David Wood
Chief Military Correspondent
Politics Daily
More than 13,000 active-duty Army soldiers — the equivalent of four combat brigades — are sidelined as unfit for war because of injury, illness, or mental stress.
In an unmistakable sign that the Army is struggling with exhaustion after nine years of fighting, combat commanders whose units are headed to Afghanistan increasingly choose to leave behind soldiers who can no longer perform, putting additional strain on those who still can.
The growing pool of “non-deployable” soldiers make up roughly 10 percent of the 116,423 active-duty soldiers currently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands more Army reservists and National Guard soldiers are also considered unfit to deploy, a growing burden on an Army that has sworn to care for them as long as needed.
“These 13,000 soldiers, that number’s not going to go away. If anything, it’s going to get larger as the Army continues the [deployment] tempo it’s on,” said Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek, who heads the Army’s Warrior Transition Command, which oversees the treatment and disposition of unfit soldiers.
“This is an Army at war,” he explained.
Among these “non-deployable” soldiers are those recuperating from combat wounds, some severe, and various forms of brain injury. Far more numerous are soldiers with non-battle conditions, including cases of coronary disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, acute anxiety, kidney disease, leukemia, chronic back pain and dozens of other maladies. Sometimes, these cases are complicated by drug or alcohol abuse, according to senior Army officers and internal Pentagon documents.
The Army is struggling to diagnose and treat this huge pool of unfit soldiers, helping to enable those with the desire and ability to return to their units, and assisting others to transition into civilian life. But more soldiers are pouring into the pool than are going out, leaving the Army scrambling to house, supervise, and treat them.
“We are seeing the cumulative effects of years of war — and they are cumulative, the physical and the mental,” explained Gen. George Casey, Army chief of staff. With the growing number of unfit soldiers, the Army has been forced to send into combat units manned “at less than 90 percent…………….READ MORE
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McCain ad: No question Hayworth is a ‘huckster’
By Emi Kolawole
Arizona Sen. John McCain has taken it up a notch with another campaign ad that targets his opponent in the GOP primary.
McCain had already released an ad that in effect called former congressman J.D. Hayworth a “huckster” for his appearance in a “free money” infomercial.
But the new ad uses more of Hayworth’s own words against him. While the first ad appeared to leave the “huckster” label up for debate by posing it as a question, this ad dispenses with the question mark and includes the warning “Voter Beware.”
That phrase is a spin on Hayworth’s original defense of his appearance in the ads. “One of the staples I learned growing up is caveat emptor, ‘buyer beware,’” he said in a video Webcast, part of which was used for the McCain ad. “I think that is a given in any commercial endeavor — I would certainly hope in this one.” (After that Webcast, Hayworth issued an apology for appearing in the ad, calling it a “mistake.”)
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Justice Dept. expected to sue Ariz. on immigration, citing ‘preemption’ grounds
Immigrant advocates gather in Washington to protest Arizona’s controversial new legislation.
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Justice Department has decided to file suit against Arizona on the grounds that the state’s new immigration law illegally intrudes on federal prerogatives, law enforcement sources said Monday.
The lawsuit, which three sources said could be filed as early as Tuesday, will invoke for its main argument the legal doctrine of “preemption,” which is based on the Constitution’s supremacy clause and says that federal law trumps state statutes. Justice Department officials believe that enforcing immigration laws is a federal responsibility, the sources said.
A federal lawsuit will dramatically escalate the legal and political battle over the Arizona law, which gives police the power to question anyone if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is an illegal immigrant. The measure has drawn words of condemnation from President Obama and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and opposition from civil rights groups. It also has prompted at least five other lawsuits. Arizona officials have urged the Obama administration not to sue.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first revealed last month that the Justice Department intended to sue Arizona, and department lawyers have been preparing their case, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the government has not announced its plans. The filing is expected to include declarations from other U.S. agencies saying that the Arizona law would place a undue burden on their ability to enforce immigration laws nationwide, because Arizona police are expected to refer so many illegal immigrants to federal authorities.
The preemption doctrine has been established in Supreme Court decisions, and some legal experts have said such a federal argument likely would persuade a judge to declare the law unconstitutional.
But lawyers who helped draft the Arizona legislation have expressed doubt that a preemption argument would prevail. The law, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) in April, is scheduled to take effect later this month.
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Democratic campaign committees losing big Wall Street donors
By T.W. Farnam and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
A revolt among big donors on Wall Street is hurting fundraising for the Democrats’ two congressional campaign committees, with contributions from the world’s financial capital down 65 percent from two years ago.
The drop in support comes from many of the same bankers, hedge fund executives and financial services chief executives who are most upset about the financial regulatory reform bill that House Democrats passed last week with almost no Republican support. The Senate expects to take up the measure this month.
This fundraising free fall from the New York area has left Democrats with diminished resources to defend their House and Senate majorities in November’s midterm elections. Although the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have seen just a 16 percent drop in overall donations compared with this stage of the 2008 campaign, party leaders are concerned about the loss of big-dollar donors. The two congressional committees have raised $49.5 million this election cycle from people giving $1,000 or more at a time, compared with $81.3 million at this point in the last election.
Almost half of that decline in large-dollar fundraising can be attributed to New York, according to a Washington Post analysis of records filed with the Federal Election Commission. Donors from that area have given $8.7 million this year, compared with $23.9 million at this point in the 2008 cycle, with most of those contributions coming from big contributors in the financial sector. New York donors had given congressional Democrats almost twice as much money at this stage of the 2006 midterm campaigns, when Republicans ruled both chambers and held the White House.
Reasons for the plummeting donations include concern about the economic recovery and the personalities of the campaign committee leaders, Democratic experts say. But the overwhelming factor is the rising anger among financial executives who think they have not been treated well based on their support of Democrats over the past four years…………………………READ MORE:
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Ex-Manson Family Member Is Up for Parole Again
By Linda Deutsch | AP
Leslie Van Houten was 19 years old when she took part in the infamous LaBianca murders. She’s now 60, and experts say her 19th parole hearing offers a good chance for her to gain her freedom.
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