contributions

June 30 (Bloomberg) — Almost 20 percent of U.S. soldiers returning from combat duty in Iraq have signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, and few receive treatment because of the stigma of mental illness in the military, according to a study in the July 1 New England Journal of Medicine.
The survey is the first to measure mental-health symptoms before, during and after a war and will help authorities plan care for soldiers who need it, the researchers said. Less than half of the soldiers (…)

CAMP VICTORY — This is a transcript of Saddam Hussein’s comments at his arraignment July 1, 2004:
HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): ... Hussein Majid, the president of the Republic of Iraq.
JUDGE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): (OFF-MIKE)
HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): 1937.
JUDGE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): (OFF-MIKE)
Profession? Former president of the Republic of Iraq?
HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): No, present. Current. It’s the will of the people.
JUDGE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The head of the (…)

Associated Press — The Army’s first study of the mental health of troops who fought in Iraq found that about one in eight reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The survey also showed that less than half of those with problems sought help, mostly out of fear of being stigmatized or hurting their careers.
The survey of Army and Marine combat units was conducted a few months after their return from Iraq or Afghanistan last year. Most studies of past wars’ effects on mental (…)

While piously declaring its determination to unearth the truth about Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration has spent nearly two months obstructing investigations by the Army and members of Congress. It has dragged out the Army’s inquiry, withheld crucial government documents from a Senate committee and stonewalled senators over dozens of Red Cross reports that document the horrible mistreatment of Iraqis at American military prisons. Even last week’s document dump from the White House, which (…)

By Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist
UPON THE handing of power to his handpicked Iraqi government, President Bush said, "The Iraqi people have their country back." He said nothing about how long it will take for us to get our country back.
There are 850 US soldiers we will never get back, who died in an unprovoked invasion and occupation that was based on Bush’s fraudulent claim that Iraq was prepared to attack us with weapons of mass destruction.
We lost global credibility for years (…)

President Boooosh. We Are "In A Pickle" By James Boyne OpEdNews.com
Dear President Boooosh: We are in a pickle!
I got my Allstate auto insurance renewal in the mail. Times sure are a changin’.
Here’s the scoop. Allstate just merged with United Healthcare so they said I would have to switch my health insurance from Blue Cross to United Healthcare in order to be an Allstate Advantaged Preferred Policyholder
I called my local Allstate agent right up on the phone and a friendly, (…)

New Polls Show Venezuela’s Chavez Winning Recall Referendum
Three polling companies, including Washington DC based Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Inc., show President Chavez with majority support for the upcoming recall referendum
By : Martin Sanchez - Venezuelanalysis.com Published : 02/07/04
Caracas, Jul 2 (Venezuelanalysis.com).- According to three newly released surveys, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will survive the upcoming recall referendum on his mandate, confirming earlier (…)

By Daniel Gross
"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball," Jacques Barzun wrote a half-century ago. For decades, intellectuals like Barzun, pseudo-intellectuals like George Will, and storytellers of all types (Ken Burns, Kevin Costner) have mined the intricacies, symbols, and meaning of the national pastime to shed larger light on the politics, culture, and economy of the United States.
There is, we believe, something quintessentially American not (…)

By Anthony Boadle
Tightened U.S. restrictions on travel and funds Cuban-Americans can send relatives in Cuba are causing "despair, anger and pain" in the United States and on the communist-run island, Cuba’s government said on Thursday.
National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon said rules toughening the U.S. embargo, which went into effect on Wednesday, were aimed at destroying Cuba’s socialist society by paving the way for direct military intervention.
"This would be a return (…)

US sidles up to well-oiled autocracy Opposition activists in Azerbaijan accuse America of double standards on rights
Nick Paton Walsh in Baku
The Guardian
Mehdi, still hobbling after nine months, likened the torture to having his "brain pulled out by a magnet". Strapped to an electric chair inside the bowels of the Azerbaijani police’s organised crime unit, metal panels were put under his feet, he said. A plastic bib was tied to his front, and headphones with earpieces like the metal (…)