News of the Force: Saturday, June 21, 2014 - Page 1

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Saturday, June 21, 2014 - Today is the first day of summer; It's National Ice Cream Soda Day; and it's also Go Skateboarding Day.

Plan to aid Iraq's army was flawed

A secret plan to aid the Iraqi army in its fight against al-Qaida-aligned Sunni Muslim militants was authorized by President Obama late last year, but was handicapped by a lack of resources and mistrust over Iran's influence on the government of Iraq.

When al-Qaida-style insurgents overran the northern city of Mosul, among the war booty they seized were what they claimed were five American-made helicopters. They noted that the helicopters were still nearly new, the group said in a posting on Twitter.

Newly-recruited Iraqi volunteers, loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, in army uniforms, took part in a training on June 19, in Baghdad.

For years, Iran has been an arch-enemy of the United States. Now, with alliances blurred in the Mideast, the two countries are talking about how to stop an offensive in Iraq by al-Qaida-inspired insurgents.

And thousands of heavily-armed Shiite militiamen paraded through several Iraqi cities today as Sunni militants seized two strategically-located towns in Anbar Province.

Thirteen dead in attack on Chinese police

Thirteen assailants have been killed in an attack on a police station in China's restive western province of Xinjiang, officials say. The attackers drove a car into the station and set off explosives this morning, the local government said on its website.

Thailand slammed for human trafficking in new U.S. State Dept. report

Yesterday morning, the U.S. State Department released its 2014 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, an annual ranking of countries based on their efforts to combat modern-day slavery such as sex trafficking and forced labor.

Poland's government under fire over bugging scandal

Poland's center-right government has found its future called into question after leaked audio recordings suggested it cut a deal with the central bank to boost the budget and garner political support.

Protests in Kabul over 'election fraud'

Supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah held street protests in Kabul today as fears grow of unrest erupting over alleged fraud in the election one week ago.

Orchestrated trials for Blackwater security officers?

Defense lawyers for the ex-Blackwater security officers accused of killing 14 Iraqis in Baghdad nearly seven years ago are raising the possibility that prosecution witnesses, with direction from Iraqi law enforcement investigators, have orchestrated their stories.

Separatists dismiss Ukraine cease-fire

Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's embattled east have dismissed a unilateral cease-fire orders by President Petro Poroshenko as "fake," while nine Ukrainian service members were wounded in clashes just before and after the cease-fire began. No large-scale fighting, however, has been reported today.

ISIS aims to recruit fighters with video

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

An extremist Islamist faction operating in war-torn Iraq and Syria has released a video calling upon Westerners to join its ranks, demonstrating the group's media savvy. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) appears to be trying to capitalize on its battlefield gains.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the humanitarian situation in Syria is worsening, and the number of people needing urgent help has now reached 10.8 million - almost half of Syria's population of 22 million.

And the Presbyterian Church (USA) yesterday became the most prominent religious group in the U.S. to endorse divestment as a protest against Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, voting to sell church stock in three companies whose products Israel uses in the occupied territories. The General Assembly voted by a razor-thin margin - 310 to 303 - to sell its stock in Caterpillar, Hewlitt-Packard and Motorola Solutions. Two years ago, the General Assembly rejected a similar divestment proposal by two votes.

Cousin Jim's Thought for the Day: I believe no problem is so large or so difficult that it can't be blamed on somebody else.

U.S. Coast Guard news

One person died and five people were rescued by fishermen after a 25-foot guide boat capsized in the mouth of the Columbia River, near Ilwaco, Wash., yesterday, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The fishermen in a 27-foot guide fishing boat, the Teresa D, saw the boat capsize and pulled five people out of the water, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley. A sixth person was unaccounted for. The Coast Guard arrived in the area and found the person trapped in debris from the capsized boat. The person was unresponsive and pronounced dead, Mosley said. The five people who were rescued did not need medical attention, he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a possible missing kayaker approximately a quarter-mile offshore from the Mala Wharf, on Maui, in Hawaii.

Four people were rescued yesterday from Lake Michigan after their sailboat capsized near Tunnel Park, in Park Township, Mich.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a sea turtle who became entangled in Rhode Island Sound on June 19.

Kevin Bratland, the head wrestling coach at North Central College, will be taking the helm of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's wrestling program.

