The war in Iraq– now into the sixth year – is taking a grave toll on our troops and their families, our military readiness, the fight against terrorism, our standing in the world, and on the American economy. The hundreds of thousands of brave men and women in uniform serving in Iraq – and their families – deserve reasonable rotations out of combat and a plan to responsibly redeploy from Iraq. The New Direction Congress has enacted the largest veterans’ health care funding increase in history, and continues to work to rebuild our ability to respond to or deter threats around the globe.
Key Iraq Stories – Thursday, June 19th
1. GI Bill compromise could be approved today – Army Times
2. Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back – New York Times
3. Disabled Sent Back To War – Military.com
4. Survey says 500,000 Iraqis fled fighting in 2007 – AP
5. Iraq fuel deal sparks suit – NBC
GI Bill compromise could be approved today – Army Times
By Rick Maze
A GI Bill compromise that includes better education benefits and the opportunity for career service members to transfer those benefits to their family members has been agreed to by the White House and congressional negotiators for inclusion in the 2008 emergency war funding bill.
The House of Representatives could approve the measure as early as today.
The GI Bill deal melds the 21st Century GI Bill of Rights with a Pentagon alternative to create an improved benefits plan that covers full tuition and fees for someone attending a four-year public college or university, a monthly living allowance and an annual book allowance. It also allows those who serve six years or longer to share their GI Bill benefits with spouses or children.
Full details of the benefits plan were not released Wednesday night when House Democratic leaders announced the deal.
As outlined, the agreement represents a compromise for many of the key players in the two-year debate over improving GI Bill benefits.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., the chief sponsor of the 21st Century GI Bill of Rights, opposed giving service members the right to transfer benefits to their family members. The Pentagon opposed GI Bill payments above roughly $1,900 a month, arguing that too-generous benefits would spur people to leave the military.
While benefits would vary from state to state, average payments under the new agreement would be about $3,000 a month, with about $1,500 for tuition and fees and about $1,450 for living expenses, plus the annual book allowance.
Also compromising on the deal are fiscally conservative Democrats, known as Blue Dog Democrats, who had demanded that the plan also include a way to pay for the improved benefits.
With the addition of transfer rights, the cost of the 21st Century GI Bill rises to about $62 billion over 10 years, but the agreement mentions no specific way to cover the cost. Instead, GI Bill benefits, like the cost of the war, are considered emergency spending that does not count against any budgetary limits.
The war supplemental funding bill includes about $165 million for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, enough to cover costs through about June 2009, depending on the pace of operations, the rotation schedule and the number of troops deployed at any one time.
Defense and service officials have been warning lawmakers for months that they are on the brink of running out of money, leading the key congressional committees responsible for approving the military budget to permit shifting money between accounts to temporarily have essential costs covered.
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back – New York Times
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.
The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.
The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production…
Disabled Sent Back To War – Military.com
Disabled Soldier Returning To War, Facing ‘Stop Loss’
By Tom Philpott
One day last August, while manning the .50-caliber gun atop his a Humvee on a dirt road in northern Iraq, Army Spc. Daniel “Joey” Haun suddenly lost consciousness. His vehicle had struck by a buried bomb, an “improvised explosive device.” Haun was ejected, his vehicle flipped over.
On impact with the ground, Haun’s left hand was driven up toward his forearm, crushing his wrist. The surgeon who rebuilt the wrist, using a metal plate and screws, told Haun last year that his infantry days were over.
The blast also blew out Haun’s right ear drum, which required surgery to partially restore his hearing. That surgeon warned him to avoid sustained exposure to any loud noises or risk having to wear a hearing aid.
As to head injuries, a neurologist diagnosed the 24-year-old with post concussive syndrome and mild traumatic brain injury, the likely cause of his daily headaches since the attack. Finally, a psychologist urged Haun to get counseling for his post-traumatic stress symptoms or they could devolve into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a more debilitating condition. So while recuperating in a wounded warrior unit at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Haun regularly saw a psychologist. He takes the drug Tramadol for his migraine headaches and Elavil, an anti-depressant, to ease his stress.
Adding to Haun’s stress is this surprising news: he’s returning to Iraq.
Though Haun expected to be separated or retired on disability, Army doctors have cleared him for transfer back to his infantry unit, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. Rather than appearing before a medical evaluation board, Haun will rejoin 3rd Brigade which is to redeploy this fall to Iraq after only a year back home. Also, because Haun’s 39-month enlistment doesn’t end until January, Haun will have to stay in Iraq under a “stop loss” order. His active service time will be involuntarily extended by at least nine months…
Survey says 500,000 Iraqis fled fighting in 2007 – AP
By WILLIAM C. MANN
A half-million Iraqis fled their embattled country in 2007, the third consecutive year more Iraqis were displaced than any other nationality, a survey of the world’s refugees reported Thursday.
As before, most went to neighboring Syria, and some fanned out into other neighboring countries, the survey by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants said. It said the United States accepted few, just over half the 3,000 it had promised to resettle by the end of September.
The report said the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees had referred 10,000 Iraqis for U.S. resettlement.
It said the Iraqi exodus “from the violence and instability of their homeland” constituted “the largest refugee crisis of 2007.”
“While the Bush administration and the United Kingdom are busy trying to win the war, they have provided no leadership toward ensuring the rights and well-being of the victims of this war,” the report said. “Europe, which for the most part warned of the dire humanitarian consequences of the war, has also done nothing to help the people they were so concerned about.”…
Iraq fuel deal sparks suit – NBC
McCain fundraiser sued by partner in lucrative contract with U.S. military
By Aram Roston
Editor’s note: NBC News has learned that this story has sparked a congressional investigation. Click here to read more.
A little-noticed civil lawsuit in Florida is shining a light on an unusual but hugely profitable Pentagon contract to ship millions of gallons of aviation fuel to U.S. bases in Iraq through the kingdom of Jordan.
The deal involves a cast of influential characters, including the king of Jordan’s brother-in-law, who is suing Harry Sargeant III, a top Florida-based fundraiser for Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid.
Sargeant is a Florida businessman and former Marine Corps pilot hailed by the McCain campaign as a “Trailblazer” for raising $100,000 or more in political donations. Through a company called International Oil Trading Co., or IOTC, Sargeant and a partner have a lucrative contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year to supply American military forces in Iraq with fuel, especially aviation fuel. The firm ships the fuel to Jordan and then trucks it across the border, where U.S. forces escort the convoys to air bases.
Sargeant’s IOTC has experienced phenomenal growth since the Iraq war started, transforming itself from an unknown business in 2004 to a major Pentagon contractor in only a few years…
