http://www.usatoday.com/cleanprint/?1291531008888
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
have left nearly 40,000 U.S. troops wounded,
caused veterans' disability claims to spiral and now
brought new urgency to a legal fight over deadlines
for claims.
The Supreme Court on Monday will hear a case
testing whether a veteran — in this situation, from
the Korean War with severe mental illness — should
be prevented from appealing a Department of
Veterans Affairs denial of benefits if he missed a
120-day time limit for judicial review of the
decision.
Advocacy groups that have joined the case say the
dilemma for vets navigating the claims system is
especially compelling today and the need for
flexibility in filing deadlines even more important.
"We've seen, as you would expect, a spike in
disability claims during wartime," says lawyer
Gregory Garre, representing the National
Organization of Veterans' Advocates. "In these
conflicts we've also seen a rise in traumatic stress
injuries, psychological injuries and other problems
that would cause a veteran to miss a deadline for
appeal."
"Disabled veterans are sometimes hospitalized for
extended periods of time, beyond 120 days," adds
William Mailander, general counsel for the Paralyzed
Veterans of America. "They may not be getting their
mail and may not even know that a decision has
been made."
Department of Veterans Affairs lawyers counter that
the 120-day deadline is set by federal statute and
that it is up to Congress, not judges, to add any
flexibility.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, a former
Army chief of staff, has asked Congress to extend
the 120-day time limit for appeals by another 120
days in certain cases meriting exception. The
extension would not apply to past appeals, such as
the one before the justices.
JUSTICE BREYER: Argues for 'good faith' on court's
rulings
NATIONAL GUARD: Suicide rate alarming
NEW RULES: More troops diagnosed with
concussions
Monday's dispute arises against a larger backdrop.
It also will test a 2007 Roberts Court ruling — by a
5-4 vote along ideological lines — that curtailed
judges' ability to bend deadlines set by Congress.
That case, involving a prisoner who missed an
appeal deadline by days because of a judge's
erroneous instruction, prompted dissenting liberals
to say, "It is intolerable for the judicial system to
treat people this way."
120 days a firm limit
In the veteran's dispute, a U.S. appeals court relied
on the 2007 case, Bowles v. Russell, and declared
the 120-day time limit a firm rule barring any
judicial exceptions. It rejected an appeal from
Korean War veteran David Henderson, who was
found 100% disabled with paranoid schizophrenia
after his service in the early 1950s.
The current case began in 2001 when Henderson,
living in North Carolina, sought monthly benefits
for in-home care related to his condition.
Henderson's lawyers say he missed the 120-day
deadline for appealing the VA's denial by 15 days
because he was bedridden from the very disability
for which he needed benefits.
The Veterans Court, a special court that hears
appeals from the VA's administrative process, said it
could not grant a deadline extension for any
reason. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit affirmed, based on the high court's 2007
decision, saying federal time limits are not subject
to judges' discretion unless Congress has written
such flexibility into the law. Some of the judges in
the Federal Circuit majority noted, however, that "the
rigid deadline of the existing statute can and does
lead to unfairness."
Henderson died on Oct. 24 this year at age 81, and
his wife, Doretha, has taken over the appeal.
Washington lawyer Lisa Blatt, representing
Henderson at the high court, argues that Congress
wrote the 120-day time limit in a way that allows the
Veterans Court judges to make exceptions when
they deem it necessary.
"The overarching thrust of the veterans' disability
scheme," she tells the justices in her brief, "is
decisively pro-veteran. It defies credulity that
Congress intended to impose an anti-veteran
jurisdictional rule in an otherwise pro-veteran
scheme." She says the 2007 high court case,
involving a different federal law and different
context, should not control the veterans' situation.
In an interview, Blatt added, "This case is important
to a significant number of veterans."
The VA and advocacy groups, such as the Paralyzed
Veterans of America, estimate that the Veterans Court
handles about 5,000 appeals each year of
administrative decisions denying vets' benefit
requests. Overall, disability claims continue to rise,
according to the VA. Last year, 1 million claims were
submitted, up from 888,000 in 2008 and 838,000
in 2007.
Kagan to sit out case
Justice Department lawyers, representing the VA, say
Congress in setting the appeal deadline precluded
judges from amending it — a point they say was
reinforced by the Supreme Court's 2007 ruling.
Acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal describes
the 120 days as "unusually lengthy" and stresses
that the VA system ensures that veterans are told of
their appeal rights.
Katyal says judges should not take the matter into
their own hands and tells the high court, "The
potential for unfair results is a consideration for
Congress to take into account in deciding whether
to amend the statute."
Newest justice Elena Kagan, who was U.S. solicitor
general before her appointment last summer, will be
sitting out the case of Henderson v. Shinseki, so
only eight justices will hear Henderson's appeal.
That raises the possibility of a 4-4 split vote.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Friday, December 03, 2010
USS LIBERTY RADIO
New Internet Radio Program hosted by USS LIBERTY Survivor Phil Tourney
Those wanting to know why their world is going down in flames these days vis-a-vis the interminable, bankrupting wars in the Middle East need to know history before they can understand the present, and the first lesson that needs explaining in this regard is Israel's deliberate 2 hour attack upon the American-flag ship USS LIBERTY in June of 1967.
Phil Tourney, outspoken USS LIBERTY survivor and author of the book "What I Saw That Day…Israel's June 8 1967 Holocaust of US Servicemen Aboard the USS LIBERTY and its Aftermath" is proud to announce the beginning of his very own radio program where he interviews persons and personalities with a unique and invaluable perspective pertaining to U.S. involvement in the dirty business of Israel's wars in the Middle East and where it is all going for the land of the free and home of the brave.
Please tune in below and spread the word
The key to bringing liberty back to the people of America and to the world at large is the USS LIBERTY story.
Those wanting to know why their world is going down in flames these days vis-a-vis the interminable, bankrupting wars in the Middle East need to know history before they can understand the present, and the first lesson that needs explaining in this regard is Israel's deliberate 2 hour attack upon the American-flag ship USS LIBERTY in June of 1967.
Phil Tourney, outspoken USS LIBERTY survivor and author of the book "What I Saw That Day…Israel's June 8 1967 Holocaust of US Servicemen Aboard the USS LIBERTY and its Aftermath" is proud to announce the beginning of his very own radio program where he interviews persons and personalities with a unique and invaluable perspective pertaining to U.S. involvement in the dirty business of Israel's wars in the Middle East and where it is all going for the land of the free and home of the brave.
Please tune in below and spread the word
The key to bringing liberty back to the people of America and to the world at large is the USS LIBERTY story.
Samuel T. Cohen dies at 89; inventor of the neutron bomb
From LA Times Obits:
Samuel T. Cohen, the father of the controversial tactical nuclear weapon known as the neutron bomb, which was designed to kill people and other living things but inflict minimal damage on buildings and other property, died Sunday at his home in Brentwood. He was 89 and died two weeks after the removal of a cancerous tumor from his stomach, according to his son Paul.
A conventional nuclear weapon releases massive amounts of radiation and heat that incinerates humans and inanimate objects alike, leaving behind radioactive debris that contaminates the area for years or decades. A neutron bomb, or enhanced radiation weapon, in contrast, has only about a tenth the explosive power of a comparable fission weapon, and most of its output is in the form of neutrons — tiny neutral particles that can pass through walls, vehicles, tanks, armor and other inanimate objects with little or no damage.
But those neutrons cause severe, lethal damage to the nuclei of living cells, killing combatants quickly. Because of its limited range, however, there is little risk to civilians not in the field of battle and little or no residual radiation to threaten the environment after the conflict.
"It's the most sane and moral weapon ever devised," Cohen said in an interview with the New York Times shortly before his death. "It's the only nuclear weapon in history that makes sense in waging war. When the war is over, the world is still intact."
Critics, however, took a different view, contending that the limited damage associated with the neutron bomb would make nuclear warfare more acceptable and that, in turn, could lead to full-scale nuclear retaliation.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev called the neutron bomb the ultimate capitalist weapon, built "to kill a man in such a way that his suit will not be stained with blood, in order to appropriate the suit."
Cohen relentlessly promoted the weapon throughout his career, arguing his case before presidents, members of Congress and scientific bodies. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Carter rejected it, arguing that it would upset the existing balance of power and test-ban moratoriums.