Ruth Ness has been selected as the new women's lacrosse coach at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

Costa Rica’s Coast Guard Service and the Judicial Investigation Organization seized 4,143 kilograms of cocaine on June 11 in a joint operation with the U.S. Coast Guard, as part of Operation Martillo, according to the Ministry of Public Security. The drugs, which were hidden in three fishing vessels flying the Costa Rican flag, were ultimately heading to the United States and Europe, according to Minister of Public Security Celso Gamboa. "This was a joint action carried out with the United States, but using intelligence information provided by Costa Rican authorities, and this is important to highlight, as it demonstrates the quality of our police force," he said. The Ministry of Public Security valued the shipment at about $30 million. Operation Martillo is a multinational project aimed at dismantling international criminal organizations, limiting their capacity to use Central America as a transit area. Operation Martillo includes Canada, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

And Wednesday was a busy day for the Coast Guard, serving as a warning for those hitting the water to enjoy the summer weather that has touched down across the Seacoast, in New Hampshire. Petty Officer Michael Bennett said days like Wednesday happen "every once in a while," but they definitely aren't typical. The day began around 10 a.m., with a 58-foot yacht that ran aground on the coast of Star Island after it broke lose from its moorings on Gosport Harbor. "A fishing vessel tried to tow them off of the rocks," Bennett said, adding it wasn't strong enough. A Coast Guard response boat was launched to pull it off. Bennett said the Sea Ray hit "pretty hard," but he wasn't sure how much damage it received. The man and woman aboard were not injured. Later, around 4 p.m., a call came in after a paddle boarder on Rye Harbor was unable to paddle back to shore. "The wind really picked up in the afternoon and she got tired," Bennett said of the 24-year-old woman. "With the wind and the cold water temperatures still, it takes a lot out of somebody." A 22-year-old lifeguard responded to the first, but once he got out to her, he, too, was unable to swim back. The Coast Guard launched a vessel and picked the two up about 500 yards offshore. Both showed signs of early-stage hypothermia and were treated onshore by Rye EMS. Bennett said even strong swimmers need to be aware of the dangers that can result from varying weather conditions and water temperatures. At 5:15 p.m., a report of a vessel in distress came in to the New Castle station. Bennett said a caller on the General Sullivan Bridge between Newington and Dover saw a man paddling his boat with a bucket. The Coast Guard response boat found the man's engine had become disabled. They pulled the boat to shore where the man called it a day and loaded it onto his trailer. And at 6:15 p.m., the Coast Guard received a report of an overdue vessel. A 75-year-old man had been expected back by 4:30 p.m., but no one had heard from him since he hit the water. Bennett said the man was without any means of communication, as he didn't have a radio or cell phone at hand. "We looked around Great Bay, searched his intended route and eventually found the boat in shallow water, soft aground," Bennett said. The Coast Guard pulled the man and his two dogs off of the sand and mud and brought him back to his dock. "It definitely wasn't a typical day," Bennett said, adding nice weather brings with it the likelihood of more people on the water and more people having problems with their boats. "It's rare they come in one after another like that," he said, stressing citizens need to be sure they can communicate or call for help when on the water. New Hampshire has a mandatory boating education law that requires everyone age 16 and older who operates a motorboat over 25 horsepower on state waters to obtain a boating education certificate. To sign up for a course, call the Marine Patrol at (888) 254-2125, or visit www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/nhsp/fob/marine-patrol/boating-education.

Too little known about PTSD treatment for veterans, experts say

U.S. Government agencies must do more to determine whether treatments are actually helping veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an expert advisory panel contends.

The report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee says that the effectiveness of PTSD therapies remains unknown because they are not tracked by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. "Given that the DOD and VA are responsible for serving millions of service members, families and veterans, we found it surprising that no PTSD outcome measures are used consistently to know if these treatments are working or not," committee chair Sandro Galea, the professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology, at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, said in an institute news release.

Symptoms of PTSD include re-experiencing an event (such as having a flashback), avoiding people or situations, and being "hyper-vigilant" or being startled easily. To be formally diagnosed with PTSD, a person must have a specific number and type of these symptoms for at least a month, according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.

In 2012, the defense department spent $294 million and the VA spent $3 billion on PTSD care, but there is no way to know if this money was well used, the panelists said. "They could be highly effective, but we won't know unless outcomes are tracked and evaluated," Galea said.

