of field grade officers. Hey, slapnuts! Its just like when you PCS and you realize your wife has bought too much crap and youre going to be overweight for your move. What do you do then? The room full of field graders, who are all authorized approximately 14 tons of household goods and had never faced this conundrum, stared at him blankly. Schedule an OPT? offered one timid army Major. No! You have a fucking yard sale! responded the emotionally exhausted Romano.

I pitched my idea of having Retrograde Yard Sales to the old man early one morning, right after PT when hes in the best mood of the day, said Lt. Col. Doug Friedman, Chief of Retrograde Operations. You know, before he opens his email and reads about all the allegations of civilian casualties that are going to ruin his next 24 hours. He loved the originality of my idea and told me to implement it immediately. Friedman said Dunford even offered to show his personal commitment by selling a pink bicycle, a cat named CIVCAS-Metrix and an enormous four-hose hookah pipe that Gen. Allen had left him during the ISAF change of command ceremony last winter. This is a way for us to expose Afghans to an incredibly rich and vibrant American tradition, said 1st Lt. Amy Longfellow, a Public Affairs Officer for ISAF. Instead of bringing Afghans onto ISAF installations to sell us cheap trinkets, Pakistani rugs and fake Kashmir pashminas, were bringing them onto the compound to bid on all of the first-rate western military equipment that we simply cant afford to ship home. The prices are really competitive and the Afghans like haggling with us even though were horrible at it. NATO leaders had previously acknowledged the high cost and sheer magnitude of moving tens of thousands of shipping containers and heavy vehicles over some of the worst roads in the world that lead from this mountainous, railroad-free, landlocked country to ocean ports in Pakistan or donkey-powered trains in former Soviet republics. During the 2012 NATO Chicago Summit, officials noted in order to withdraw all NATO equipment in time to meet the end of the ISAF mandate in 2014, every Afghan man, woman, child, and beast of burden would need to personally tow or carry three shipping containers to Karachi within the next year. The buses required to ferry weary Afghans back to Afghanistan for subsequent loads would also need to be scuttled in the Oxus River. According to Longfellow, the retrograde yard sale would not only save over $1 billion, but would also enhance counter-insurgency efforts to win Afghan hearts and minds by demonstrating to Afghans our Christian-based ethos of giving. And giving and giving and giving and giving.

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

Palestinian Laborer Living In Occupied Jerusalem Forced To

Move His Family Into A Cave In Late August 2013

Israeli Bulldozers Destroyed The Small Shack That Had Been Home To His Family For Seven Years
Israelis Are All The Time Talking About The Peace, But They Wont Let Us LiveYou Can Imagine The Kind Of Peace They Have In Mind
Taxes That The People Of Silwan Pay Are Going To The Bulldozer That Destroyed Our House, The Tear Gas They Shoot At Us, And The Settlers

Photo by Vivian Calle.

September 09, 2013 By Tim Vlostek, The Palestine Monitor Khalid Zir, a 39-year old laborer living in Silwan, was forced to move his family into a cave in late August 2013 after Israeli municipal bulldozers destroyed the small shack that had been home to his family for seven years. The cave that lies beneath the small hill where his home once stood, which was once used as a stable for the familys farm animals, is now home to Khalid, his wife and five children, the youngest of which is just 4 months old. This is the third time Khalid has had his house destroyed in Silwan and has few other options for his family. I have nowhere else to go, I cant rent because Im not working right now, he says. He went on to lament that the taxes that the people of Silwan pay to the Jerusalem municipality, are going to the bulldozer that destroyed our house, the tear gas they shoot at us, and the settlers. He continued, Israelis are all the time talking about the peace, but they wont let us liveyou can imagine the kind of peace they have in mind. The desperation that led Khalid to move his family into a cave and their peculiarity of their living situation has attracted much media attention to what is usually considered an old story. The fact that another Palestinian home was destroyed in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem of around 55,000 inhabitants, is nothing new. According to BTselem, in the last ten years, 448 Arab-owned homes in East Jerusalem have been demolished, leaving 1,752 people homeless. So far, in 2013, 30 homes have been knocked down, leaving 80 homeless. In Silwan, 85% of the homes in the area, almost all of them built without official Israeli permits after 1967 due to the difficulty in securing them and their high costs, have demolition orders. The Palestinians here are losing their homes to encroaching Jewish settlements, land seizures by the Israeli national park, and excavations of the expanding City of David archeological site. The Jerusalem Municipality has denied carrying out housing demolitions in a recent statement made to the Associated Press (AP), saying they had only removed uninhabitable tin structures located in public property that is designated to become a national park. Thus, the area cannot be used for private residential purposes. News stories about Khalid and his family have been published all over the world, bringing attention back to the ongoing problem of housing demolitions in East Jerusalem.