In 1981, however, President Reagan ordered 700 neutron warheads built to oppose the massive Soviet tank force that had been strategically positioned in Eastern Europe. He viewed the bomb as the only tactical weapon that could effectively stop the tanks without also destroying much of the continent. The weapons were later dismantled in the face of widespread protests and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
France, China, Russia and Israel are also thought to have produced neutron weapons, but it is not known if they still have any.
Samuel Theodore Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York, on Jan. 25, 1921, to Austrian Jews who migrated to the United States by way of Britain. When he was 4, the family moved to Los Angeles, where his father worked as a carpenter on movie sets. Young Samuel suffered allergies, eye problems and other ailments, and his mother put him on a rigidly controlled diet, regular purges and daily ice-water showers to toughen him up, and fed him so much carrot juice that his skin was often yellow.
A brilliant student, he studied physics at UCLA, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1943. After joining the Army, he was posted to MIT for advanced training in physics and math, then selected for work on the Manhattan Project. Although he never received a doctoral degree, he calculated neutron densities on Fat Man, the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
After World War II, he joined the RAND Corp. in Santa Monica and spent most of his career there. He said the inspiration for the neutron bomb was a 1951 visit to Seoul, which had been largely destroyed in the Korean War. In his memoir, he wrote: "If we are going to go on fighting these damned fool wars in the future, shelling and bombing cities to smithereens and wrecking the lives of their inhabitants, might there be some kind of nuclear weapon that could avoid all this?"
He designed the neutron bomb using pencil, paper and a slide rule given to him by his father for his 15th birthday.
Cohen is survived by his wife of 50 years, the former Margaret Munnemann; two sons, Paul and Thomas, both of Los Angeles; a daughter, Carla Nagler of Santa Fe, N.M.; and three grandchildren.
thomas.maugh@latimes.com
Samuel T. Cohen, the father of the controversial tactical nuclear weapon known as the neutron bomb, which was designed to kill people and other living things but inflict minimal damage on buildings and other property, died Sunday at his home in Brentwood. He was 89 and died two weeks after the removal of a cancerous tumor from his stomach, according to his son Paul.
A conventional nuclear weapon releases massive amounts of radiation and heat that incinerates humans and inanimate objects alike, leaving behind radioactive debris that contaminates the area for years or decades. A neutron bomb, or enhanced radiation weapon, in contrast, has only about a tenth the explosive power of a comparable fission weapon, and most of its output is in the form of neutrons — tiny neutral particles that can pass through walls, vehicles, tanks, armor and other inanimate objects with little or no damage.
But those neutrons cause severe, lethal damage to the nuclei of living cells, killing combatants quickly. Because of its limited range, however, there is little risk to civilians not in the field of battle and little or no residual radiation to threaten the environment after the conflict.
"It's the most sane and moral weapon ever devised," Cohen said in an interview with the New York Times shortly before his death. "It's the only nuclear weapon in history that makes sense in waging war. When the war is over, the world is still intact."
Critics, however, took a different view, contending that the limited damage associated with the neutron bomb would make nuclear warfare more acceptable and that, in turn, could lead to full-scale nuclear retaliation.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev called the neutron bomb the ultimate capitalist weapon, built "to kill a man in such a way that his suit will not be stained with blood, in order to appropriate the suit."
Cohen relentlessly promoted the weapon throughout his career, arguing his case before presidents, members of Congress and scientific bodies. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Carter rejected it, arguing that it would upset the existing balance of power and test-ban moratoriums.
In 1981, however, President Reagan ordered 700 neutron warheads built to oppose the massive Soviet tank force that had been strategically positioned in Eastern Europe. He viewed the bomb as the only tactical weapon that could effectively stop the tanks without also destroying much of the continent. The weapons were later dismantled in the face of widespread protests and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
France, China, Russia and Israel are also thought to have produced neutron weapons, but it is not known if they still have any.
Samuel Theodore Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York, on Jan. 25, 1921, to Austrian Jews who migrated to the United States by way of Britain. When he was 4, the family moved to Los Angeles, where his father worked as a carpenter on movie sets. Young Samuel suffered allergies, eye problems and other ailments, and his mother put him on a rigidly controlled diet, regular purges and daily ice-water showers to toughen him up, and fed him so much carrot juice that his skin was often yellow.
