Target Centermass

Day: March 24, 2005

  • DoD Gives New Health Insurance to Reserves

    Here’s a bit of good news for members of the National Guard and Reserve components activated or facing activation. It’s surprising, but something like this has slipped by for so long.

    A new health care plan, with coverage comparable to that enjoyed by federal employees under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance plan, will be available to eligible members of the National Guard and Reserve and their families April 25, Defense Department officials announced today at the Pentagon.

    The new plan, called Tricare Reserve Select, will serve as a bridge for reserve component members entering or leaving active duty who are not covered by civilian employer or other health insurance plans. It applies to all reserve component personnel who have been activated since Sept. 11, 2001, and who agree to continued service in the Selected Reserve. The coverage will be applied retroactively, officials said.

    Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Charles Abell, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Thomas Hall, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. William Winkenwerder announced the plan at a Pentagon news conference.

    “We are committed,” Abell said, “to providing the proper combination of compensation and benefits that will allow us to attract and retain the world’s best fighting force.”

    Abell said that while large numbers of National Guard and Reserve members have health insurance through their employers, the department “recognizes the importance of maintaining a continuity of care as they transition from their employers to serve with us and then back, as well as the need for some of them who may be self-employed or who work for small businesses to have health coverage.”

    […]

    Winkenwerder praised the members of the National Guard and Reserve. “They have shouldered a tremendous share of the global war on terror in which we are deeply engaged,” he said, “and they have performed exceptionally well.

    “They mobilized and deployed side by side with active duty forces, many serving in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Winkenwerder continued. “They served with pride and loyalty. And while we have, in the past, offered full healthcare benefits for these servicemembers, and for their families, this change will shortly offer a more comprehensive benefit for transition back to private life, and, importantly, the opportunity for those who have served in contingency operations, the option for obtaining Tricare coverage on a longer term at very attractive rates.”

    I also wanted to blog this because Winkerwerder is a funny name, and I’m not above that (the name Jihad Ballout still makes me chuckle).

  • U.S. Death Rate Down in Iraq Since Elections

    Progress. Slow but steady progress.

    The rate of U.S. deaths in the Iraq war has fallen sharply since the historic January elections as American military leaders tout progress against the insurgency but warn of a long road ahead.

    March is on pace for the lowest monthly U.S. military death toll in 13 months, and the rate of American fatalities has fallen by about 50 percent since the parliamentary elections in which millions of Iraqis defied insurgents to cast ballots.

    Defense analysts noted that while violence aimed at U.S. forces has declined in the 7 1/2 weeks since the election, insurgent attacks on Iraqis have escalated. They added that previous lulls in attacks on U.S. forces in the two-year war have been followed by intense periods of violence.

    “We have seen a downward trend in attacks,” Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said on Thursday, calling the elections a turning point.

    “There’s still a very good chance that they (insurgents) can do some spectacular events. But the situation does get better each day, all the time,” Boylan added.

    At the current pace, the U.S. military death toll in March will reach about 35. That would be the lowest monthly death toll since 20 U.S. troops died in February 2004, the smallest count of the war. But that proved to be a temporary lull followed some of the most bloody months of the war that spring.

    Analyst Charles Pena said gauging the progress of the war against insurgents is months, if not years, away.

    “I think what you get is a mixed picture in Iraq,” said Pena of the Cato Institute. “Whatever progress we’re making in terms of violence against U.S. troops, it is being offset by violence against Iraqis and Iraqi security forces.”

    Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, seemed to agree.

    “The average counter-insurgency in the 20th century was about nine years, so it takes time to snuff out the insurgency. And also, I think you know, most insurgencies are defeated by political means rather than necessarily by military means,” Casey said in Washington earlier this month.

    Since the election, the rate of U.S. military fatalities in Iraq has been about 1.7 per day, compared to about 3.4 per day from November to election day — a 50 percent drop. It is also about one-fifth lower than the rate experienced from the start of the war until the election.

    November through January marked one of the bloodiest periods of the war for U.S. forces, with the Falluja offensive in November and insurgents staging a deadly series of attacks before the election. The 137 U.S. troops killed in November was the highest monthly toll of the war, and the 107 killed in January was the third highest.

    The official Pentagon count released on Thursday listed 1,519 U.S. military deaths since the March 2003 invasion to topple President Saddam Hussein. It said another 11,442 U.S. troops have been wounded.

    Casey said he was not ready to declare the elections a “tipping point” toward victory.

    “We’re in a good position following the elections, but … we have a lot of work ahead to get to our final objective in Iraq,” Casey said.