On a recent Monday night, a group of friends and neighbors sat with Khalid, talking and drinking coffee in the mouth of the cave. The entrance is covered by a wooden faade that has a door and window and provides the family with some privacy. Inside, there are chairs, couches, a television, rugs and bedding, a gas stove and refrigerator. Everyone was waiting for a news story to air on Al-Jazeera about Khalids situation. When the segment aired, the volume of the TV was turned up and everyone sat in silence watching the piece. After the discussions continued. One of the men present, Mahmood Qaraeen, a local activist, brings up the 2020 plan, an unofficial Israeli program to make the Palestinian population in Jerusalem a minority by the year 2020. Every Israeli government agency takes their part and their goal is to get an 85% Jewish-Israeli population. Its their dream and they work hard.

Zionists Arrest Palestinian While Passing Erez Crossing To Get Treatment For Incurable Disease

09 September 2013 PNN Israeli Forces arrested Sunday evening, a young Palestinian while he was crossing Beit Hanoun Crossing (Erez) to go to Israel to get treatment for his incurable disease. Security sources said that Israeli forces arrested 25-year-old Palestinian Mohammed alBakri, from al-Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip while crossing Erez.

Al-Bakri, a father of two children, suffers from weakness in his body and unable to move. He underwent several surgeries in Gaza but they did not succeed, and doctors suspect he has cancer.

French Diplomat Tried To Bring Emergency Aid To Homeless Palestinians:

How Foolish Of Her To Annoy Soldiers Of The Master Race

French diplomat Marion Castaing lays on the ground after Israeli soldiers carried her out of her truck containing emergency aid, in the West Bank herding community of Khirbet al-Makhul, in the Jordan Valley September 20, 2013. Israeli soldiers manhandled European diplomats, including Castaing, on Friday and seized the truck full of tents and emergency aid they had been trying to deliver to Palestinians whose homes were demolished earlier this week. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini [To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to: www.rafahtoday.org The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves Israeli.]

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CLASS WAR REPORTS

[Thanks to David McReynolds, who sent this in.]

Last Year The Incomes Of Americas Top 1% Families That Took Home Over $393,941 Shot Up Just Under 20% Over The Year Before
The Incomes Of The Nations Bottom 99% Rose All Of 1% Last Year
September 17, 2013 By Sam Pizzigati, AlterNet [Excerpts] Last year, report Emmanuel Saez from the University of California Berkeley and Thomas Piketty from the Paris School of Economics, the incomes of Americas top 1 percent families that took home over $393,941 shot up just under 20 percent over the year before.

Americas really rich, families in the top 0.01 percent, saw their incomes soar by over 32 percent. The just over 16,000 families that make up our top 0.01 percent finished up last year averaging $30,785,699 in income each. And the rest of America? The incomes of the nations bottom 99 percent rose all of 1 percent last year. Since 2009, bottom 99 percent incomes have barely bumped up at all, just 0.4 percent on average, after taking inflation into account. Emmanuel Saez has a stat that puts the matter even more starkly. Americas top 1 percent, he notes, has captured 95 percent of all income gains over the first three years of the recovery. Overall, since 1993, top 1 percenters have grabbed just over two-thirds of total family income growth. This massive surge at the top has no surprise significantly hiked the share of national income thats flowing into the pockets of Americas most comfortable. For most of the middle of the 20th century, Americas most affluent 1 percent took in less than $1 of every $10 in national income. In some of these years, the top 1 percent share even dipped under 9 percent. Those days now come across as almost mythic ancient history. In 2007, the year before the Great Recession hit, the share of the nations income the top 1 percent claimed hit 23.5 percent, or nearly $1 out of every $4. This top 1 percent share did dip with the Great Recession, down to 18.1 percent in 2009. But the recovery for the rich has since then been almost total. Last year, the top 1 percent income share jumped back to 22.5 percent. We have come, as a nation, almost full circle back to the deeply unequal America of the late 1920s. And this reality has insightful observers like the Atlanta Journal-Constitutions Jay Bookman deeply worried. The nations most affluent 10 percent, Bookman notes, took in just a third of the nations income four decades ago. The top tenth last year, for the first time ever, took in over half the nations income dollars.

Police Brutality In Houston Goes Unpunished:

The Scenario Of Multiple Officers Beating An Unarmed Suspect Happens Nearly Every Day
Brian Claunch Was Mentally Ill And Had Only One Arm And One Leg
Claunch Was Shot Because He Allegedly Threatened An Officer With A Ballpoint Pen

September 4, 2013 by Emily DePrang, Texas Observer [Excerpts] According to citizens, community activists, a veteran Houston police officer and even the president of the local police union, the scenario of multiple officers beating an unarmed suspect happens nearly every day. Whats rare is for the Houston Police Department to punish its officers for excessive force.

