Author contrasts way U.S. fought World War II with Iraq
By James Fuller
Daily Herald Staff Writer
The conduct of the war in Iraq is distinctly different from World War II, and distinctly flawed in several ways, said Col. Michael D. Doubler Wednesday night.
Doubler, an author and military historian, critiqued the Iraq campaign for an audience that included a handful of WWII vets at the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park near Wheaton.
Doubler suggested there’s too much concern and empathy for Iraqi civilians and collateral damage at times.
“It was easier to kill the enemy when we dehumanized them,” Doubler said, reflecting on previous wars.
American troops can’t fire on an enemy without permission from officers, causing costly delays, he said.
“We missed Osama Bin Laden one time doing that,” Doubler said.
Another flaw is a general lack of a defined goal for the war and how to measure it, Doubler said. He called on national leaders to define the objective and inform the public about it.
Doubler then suggested destruction on a larger scale may be on the way. He pointed to the recent addition of chemical agents in enemy explosives.
“I would not be surprised if somehow a weapon of mass destruction is not somehow a part of the end of the war,” Doubler said.
At the same time, Doubler said there’s been too much description of war tactics in the media that has been useful to the enemy.
“We told them there was going to be shock and awe,” Doubler said. “You know the way we got shock and awe in World War II? We blew the hell out of them, and then the enemy told us that was shocking and awesome.”
Doubler criticized the overall lack of artillery the U.S. has used in Iraq as well as overly simple, reactionary tactics.
“I am befuddled by what we’re doing today,” Doubler said. “We’re trying to connect the dots. If we bomb certain things, (we think) the enemy will do this. Well, they’re not cooperating.”
American forces are extremely limited by the general lack of manpower and fatigue of the force because of lengthy tours, Doubler said. He estimated only 1 percent of America stepped up and volunteered to go to war following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“How much longer can we expect that 1 percent to carry the load?” Doubler asked. “We do not fully understand how thin that band of people is that are holding the line.”
Still, America cannot simply withdraw because terrorists are committed to kill Americans, Doubler said.
“We cannot pull out of there and have it turn into a nightmare,” Doubler said. “If it’s their nightmare, before long it’s ours.”
Thursday
Monday
Duckworth delivers funds, hope to vets at Wheaton shelter
By James Fuller
Even as the staff at the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans in Wheaton awaited Tammy Duckworth, a sign staked in a yard three doors away was a reminder of the political wars she’s already fought.
“Roskam for Congress,” read the sign.
Duckworth arrived at the shelter Wednesday with a new political war to wage: improved health care for veterans. Having lost her congressional bid to Republican Peter Roskam of Wheaton last year, Duckworth is now the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
The shelter staff believes her firsthand knowledge of the physical and mental wounds of war will bring needed change.
Duckworth delivered the promise of a $128,000 check for the shelter Wednesday. It will be the first facility in the state to reap the benefits of a state scratch-off lottery ticket game earmarked for veterans.
She had already visited the facility last summer. At the time, she was in a wheelchair, and the facility hadn’t yet opened. Wednesday, she navigated steps with the aid of a new, $100,000 prosthetic right leg.
The shelter has been open for two months and is already at capacity with five residents and a waiting list.
Shelter officials want to expand to 20 residents as soon as next year. To do that, they’ll need more money and an easier process to get veterans enrolled in entitled benefits. Ideally, the shelter would like to become a line item in the state budget.
Duckworth said such a move must come from the state Legislature. On her end, she’s in the process of hiring a grant writer for the veterans affairs department, a position that hasn’t existed. She believes it will bring more federal dollars to Illinois veterans and facilities like the one in Wheaton.
She’s also developing a single form to guide Illinois veterans through all the programs they may qualify for. She’d also like to see a relaxing of medical privacy laws so the state can obtain names of veterans as they return home and enroll them in benefit programs faster.
Duckworth is to testify in Washington, D.C., next week about long-term care needs for veterans.