About 5 percent of all service members in the U.S. military health system have been diagnosed with PTSD, and the rate is 8 percent for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the report, which was ordered by Congress.

The problem is increasing, the IOM noted. The number of veterans who sought care for PTSD from the VA rose from about 190,000 (4.3 percent of all VA users) in 2003 to more than 500,000 (9.2 percent of all VA users) in 2012. Among those treated for PTSD by the VA in 2012, nearly 24 percent were veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The Defense Department and VA offer a number of programs to prevent, screen for, diagnose and treat PTSD. However, the Defense Department's treatment programs appear to be local, improvised and crisis-driven, with little planning for a long-term approach. The VA's treatment programs are more unified and consistent, according to the committee that wrote the report.

Across both agencies, the failure to track results means that they have no way of knowing if the care they provide is effective, the report said.

The Defense Department and VA need to develop, coordinate and implement a system that documents PTSD patients' progress over the course of treatment, regardless of where they receive care. They also need to conduct long-term follow-up with patients, the IOM said.

The report also said that the Defense Department and VA need to have enough mental health care providers to meet the growing demand for PTSD care. They have substantially increased their mental health staffing, but this does not appear to have kept pace with the demand for PTSD services.

In 2013, only 53 percent of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who were diagnosed with PTSD and sought VA care had received the recommended eight treatment sessions within 14 weeks, the report noted.

Among the other findings:

- The number of PTSD cases is rising among veterans of earlier wars. In 2013, the VA diagnosed more than 62,500 new cases of PTSD in veterans who did not serve in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and Vietnam War veterans made up 34 percent of new patients admitted to VA specialized PTSD programs in 2012.

- PTSD is the third most common major military service-related disability after hearing loss and ringing in the ears (tinnitus).

- In 2012, 13.5 percent of soldiers in the U.S. Army had a diagnosis of PTSD, as did 10 percent of Marines, 4.5 percent of Navy personnel, and 4.4 percent of Air Force personnel.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about PTSD.

How a Boston man quietly broke the U.S. Navy's color line

In April of 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play in the major leagues in the modern era. Five years earlier, though, another Robinson quietly broke a different color barrier, and his story is much less well known.

In June of 1942, the U.S. had entered World War II. The Navy needed doctors, and came up with a plan to fill their ranks. Recruiters hit medical school campuses around the country and offered students a deal: sign up with us, and we'll make you an officer.

"The recruiter probably never even looked at individuals," said Michael Lee Lanning, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and author of The African-American Soldier, from Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell. "What he actually probably thought was, 'There wouldn't be a black guy at Harvard. Why should I even look at that?'" But Bernard Robinson was at Harvard. An African-American man from Chicago, but raised in Boston, he'd entered medical school after graduating with honors from Boston College.

At the time, there were black enlisted men in the Navy, but they were in segregated units. Most either carried artillery, or were “mess men” - cooking food, washing dishes, and shining shoes.

And if they did distinguish themselves in battle - like at Pearl Harbor for example? "A black mess man, Dory Miller, who ran up from the mess, manned a machine gun and shot down a couple of Japanese planes," Lanning said. "He received the first medal for a black man in the war. Then he went back to being a mess man."

Lanning says the evidence suggests that Robinson’s recruitment was something of an accident - and that at least some Navy brass were not happy about it. "There’s some comments in the Washington files that talk about 'this boy.'” he said. “'Will this boy make it through school?' and, 'Will we have to commission him?'” He did make it through school. And on June 18, 1942, Robinson was officially commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

He is largely unknown today, in part, because just before he was called up from the reserve, the Navy took an even bolder step toward integration. They selected 13 highly educated black men, sent them to school in Chicago, and once they were finished their training, they were commissioned as ensigns in the Navy. Known as the "Golden Thirteen," the men reported for active duty a just a few months before Robinson. None of the Golden Thirteen stayed in the service beyond the war, but the commission changed Robinson’s life - he stuck around the military and ended up in the Veterans Administration. During his career in the VA hospitals system, Robinson served as a radiologist, chief of radiology and chief of staff. He died suddenly in 1972, at the age of 54.

In 1948, President Truman officially integrated the entire military, and by the Vietnam War, Lanning says that military units were truly integrated - not just in name - but in practice, too. African-American naval officers have commanded battleships and earned the rank of four-star admiral. And the Navy’s current deputy chief of naval operations is not only African-American, but also a woman.

