A few stories related by Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh ( he broke the My Lai story in the sixties, and more recently Abu Ghraib) highlighted for me the things we don't hear about what's going on in Iraq. Things like his friend, an Air Force Colonel, who's job is to be "...an urban bombing planner, planning urban bombing, to make urban bombing be as unobtrusive as possible..." prior to this weekend's elections. Or like the mother who says of her son who's returned from Iraq: "I gave them a good boy. And they sent me back a murderer."

Check out the links below for some items you won't hear much about on Fox or CNN, or check out The Coming Wars: What the Pentagon can now do in Secret at the New Yorker, or Seymour Hersh: We've Been Taken Over by a Cult at DemocracyNow.Org

Operation Truth: Hear It From the Troops
First-hand accounts that give a glimpse into the life of a soldier

Record Online
He lost an arm in Iraq; the Army wants money

Chicago Sun Times
Returning veterans paint grim picture of war's toll

Online NewsHour:
The Iraq War - Coping with U.S. Combat Injuries: Thanks to new body armor, many soldiers are surviving attacks that likely would have killed troops in previous wars.

The Australian
Saddam Hussein's Former Commander Running in Sunday's Election

World Socialist Web Site
US soldiers in Iraq suffer horrific brain and mental injuries
(Yeah yeah. They're Socialists. I Know. Maybe I am too.)

United for Peace
"United for Peace is an online resource and national campaign that brings together a broad range of organizations throughout the United States to help coordinate our work against a U.S. war on Iraq"
Events Lookup Calendar | Spring Organizing Drive

The American Friends Service Committee
"The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace, and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) belief in the worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice"

Peace Action
"Peace Action, formerly SANE and the Freeze, is the nation's largest grassroots peace group. As the nation's largest grassroots peace group we get results: from the 1963 treaty to ban above ground nuclear testing, to the 1996 signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, from ending the war in Vietnam, to blocking weapons sales to human rights abusing countries. "

Global Exchange
"An international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice. Since our founding in 1988, we have increased the US public's global awareness while building partnerships worldwide"

VolunteerMatch.Org
"The mission of VolunteerMatch is to help everyone find a great place to volunteer. The nonprofit, online service is helping thousands of nonprofit organizations attract the volunteer support they need"

EndTheWar.Org
"A nation-wide network of over 300 peace and justice, student and faith-based organizations united to work for a common cause. Our original mission was to end the illegal, unjust, and inhumane war being waged against the people of Iraq by member states of the United Nations, led by the United States in the form of 13 years of sanctions and ongoing bombings"

More To Come....
January 15, 2005