A brilliant student, he studied physics at UCLA, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1943. After joining the Army, he was posted to MIT for advanced training in physics and math, then selected for work on the Manhattan Project. Although he never received a doctoral degree, he calculated neutron densities on Fat Man, the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
After World War II, he joined the RAND Corp. in Santa Monica and spent most of his career there. He said the inspiration for the neutron bomb was a 1951 visit to Seoul, which had been largely destroyed in the Korean War. In his memoir, he wrote: "If we are going to go on fighting these damned fool wars in the future, shelling and bombing cities to smithereens and wrecking the lives of their inhabitants, might there be some kind of nuclear weapon that could avoid all this?"
He designed the neutron bomb using pencil, paper and a slide rule given to him by his father for his 15th birthday.
Cohen is survived by his wife of 50 years, the former Margaret Munnemann; two sons, Paul and Thomas, both of Los Angeles; a daughter, Carla Nagler of Santa Fe, N.M.; and three grandchildren.
thomas.maugh@latimes.com
Thursday, December 02, 2010
U.S. Soldier MIA from Korean War Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Sgt. First Class Wallace L. Slight, 24, of Yates City, Ill., will be buried Dec. 3 in Van Meter, Iowa. On Nov. 1, 1950, Slight was assigned to M Company, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, occupying a defensive position in North Korea, along the Nammyon River, near a bend known as the "Camel's Head." Two enemy elements attacked the 1st Cavalry Division's lines, collapsing their perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. Almost 400 men, including Slight, were reported missing or killed in action following the battle.
In 1953, a U.S. soldier captured during the same battle reported that a fellow prisoner of war had told him Slight had died on the battlefield during the attack.
Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. North Korean documents turned over with one of the boxes indicated the remains in one of the boxes were exhumed near Unsan County, North Pyongan Province. This location correlates with the location of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment on Nov. 2, 1950.
Analysts from DPMO and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) developed case leads with information spanning more than 58 years. Through interviews with eyewitnesses, experts evaluated circumstances surrounding the soldier's captivity and death and researched wartime documentation of his loss.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of Slight's brother and half-brother -- in the identification.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Wisconsin veterans remember a frozen nightmare at Chosen Reservoir
By Meg Jones and Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Dec. 2, 2010
Korean War vets bone chilling battle
Remembering deadly 1950 battle in Korea
Pretty much everything froze - water, weapons, food, Jeeps, men.
Ask a survivor of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir what he remembers and the first thing he says is the cold: 30 below, stiff winds, deep snow, no tents or shelter of any kind. Marines and soldiers fell asleep in their sleeping bags on the frozen ground and in the morning they were dead.
They couldn't start fires, the enemy would see them. Not much to burn anyway. This went on for 17 days.
Sixty years ago this week, China's 9th Army sneaked into northwestern Korea, surprising U.S. and United Nations troops at the Chosin Reservoir. For Wisconsin's sons, it was a particularly deadly week - the three worst days of the war in terms of casualties. The anniversary of one of the worst battles of the Korean War highlights how much and how little has changed in the region where 50,000 Americans died.
The Chosin Reservoir battle was fierce, with men on both sides dying in the thousands either by enemy fire or the elements. When the war ended in a stalemate more than 2 ½ years later, the uneasy truce didn't fool Korean War veterans. They knew tensions could flare at any moment, whether it would come in the sinking of a South Korean naval ship last summer or in the bombing of South Korean civilians last week.
"I think they want to see how much they can push everybody," said Richard Bahr, 81, of Oconomowoc, a Marine whose steel helmet took the brunt of a .50-caliber machine gun round that left him without a scratch. "It would be too bad if our young men have to go back there."
On Wednesday, three days of U.S.-South Korean drills involving a nuclear-powered super carrier in western waters south of the disputed border ended. The drills were largely aimed at testing communications systems and didn't involve live fire, but North Korea expressed its fury over them. South Korea's military is also deploying short-range surface-to-air missiles in Yeonpyeong Island to bolster its defense. The Nov. 23 attack hit civilian areas on Yeonpyeong, killing four people and marking a new level of hostility along the contested line dividing the two Koreas.
That contested line was the result, in essence, of both sides blinking after three years of bloodshed.