Lanning says that those strides being made today are thanks in no small part to Robinson, and the Golden Thirteen. "It opened doors that have stayed open," he said. "They placed the stone of a huge wall that has been built."

Bernard Robinson, a Harvard-trained doctor, and the first black man to be commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy - 72 years ago this week.

UFO news

A Google Earth user from Newfoundland has reportedly spotted an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) - along with the alien piloting it - in the sky over Trout Creek.

And there’s little doubt that maritimers are a unique breed of Canadian, and one region forms a special pocket in the country’s larger cultural tapestry. But what about the smaller nooks and crannies hidden within that pocket, with even more specific interests and obsessions? Jackie Torrens investigates three of these groups in her new documentary Edge of East, and discovers they're more closely connected than you'd think, partly due to geography, but also by the idea of preserving something valuable. Edge of East debuts on Monday on CBC’s Documentary Channel at 9 p.m. and was broadcast on CBC-TV’s Absolutely Maritimes on Saturday, July 19, at 8 p.m. In the piece, Torrens, a well-known maritime writer, actor, director and journalist, visits Shag Harbor’s UFO enthusiasts, a gathering of steam punks at Sherbrooke Village, and the cowboy yodellers of Kings County. A trailer for Edge of East can be viewed at peepmedia.tv under "Latest Projects." The hour-long film is thoughtful, at times lighthearted, but never mocking about subjects its enthusiasts take very seriously. Torrens’ approach adheres to the motto that it takes all kinds to make a world. “I’ve done a lot of stuff on subcultures,” says Torrens, while on assignment in Fredericton. “I’ve done pieces on citizens’ patrol groups, the world of beauty pageants; I’ve investigated miniaturists, and I really like the idea of taking something that people are passionate about, that they're almost prejudiced about, and going beyond the stereotypes. I think part of that comes from growing up in this region, and having these albatrosses of regional stereotypes around my neck. There’s an idea that life out here is only about certain things, and I’m not knocking these things, but it’s not just the Celtic thing and ceilidhs and fishermen. I grew up on P.E.I., and that wasn’t part of my heritage or my family, but I was still from here, so I had this really strong feeling that that wasn’t me.” Torrens thinks of her home province as “a land of odd visionary dreamers, who build odd things in the middle of nowhere” like Woodleigh Replicas’ tribute to great British landmarks, or a Cavendish adventure park based around a scale replica of a NASA space shuttle. “I feel like I was born in a place where I can say I’ve come by my love of the odd honestly. It’s part of my heritage.” With that in mind, why not start at Nova Scotia’s own "Roswell," the village of Shag Harbor, where a brightly lit object was seen crashing into the ocean in 1967. It was officially labeled “an unidentified flying object,” and Torrens was fascinated by the way the UFO story has transformed this South Shore community. "One of the UFOlogists I talked to told me he had talked to a military diver who would not go on the record publicly about seeing alien beings working on the ship underwater,” she says. “I was immediately reminded of a scene in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, where Professor Aronnax is watching Captain Nemo and his crew working on his submarine, the Nautilus. And the conceit in 20,000 Leagues is that people think they're being terrorized by a giant sea monster that turns out to be this submarine. For me there were parallels with what the object was in Shag Harbor, and people trying to figure out what it was.” While some residents treat the UFO story as a source of fun, baking ET-shaped cookies and dressing up their kids as aliens - or “space brothers and sisters” as one believer would rather put it - for others it’s a mystery or a puzzle they've devoted much of their lives to completing. "Something did happen in Shag Harbor, that is undeniable; there are multiple witnesses who will tell you that,” she says. "And they do it in a very maritime way, where they're very pragmatic about it. There’s just enough evidence that something did happen, and the rest you have to take on faith.” The steam punks also inhabit a space somewhere between science fact and fiction, combining a goal to keep a past vision of the future alive with a sense of craftsmanship and a beautiful esthetic. In a digital age, they're more fascinated by the intricacy of clockwork and even a dash of mysticism. "They occupy all three time zones - the past, the present and the future - and they do it in a really interesting way,” explains Torrens. "I started to fall in love with their flights of fancy. The steam punk group here is called 'The Jules Verne Society,' and he was writing about stuff that didn't exist yet, like submarines, and you need to have those flights of fancy in order for real things to be created.”