An eight-month Texas Observer investigation found that during the past six years, Houston civilians reported officers for use of forcethe departments term for police brutality588 times. The Internal Affairs division investigated each complaint and dismissed all but four. More surprisingly, HPD rarely believes even its own officers when they claim to have witnessed unjustified violence against citizens. In the same period, Houston cops reported other officers for excessive force 118 times. Internal Affairs dismissed all but 11. In total, Internal Affairs sustained just 15or 2 percentof the 706 police abuse complaints the past six years, according to department records the Observer obtained through public information requests. In at least 10 of the 15 sustained complaints, the incident was videotaped. Many sayand internal documents suggestthat videotaped beatings have prompted Houston cops to aggressively prevent citizens from recording their behavior. But beatings take time. They make noise. Witnesses can gather and start filming. Shootings, on the other hand, are fast. Theyre usually over as quickly as they begin, which may be one reason why, in the past six years, not a single Houston police officer has been disciplined for shooting someone. Between 2007 and 2012, HPD officers were involved in 550 incidents in which either a citizen or animal was injured or killed by a police officers bullet, according to agency records. Internal Affairs investigated each incident and determined that every single shooting was justified. Some of these civilians were armed. Others werent.

Another Citizen Killed By HPD In 2012 Was A Wheelchair-Bound Man

Mark Ames, 23, was unarmed and fleeing when he was shot and injured. Yoanis Vera, 26, was also unarmed when he was wounded. Kenneth Releford was unarmed, but HPD says he charged at an officer while keeping one hand behind his back. Releford, 38, was killed. All of those cases are from 2012. Another citizen killed by HPD in 2012 was a wheelchair-bound man.

Brian Claunch was mentally ill and had only one arm and one leg. Claunch was shot because he allegedly threatened an officer with a ballpoint pen. Out of 706 complaints about excessive force, HPD disciplined only 15 officers. For 550 shootings, HPD disciplined none. The message is clear: Either Houston police almost never abuse their power, or they abuse it with impunity. In 2011, local news station ABC-13 KTRK aired security camera footage of a dozen HPD officers punching and kicking an unarmed 15-year-old burglary suspect named Chad Holley. The video sparked outrage. National news outlets aired it and community organizers rallied around it as proof that Houston police officers abuse their power. Even the chief of police, Charles McClelland, said publicly that the video made me sick to my stomach because it was an egregious use of force. Twelve officers were disciplined for the Chad Holley beating, seven of whom were fired. Three of those later got their jobs back through arbitration. (For more on HPDs flawed discipline system, see Crimes Unpunished, in the Observers July issue.) Four of the fired officers were also indicted for misdemeanor official oppression. One was found not guiltyan all-white jury decided in May 2012 that Andrew Blomberg was not stomping on Holleys hands but was trying to lift them with the back of his footone was found guilty and the other two pleaded no contest. All three received probation. In many cases, the presence of video appears to determine whether a use-of-force complaint is sustained or dismissed. One jail attendant, Roy Ferrer, had four complaints about use of force dismissed before cameras caught him seizing a handcuffed prisoner by the throat, forcing him to the ground, and kneeing him in the kidneys. That complaint was sustained. Ferrer received a 15-day suspension, according to department records. Adam Anweiler received two excessive force complaints within a year of each other shortly after joining the Houston Police Department as a jailer; both were dismissed. Then a surveillance camera recorded Anweiler striking a prisoner in the groin, slamming the mans face into the concrete, and twisting his arm until his shoulder dislocated and his arm broke. Anweiler was fired. His supervisor, Captain Douglas Perry Jr., was also disciplined. After an employee reported Anweilers assault, Perry sent a letter to his superiors stating, I have completed a thorough review of this incident that included reviewing all relevant documents and watching the video and Im confident that all Jail Policies were followed and no further actions is needed.