Among the possible topics is the looming closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Washington facility is under the magnifying glass after news reports of mice, cockroaches and squalor.
Duckworth spent the bulk of her recovery time at Walter Reed after losing her legs when a rocket-propelled grenade blew up the helicopter she was co-piloting in Iraq in 2004.
She said Walter Reed is a good example of why at least the health care portion of the VA budget must be mandatory. Walter Reed does fabulous work but lacks a fabulous facility, she said.
“My truck that I drive around, it’s got a six-CD changer built into the back,” Duckworth said as analogy. “Walter Reed has the six-CD changer, except that their six-CD changer is sitting on the front seat, plugged into the cigarette lighter. That’s how they operate.”
Duckworth said Walter Reed must remain open while the U.S. is at war, and for up to five years after to address injuries that will take time to surface.
She said Walter Reed deserves the “bad rap” it’s getting for the conditions, but the staff isn’t to blame. The now-infamous Building 18 at the heart of the squalor was condemned while Duckworth was a patient, she said, but was reopened to house an influx of patients.
“They ran out of space,” she said. “They are being forced to expand their services while their money is being cut.”
jfuller@dailyherald.com
Even as the staff at the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans in Wheaton awaited Tammy Duckworth, a sign staked in a yard three doors away was a reminder of the political wars she’s already fought.
“Roskam for Congress,” read the sign.
Duckworth arrived at the shelter Wednesday with a new political war to wage: improved health care for veterans. Having lost her congressional bid to Republican Peter Roskam of Wheaton last year, Duckworth is now the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
The shelter staff believes her firsthand knowledge of the physical and mental wounds of war will bring needed change.
Duckworth delivered the promise of a $128,000 check for the shelter Wednesday. It will be the first facility in the state to reap the benefits of a state scratch-off lottery ticket game earmarked for veterans.
She had already visited the facility last summer. At the time, she was in a wheelchair, and the facility hadn’t yet opened. Wednesday, she navigated steps with the aid of a new, $100,000 prosthetic right leg.
The shelter has been open for two months and is already at capacity with five residents and a waiting list.
Shelter officials want to expand to 20 residents as soon as next year. To do that, they’ll need more money and an easier process to get veterans enrolled in entitled benefits. Ideally, the shelter would like to become a line item in the state budget.
Duckworth said such a move must come from the state Legislature. On her end, she’s in the process of hiring a grant writer for the veterans affairs department, a position that hasn’t existed. She believes it will bring more federal dollars to Illinois veterans and facilities like the one in Wheaton.
She’s also developing a single form to guide Illinois veterans through all the programs they may qualify for. She’d also like to see a relaxing of medical privacy laws so the state can obtain names of veterans as they return home and enroll them in benefit programs faster.
Duckworth is to testify in Washington, D.C., next week about long-term care needs for veterans.
Among the possible topics is the looming closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Washington facility is under the magnifying glass after news reports of mice, cockroaches and squalor.
Duckworth spent the bulk of her recovery time at Walter Reed after losing her legs when a rocket-propelled grenade blew up the helicopter she was co-piloting in Iraq in 2004.
She said Walter Reed is a good example of why at least the health care portion of the VA budget must be mandatory. Walter Reed does fabulous work but lacks a fabulous facility, she said.
“My truck that I drive around, it’s got a six-CD changer built into the back,” Duckworth said as analogy. “Walter Reed has the six-CD changer, except that their six-CD changer is sitting on the front seat, plugged into the cigarette lighter. That’s how they operate.”
Duckworth said Walter Reed must remain open while the U.S. is at war, and for up to five years after to address injuries that will take time to surface.
She said Walter Reed deserves the “bad rap” it’s getting for the conditions, but the staff isn’t to blame. The now-infamous Building 18 at the heart of the squalor was condemned while Duckworth was a patient, she said, but was reopened to house an influx of patients.
