Monday, July 02, 2012

Violence up and continuing while oil revenues fall

Alsumaria reports that a Baghdad roadside bombing today has claimed 1 life and left seven people injured.  Al Rafidayn, citing police sources, reveals a man in his forties was found hanged in his Baghdad home last night.  As violence increased in June (over 400 people killed -- 401 United Nations count, 472 IBC count and 544 Antiwar.com count),  oil exporting decreased.

Hassan Hafidh (Dow Jones) reports that last month saw a two-percent drop in exports and that sources claim this was "due to an act of sabotage against pipelines and producing wells in the Bai Hassan oil field."  Focusing on revenues, AP states that last month saw revenues fall "by 17.6 percent" (before anyone starts weeping, the revenues for June were still $6,453,000,000).  AFP notes that Iraq hasn't seen such a low monthly total for oil revenues "since February 2011."
 

Meanwhile Mark Bentley (Bloomberg News) reports that the Turkish government is stating that its war planes have bombed "three positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq."  AP adds, "It was the latest Turkish air campaign against the rebels in Iraq since the killing of eight Turkish soldiers along the border around mid-June." AFP notes the announcement here. Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described the PKK in 2008, "The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these are now at risk."

 On this week's Law and Disorder Radio,  an hour long program that airs Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST on WBAI and around the country throughout the week, hosted by attorneys Heidi Boghosian, Michael S. Smith and Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights) and this week they address the Supreme Court immigration decision with attorney Cathy Albisa and Dr. Katherine Albrecht, author of  Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan To Track You Your Every Move with RFID,  joins them to discuss the government's efforts to microchip everything -- including human flesh.


In the US, Senator Patty Murray,  Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, speaks in Seattle this morning:



MONDAY: VETERANS: Murray in Seattle to Unveil New Mental Health Legislation
Iraq and Afghanistan veteran will share his story of having his PTSD diagnosis overturned

(Washington, D.C.) -- On Monday, July 2, 2012, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the 
Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, will hold a press conference at the Seattle Nisei 
Veterans Center to discuss her new service members and veterans mental health 
legislation, the Mental Health ACCESS Act of 2012.  This legislation comes as the Pentagon begins a comprehensive military-wide review, which Senator Murray urged [Defense] 
Secretary [Leon] Panetta to conduct on diagnoses for the invisible wounds of war dating
back to 2001.  

The misdiagnosis of behavioral health conditions has been a constant 
problem for soldiers at Madigan Army Medical Center, where to date over 100 soldiers
 and counting have had their correct PTSD diagnosis restored following reevaluation.  
Stephen Davis, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran who had his initial diagnosis of PTSD overturned, will speak at the press conference with his his wife to share his experience.
The legislation seeks to address problems with DOD and VA mental health care identified during multiple hearings of Senator Murray's Veterans Affairs Committee.  Specifically, 
Senator Murray's Mental Health ACCESS Act of 2012 would require DOD to create a comprehensive, standardized suicide prevention program, expand eligibility for a 
variety of VA mental health services to family members, improve training and 
education for our health care providers, create more peer to peer counseling 
opportunities, and require VA to establish accurate and reliable measures for mental 
health services.  More about Senator Murray's bill HERE.

WHO: U.S. Senator Patty Murray
           Sergeant David Leavitt
           Sergeant First Class Stephen Davis and his wife Kim Davis
            Michele Smith, wife of Sergeant Shannon Smith
WHAT: Press conference to unveil the Mental Health ACCESS Act of 2012
WHEN: Monday, July 2, 2012
            1:30 PM PT
WHERE:  Seattle Nisei Veterans Center
                1212 South King Street
                 Seattle, WA 98144
                  Map
###
 
Kathryn Robertson
Specialty Media Coordinator
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510
202-224-2834

 
 
 

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