Internal Affairs disagreed. When investigators asked Perry why he hadnt reported the abuse, he claimed the lieutenant with whom he watched the video had somehow skipped over the portions that included the beating, according to HPD records. He was suspended seven days. Officer Angela Horton was simply unlucky. Unaware that she was being filmed by a news helicopter, Horton sucker-punched a handcuffed teenager in the face as another officer led him away. In her official statement, Horton claimed she did not punch the teen but merely pushed his face. Because the suspect was sweating profusely from trying to elude us, she wrote, my hand slid off of his face. Horton lost her job. Through open records requests, the Observer obtained documentation on 11 of the 15 complaints about use of force sustained in the last six years. All but one of those incidents were recorded. Perhaps the most distressing part is not how many complaints about excessive force the Houston Police Department receives or how few it sustains, but what happens to all the ones they dismiss. If a complaint is not sustained, it disappears. The complaint, and its investigation, cant be reviewed by anyone outside HPD or another qualified government agency. Even with all identifying information redacted, members of the public cant read what a complainant, witness, or officer said about an incident. Thats because Texas Local Government Code allows Houston and other large cities to withhold information about a charge of misconduct not supported by sufficient evidence. Because Internal Affairs decides what constitutes sufficient evidence, Jimmy says, the department has total latitude in cases that dont involve, for example, publicly broadcast video of an incident. One of the ways HPD justifies keeping all un-sustained complaints secret is by pointing to the Independent Police Oversight Board. The board comprises four panels of citizens who review every serious or criminal complaint against Houston officers and every allegation of citizen mistreatment. After an investigation is complete, HPD makes the file available to one of the four oversight board panels, which meets to discuss the case. If the panel finds something lacking in the investigation or disagrees with the conclusion, it sends the case back to Internal Affairs, which is required to issue a response. But thats the end of it. The Independent Police Oversight Board doesnt review cases a second time to see if its concerns were addressed, and Internal Affairs isnt obligated to do anything the board asks. Theyre not in the chain of command, explains Executive Assistant Chief Michael Dirden, HPDs liaison to the board. Its not a civilian review board with subpoena power and investigative power or anything like that.

If an oversight board member feels a case is being mishandled, the boards charter says he or she should report the case to the citys inspector general. But the inspector general, whose office is responsible for investigating city employee misconduct, has no jurisdiction over HPD. Firefighters, yes, the mayor, yes, but Houston police are explicitly exempt. The inspector general cant investigate alleged wrongdoing. He or she can only urge the police to do so. Under the City of Houston system, Dirden says, no oneneither the (oversight board) nor the inspector general or anybodycan tell the chief of police, You know, we dont like this and youre going to change it. No one has that authority.

In The Other Two Cases, HPD Officers Killed People

In December 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would review six incidents in which Houston police officers used force against unarmed citizens. Prevots arrest was one; Holleys beating was another; Angela Hortons face-push was a third. Fourth was Anthony Childress, who says a group of officers stopped him while he was riding his bike and beat him so severely that he lost six teeth and needed 56 stitches. Childress filed an excessive force complaint that was dismissed. In the other two cases, HPD officers killed people. When Officer J. McGowan arrived at a reported assault in progress in July 2012, she didnt know that Rufino Lara was the victim. The officer saw him walking away and followed him, ordering him to stop and show his hands. Witnesses say Lara, 54, turned around with his hands already in the air. McGowan says one hand was tucked into Laras waistband. Wherever Laras hands were, McGowan shot him dead. In his waistband, she found a beer. Brian Claunch made violent threats against the officers who came to his home in September 2012 on a disturbance call. Claunch, 45, lived in a residence for disabled men with mental illness. He suffered from schizophrenia and was confined to a wheelchair because he had only one arm and one leg. Yet according to HPD, Claunch backed an able-bodied officer into a corner and jabbed at her with a shiny object. Officer Matthew Marin came to his partners aid and killed Claunch with one shot. The object in Claunchs hand turned out to be a pen. HPD says the case is still under investigation, but a grand jury has already cleared Marin of any wrongdoing.

HPD records consider Brian Claunch to have been armed. The department counts his pen as a weapon. But 49 of the people Houston officers fired on during the past six years were unarmed, even by HPD standards. Thats one in five. In most cases, the reason the department gave for officers firing on unarmed citizens was posturing. The news releases that accompany each HPD shooting use a specific vocabulary to justify the ones in which a suspect is unarmed. The officer saw several suspicious males in an area known for narcotics activity. The officer saw someone who matched the description of a suspect wanted elsewhere. The suspect made furtive motions, or aggressively confronted the officer with one hand behind his back as if he was holding a weapon. Most often, though, the suspect appeared to place his hands down the front of his pants or began to make movements around his waistband or reached into his waistband, as if he was retrieving a weapon. Why so many unarmed men would rummage in their pants at a moment of crisis is never addressed. In one case, an off-duty officer saw a man walking up his driveway and suspected him a car thief. The officer says he grabbed his service weapon and ordered the man to show his hands but the man instead began running at him with his hands concealed in his pockets. The officer fired several shots. Because the suspect escaped, he must have charged the officer, hands in pockets, despite seeing the gun and hearing commands, then made a U-turn after the officer fired and dashed away. No matter the reason an officer gives for firing, its always enough for Internal Affairs and the Homicide Division, which investigate every discharge of a service weapon. In the past six years, HPD officers killed citizens in 109 shooting incidents and killed animals in 225 incidents. In 112 shootings, officers wounded citizens; in another 104, they wounded animals. Of 550 shooting incidents with some kind of casualty, not one was found unjustified.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

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[THEY STOPPED AN IMPERIAL WAR]

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