    Here’s a graphical representation that agrees (current month figures are latest projected), from GlobalSecurity.org. Please note the the two largest spikes (APR 04 and NOV 04) were during American offensives and the third largest (JAN 05) was when the terrorists failed to stop the elections.

    US KIA as of 24-MAR-05

    Note, the mission continues. It is not accomplished, but it is progressing.

    I say again for the dense, the mission continues.

  • Kyrgyz Opposition Sieze Power

    The dominoes keep falling, and this time things may be coming up tulips.

    Demonstrators in the central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan have siezed that country’s seat of government and forced the country’s long-time president to flee his office, political observers and reporters in the nation’s capital of Bishkek tell CNN.

    It was what amounted to a swift and popular shift of power.

    Opposition leaders are attempting to establish a smooth, stable transition after a day of passionate demonstrations that led to the toppling of the Ashkar Akayev government.

    “The Akayev government, for intents and purposes, is no longer in charge,” a Western source told CNN.

    “I’d say the new government is in the process of being formed. The leaders of the opposition realize they need to put together a regular, working government for the Kyrgyz people.”

    There are reports that Akayev, his family and his advisers have left the country.

    As usual of late for the region, Publius Pundit is all over the story, as Daniel Berczik has put together a nice collection of related links and analysis.

    Don’t go popping the champagne corks just yet, though, as some see the upheaval in Kyrgyzstan as an opportunity for radical Islamists.

    Although the Bush administration supports pro-democracy movements, the turmoil in the region also has created a potentially dangerous opening for extremist Islamic parties.

    Hizb ut-Tahrir, or the Party of Liberation, has a following among the young in Central Asia. It has called for Islamic rule to replace secular governments and unite the Muslim world. And its pamphlets criticize U.S. bases established in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to support the war on terror.

    A senior Western diplomat in Tajikistan confirmed that Hizb ut-Tahrir’s influence is growing across the region, particularly among the young who are looking for alternatives to what they perceive as corrupt, totalitarian regimes with links to the Soviet past.

    The United States has not declared Hizb ut-Tahrir a terrorist organization because it does not advocate violence, but the diplomat said some of its literature is virulently anti-American and anti-Semitic and could inspire violence.

    We are truly living in interesting times.

  • US Deserter Denied Canada Asylum

    I blogged in December about Jeremy Hinzman, the coward who had deserted his comrades as they went to Iraq, instead applying in Canada for refugee status. Well, Canada’s decision was handed down today, and Hinzman’s hopes of staying yellow in the Great White North were denied.

    A former US soldier who quit the army in protest against the Iraq war has been denied refugee status in Canada.

    Jeremy Hinzman, 26, was the first to receive an answer from a number of US deserters seeking Canadian residency.

    Mr Hinzman, who served in Afghanistan in a non-combat role, left the 82nd Airborne Regiment when he was deployed to Iraq.

    Correspondents say the decision may affect eight other ex-servicemen, but improve Canadian-US relations.

    In its judgement Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board said Mr Hinzman had not convinced its members that he would face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment if he were sent back to the US.

    Board member Brian Goodman wrote in the judgement: “The treatment does not amount to a violation of a fundamental human right, and the harm is not serious.”

    Mr Hinzman’s lawyer said he planned to appeal, and that they remained confident of success.

    “He is disappointed. We don’t believe that people should be imprisoned for doing what they believe is illegal,” Jeffry House told Canadian TV.

    Man, I really hope that is a misquote.

    Mr House also settled in Canada after dodging the US military draft during the Vietnam War.

    Well, maybe it’s not.

    If Mr Hinzman’s appeal is not successful, his final option would be a direct plea to Canada’s immigration minister for leave to remain on compassionate grounds.

    He faces up to five years in prison if he fails and is returned to the US.

    Mr Hinzman fled his unit in January 2004, shortly before the 82nd Airborne was due in Iraq.

    He had served three years in the army, but had asked to be classified as a conscientious objector ahead of deployment to Afghanistan in 2002.

    Mr Hinzman now lives with his wife and young son in Toronto, where his case has been championed by Quakers and anti-war activist groups.

    I have little sympathy for a volunteer who runs out on his fellow soldiers. Okay, maybe a touch of sympathy, as I’ll stand by my original conclusion from December:

    Should any such deserters elect to return, I would like to see Hinzman and his ilk given a choice: prison or finish service in one of the historical roles of conscientious objector, such as a medic or chaplain’s assistant. See, I have a heart, especially for Quaker Buddhists.

    See, I have a heart.