Veterans Topics

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Veterans

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  • Hidden Costs of War: Long-Term Price of Providing Veterans Medical Care Could Reach $660 Billion

    Over 200,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated at Veterans Affairs medical facilities thus far, with 900,000 still deployed on active duty. A new study from Harvard University predicts that the cost of medical care and compensation benefits for returning veterans will skyrocket once those troops return home. [includes rush transcript]
    Feb 06, 2007 | Story

  • Memorial Day Special...Winter Soldier on the Hill: War Vets Testify Before Congress

    War veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan came to Capitol Hill this month to testify before Congress and give an eyewitness account about the horrors of war. Like the Winter Soldier hearings in March 2008, when more than 200 service members gathered for four days in Silver Spring, Maryland to give their eyewitness accounts of the injustices occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan, "Winter Soldier on the Hill" was designed to drive home the human...
    May 25, 2009 | Story
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    War's Hidden Death Toll: After Service, Veteran Deaths & Suicides Surge

    As of this month, over 5,700 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That count does not include those veterans who commit suicide or die from war-related issues after returning home from military service. Well, a new investigation into California veterans and active service members reveals that three times as many veterans are dying soon after returning home than those being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. According...
    Oct 18, 2010 | Story
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    Daniel Ellsberg Joins Peace Activists Risking Arrest at Protest Marking Iraq War Anniversary, Nader Calls for Impeachment of Obama

    Ralph Nader and Daniel Ellsberg plan to participate in a major protest on Saturday in Washington, D.C., to mark the eight-year anniversary of the U.S-led invasion of Iraq. Ellsberg will risk arrest by participating in nonviolent civil disobedience actions by Veterans for Peace, among others, to protest the ongoing military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. "Innocents are being slaughtered," Nader says. "Why don’t we say...
    Mar 18, 2011 | Story

  • "Soldier Suicides and the Politics of Presidential Condolences." By Amy Goodman

    President Barack Obama just announced a reversal of a long-standing policy that denied presidential condolence letters to the family members of soldiers who commit suicide. Official silence, however, has long stigmatized those who die of self-inflicted wounds. The change marks a long-overdue shift in the recognition of the epidemic of soldier and veteran suicides in this country and the toll of the hidden wounds of war.
    Jul 13, 2011 | Columns & Articles
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    Army Ranger Widow Confronts Rumsfeld over His Lies that Convinced Her Husband to Join the Military

    We speak with the widow of a U.S. Army Ranger who confronted former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about her husband’s suicide on Saturday. Ashley Joppa-Hagemann introduced herself to Rumsfeld during a book signing by handing him a copy of her husband’s funeral program at a base south of Tacoma, Washington. She says Rumsfeld inspired her husband to join the Army after 9/11, but he later became disillusioned with the reasons for the...
    Aug 30, 2011 | Story
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    Iraq War Vet Hospitalized with Fractured Skull After Being Shot by Police at Occupy Oakland Protest

    Thousands of people reclaimed the Occupy Oakland encampment in front of City Hall Wednesday after police dispersed them twice on Tuesday — first in a pre-dawn raid on the camp and 12 hours later at night when protesters attempted to retake the park — using beanbag projectiles and tear gas. Many protesters expressed outrage over of the injury of Oakland protester Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old Iraq War veteran whose skull was fractured by a projectile...
    Oct 27, 2011 | Story
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    Occupy Oakland Prepares for General Strike as War Veterans Organize Day of Action at Occupy Camps

    Protesters in Oakland, California, are launching a citywide general strike today that will include an attempt to shut down the nation’s fifth-busiest shipping port. The strike is expected to draw thousands of people to downtown Oakland, many responding to police attacks last week on nonviolent protesters with Occupy Oakland, including two-time Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen. During the strike, protesters intend to picket banks, businesses,...
    Nov 02, 2011 | Story

  • "Call of Duty: Veterans Join the 99 Percent" By Amy Goodman

    11-11-11 is not a variant of Herman Cain’s much-touted 9-9-9 tax plan, but rather the date of this year’s Veterans Day. This is especially relevant, as the U.S. has now entered its second decade of war in Afghanistan, the longest war in the nation’s history. U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are appearing more and more on the front lines—the front lines of the Occupy Wall Street protests, that is.
    Nov 02, 2011 | Columns & Articles
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    Occupy Protesters Shut Down Major West Coast Ports, Targeting Goldman Sachs

    The Occupy Wall Street movement moved from the streets to the docks on Monday with a series of actions along the West Coast, including San Diego, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, Portland, Tacoma, Longview, Seattle, Bellingham, Anchorage and Vancouver. Many actions led to confrontations with police, resulting in scores of arrests, and in some cases, the use of pepper spray and flash grenades on demonstrators. Several ports were forced...
    Dec 13, 2011 | Story