MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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War Hero

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Marine Lance Cpl. James Jenkins is cornered in an apartment but, this not being Iraq, he could not shoot back.

In intense, ferocious and some of the most intimate fighting of the Iraq War in 2004, Jenkins killed more than 200 enemy combatants. He was a war hero, with many commendations, including a Bronze Star for valor for heroic actions during a fifty-five hour battle with the Mahdi militia in Najaf.

Back in the United States from a second tour, Jenkins, 23, could not sleep and, when sleep came, the nightmares were horrible. Remorse, depression and a surge of adrenaline he could not control, not to talk of the suicidal thoughts, ruled his life, getting him into trouble with the Marines. Finally, he ran for it when he was about to be arrested by the Marines for another infraction. Which was how Jenkins ended up barricaded in that apartment that autumn day in 2005, a sheriff at the door and a U.S. Marshal covering the back door.

Jenkins shot himself in the temple.

The Marines never diagnosed his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and even tried to deny death benefits to his family. Thomas Ferguson, a special agent from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service who investigated his eligibility, described Jenkins as a “salvageable marine” whose untreated PTSD had led to his suicide.

“LCpl Jenkins was a bona fide war hero,” Ferguson wrote. “Unfortunately, it is clear that when he most needed help from the military, the military failed him.”

Among the many crimes of the misbegotten presidency of George W. Bush, the one least remarked upon is the waste he laid to the lives of many young men and women in this war that he lied us into. I am not just talking about the combat dead or those maimed in battle, but the walking wounded and dead among us, young men and women who did not receive treatment for their unseen wounds.

I have been reading stories about these cases in The Nation magazine for some time now, including the current one, Denial in the Corps, but the magazine appears not to have organized its stories in one place. The first one I read was about Spc. Jon Town almost year ago. Town told of how he was wounded in Iraq, won a Purple Heart and was then denied all disability and medical benefits.

I am sure there are stories in the series I have missed and I caught Jenkins’ story by accident. Publications had piled up on me and I was thumbing through the Nation before I consign the February 18 issue to the recycling pile when I came across the story.

The Nation needs to rectify this oversight. It’s a remarkable series. It deserves to be read widely. Together they make up a chronicle of shame not just for Bush and the criminal cabal he surrounded himself with, but for our country. It is a shame because we let this happen and we’re letting it happen.


February 8, 2008
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Questions for Mr. McNamee

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Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens in February 2006. If we take Brian McNamee at his word, why did he keep this?

Was he thinking five years ago, or however long ago this gauze and needle are from, that he would one day rat Roger out and use the stuff to back up his case if Roger denied it?

Is Roger’s blood in the syringe?

In which case, wasn’t he supposed to be injecting Roger with steroids, not extracting his blood?

How do we know how and when the steroids got in the syringe?

Was it before or after McNamee used it on Roger?

These and many other questions . . .

February 7, 2008
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Cage Match

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John McCain (incidentally, senator, Jack Balkin at Balkination, has a question) is piling up primary victories. But radio entertainer and reigning Republican party demagogue extraordinaire Rush Limbaugh says that don’t matter.
And Dr. James Dobson (doctor of what? who’s he ever cured of anything?) of “Focus on Family” also says voters don’t matter. He’ll decide who should be the Republican nominee.

You see, McCain to them is a liberal. Why? Because, among other things, he authored a campaign finance reform bill and is pushing immigration reform.

February 6, 2008
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Me, Worry?

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Over at The Politico, they see dark days ahead for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Some of the reasons they pointed to:

While Clinton’s campaign gloated about having the most total delegates for the cycle so far, her staff nevertheless recognizes that Super Tuesday was no triumph.


She lost the delegate derby. Pure and simple, this is a war to win delegates, one that might not be decided until this summer’s Democratic convention. And when the smoke cleared this morning, it appeared that Barack Obama had ended up with slightly more delegates in the 22 states.

She essentially tied Obama in the popular vote. Each won just over 7.3 million votes, a level of parity that was unthinkable as recently as a few weeks ago. At the time, national polls showed Clinton with a commanding lead — in some cases, by 10 points or more. That dominance is now gone.

She lost more states. Obama carried 14 states, six more than Clinton, and showed appeal in every geographical region (including an impressive one in bellwether Missouri).

She lost the January cash war. Money chases momentum, so Obama crushing’s 2-to-1 fundraising victory last month is revealing (and Obama is on pace to duplicate this money-raising feat in February).

The calendar is her enemy. For the foreseeable future (Washington, Nebraska and Maine are caucus states, which plays to Obama’s organization strength, followed by D.C., Maryland and Virginia, then followed by Hawaii and Wisconsin) Obama may see victory after victory after victory, potentially sweeping all those states. By the time Texas and Ohio roll around, Obama may have too much of a head steam to be denied the nomination.

Obama could, of course, fall flat on his face, but the immediate future looks very good indeed.

February 6, 2008
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Another World

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Mercury–only a hop, a skip, and a jump from our own ravaged but still beautiful earth– shows us a different side of itself.

NASA Spacecraft Streams Back Surprises From Mercury

The recent flyby of Mercury by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has given scientists an entirely new look at a planet once thought to have characteristics similar to those of Earth’s moon. Researchers are amazed by the wealth of images and data that show a unique world with a diversity of geological processes and a very different magnetosphere from the one discovered and sampled more than 30 years ago.

February 6, 2008
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Character Questions

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During the South Carolina primary in 2000, Bush aides mounted a vile whispering campaign in which anonymous callers phoned voters and told them John McCain, who had won the New Hampshire primary, had an illegitimate black daughter born to a prostitute. McCain lost that primary.

The child was in fact McCain’s adopted daughter, Bridget, a Bengali. McCain’s wife, Cindy, adopted Bridget on a visit with Mother Teresa to an orphanage in Bangladesh.

“A lot of phone calls were made by people who said we should be very ashamed about her, about the color of her skin,” McCain said at the time. “She’s a wonderful child, a complete part of our family and we love her.”

Which was why I asked once and I’m asking again: Where is Bridget now?

McCain’s daughter Meghan is ever present on the campaign trail, profiled in various media, owner of her own campaign blog and a film crew recording her every step. McCain Blogette is replete with photographs of every family member, grandparents, family friends, but not one image of Bridget. Bridget has been air-brushed out of the family picture.

In a year when we have the first serious African-American and female candidates for president, is it still too dangerous for a Republican candidate to have an adopted dark-skin daughter?

I totally respect Bridget, if it’s her decision to stay off-stage (or maybe rumors of Bridget being a Barack Obama supporter are true). But since when does the media respect a candidate’s privacy? I’m not saying hound Bridget. But her total and complete absence is troubling.

When will the toadies in the media ask McCain where he’s hiding Bridget?

February 6, 2008
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