Among the 54,200 American deaths during the Korean War were more than 800 from Wisconsin, killed between June 1950 and July 1953.
On Nov. 28, 1950, 14 Wisconsinites died; another 14 were killed on Nov. 30. And on Dec. 2, 16 Wisconsinites would lose their lives in a country whose weather was similar to what they knew growing up - hot, humid summers, brutally cold and snowy winters. Six decades ago this week, telegrams bearing horrible news were delivered to Milwaukee, Janesville and Superior, Appleton, Richland Center and Green Bay, large cities and small hamlets.
New book looks at war
Oak Creek author and journalist Tom Mueller recently published a book, "Heart of the Century 1949 to 1951," which uses newspaper headlines and stories during the middle of the 20th century to focus on the Korean War and other tensions of that era. In his book, he interviewed 15 Korean War veterans and explored the lives of six men killed there. Mueller's research showed, through the daily deaths of Wisconsinites, why the Chosin Reservoir was such a deadly and decisive battle.
"That was the week the Chinese really poured into the war," said Mueller, a former newsroom editor for the Milwaukee Sentinel. "Would one day (of heavy casualties from Wisconsin) have been a surprise with the massive entry of China? No. But three days that week and the Army's top general killed? Yes."
On Dec. 2, 1950, 12 of the 16 dead from Wisconsin served in the Army's 7th Infantry Division. On Nov. 30, 11 of the 14 Wisconsinites killed were from the Army's 2nd Infantry Division. Of the 14 who died on Nov. 28, half were in the 1st Marine Division.
Bahr served with the 1st Marines at the Chosin Reservoir, a manmade lake in northwestern Korea connected by a 78-mile-long road to Hungnam. It was this area where roughly 30,000 American and U.N. troops were outnumbered two to one by Chinese and North Korean troops.
Battling the elements
"The snow was awful deep in a lot of places. Everything froze that you didn't wear under your clothing, like food. A lot of times (food) never even got to us because the snow was so deep and because we were on the move so much. What we did get, we couldn't hardly eat because it was frozen and you had to chip it out of the can," Bahr said.
Although the American troops wore winter clothing, Bahr remembered the frigid wind going through his clothes. Guys put World War I-era canned chocolate on the ground, used their rifle butts to break it into pieces and then sucked on it for the calories.
Bill Schaub was only 18 when his unit, part of the Army's 7th Division, was attacked by the Chinese north of the Chosin Reservoir. He recalls the enemy hiding in the mountains and hitting his field artillery unit at night. Many of the soldiers didn't have food or ammunition until air drops brought in supplies.
One soldier in his unit was killed by a Siberian tiger, others were bayoneted to death while zipped up into their sleeping bags, their breath freezing the zippers, Schaub said.
"So we were told to sleep with our arms outside our sleeping bags," said Schaub, now 78 and living in Fond du Lac. "A lot of us didn't have a winter sleeping bag. We would put two summer bags together. If somebody had a winter sleeping bag and they got killed, we put him in a summer sleeping bag and kept the winter sleeping bag."
The violence in the region now isn't a surprise to Wisconsin veterans of Korea.
"Well, the war has never been over, if you think about it. It was a truce, is all it was," said Bob Kachel, 80, of La Crosse. "When we went in there, we should have went in to win instead of leaving it up to the politicians. Hopefully, we won't get into another shooting war."
Rudy Anich, 82, spent 14 months in Korea, serving in the 1st Marine Ordnance Battalion.
"The North Koreans are still strutting their stuff," said Anich, of West Allis. "That's part of the reason why I think the North Koreans are doing this attacking, because they know we won't do anything."
Of the 6.8 million Americans who served during the Korean War, about one-third are still living, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates.
Dick Kamnetz, 79, visited South Korea in September with other Korean War veterans and was amazed at how cosmopolitan the country has become compared with the mud huts and primitive infrastructure he saw 60 years ago.
The Muskego man, who was a truck driver in the 1st Marines, was impressed with the booming economy and the large number of construction cranes. He also visited the demilitarized zone, where he looked over the border into North Korea.
South Korea has "20 million people jammed in within 30 miles of the DMZ and if North Korea wanted to make more trouble, they could kill a lot of people in a hurry," Kamnetz said.
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