“They ran out of space,” she said. “They are being forced to expand their services while their money is being cut.”
jfuller@dailyherald.com
Tuesday
Soft news feature: Where did post office clocks go?
Where did post office clocks go?
March 08 2007
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
A clock on the left-hand side of the customer service counter greets patrons of the Washington Street post office in Naperville. Below it, a calendar of zebras tracks the date.
A cynic might say that setup allows customers to count down both the minutes and the days elapsing as they wait in line.
Some postal customers no longer get a chance to count the ticks as they get ticked off. Clocks are vanishing from post offices across the country.
The clock near Mary Becker at the always-busy downtown Elgin post office vanished at least six months ago, she said. Managers never explained to her or the other employees what happened to the clocks. So workers there developed their own theory.
"They have those secret shoppers come in sometimes," Becker said. "They don't want them to be able to see if it takes too long for someone to wait on them."
That may also be the working theory about why some post offices in Wheaton, Elgin, Naperville, Addison, Algonquin, Gilberts, West Chicago and Des Plaines, to name a few, no longer have clocks.
But that theory just isn't true, says Jim Mruk, U.S. Postal Service spokesman for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin.
"There's no widespread effort to remove clocks from retail areas," Mruk said - unless you count what happened at the turn of the new century.
A stamp promotion in some post office lobbies involved clocks counting down the hours to the new millennium, Mruk said. The clocks were supposed to expire at the crack of 2000.
"They kind of took on a life of their own," Mruk said. "People figured out you could reprogram them to count down to other things. So a message went out that it's kind of time to bring all these clocks in."
Wall clocks soon followed.
Mruk said post offices were encouraged in the same message to create "clutter-free, professional retail environments."
"Is it better to let people see the menu boards so they can make an informed choice?" Mruk said. "That was kind of a no-brainer. In some cases, when they took the clock down it really didn't make any sense to put it anywhere else."
At the post office in Wheaton, a back-lit, blue and white menu board now advertises services ranging from stamps to packaging tape - just like a McDonald's menu. And at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday there was no wait for customers. And no clock for them to realize it.
March 08 2007
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
A clock on the left-hand side of the customer service counter greets patrons of the Washington Street post office in Naperville. Below it, a calendar of zebras tracks the date.
A cynic might say that setup allows customers to count down both the minutes and the days elapsing as they wait in line.
Some postal customers no longer get a chance to count the ticks as they get ticked off. Clocks are vanishing from post offices across the country.
The clock near Mary Becker at the always-busy downtown Elgin post office vanished at least six months ago, she said. Managers never explained to her or the other employees what happened to the clocks. So workers there developed their own theory.
"They have those secret shoppers come in sometimes," Becker said. "They don't want them to be able to see if it takes too long for someone to wait on them."
That may also be the working theory about why some post offices in Wheaton, Elgin, Naperville, Addison, Algonquin, Gilberts, West Chicago and Des Plaines, to name a few, no longer have clocks.
But that theory just isn't true, says Jim Mruk, U.S. Postal Service spokesman for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin.
"There's no widespread effort to remove clocks from retail areas," Mruk said - unless you count what happened at the turn of the new century.
A stamp promotion in some post office lobbies involved clocks counting down the hours to the new millennium, Mruk said. The clocks were supposed to expire at the crack of 2000.
"They kind of took on a life of their own," Mruk said. "People figured out you could reprogram them to count down to other things. So a message went out that it's kind of time to bring all these clocks in."
Wall clocks soon followed.
Mruk said post offices were encouraged in the same message to create "clutter-free, professional retail environments."
"Is it better to let people see the menu boards so they can make an informed choice?" Mruk said. "That was kind of a no-brainer. In some cases, when they took the clock down it really didn't make any sense to put it anywhere else."
At the post office in Wheaton, a back-lit, blue and white menu board now advertises services ranging from stamps to packaging tape - just like a McDonald's menu. And at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday there was no wait for customers. And no clock for them to realize it.
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