Some Brain Injuries May Reduce Likelihood of Post-Traumatic Stress

A new study of combat-exposed Vietnam War veterans shows that those with injuries to certain parts of the brain were less likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The findings, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Naval Medical Center, suggest that drugs or pacemaker-like devices aimed at dampening activity in these brain regions might be effective treatments for PTSD.

PTSD involves the persistent reliving of a traumatic experience through nightmares and flashbacks that may seem real. Twenty percent to 30 percent of Vietnam vets (more than 1 million) have been diagnosed with PTSD, and a similar rate has been reported among Hurricane Katrina survivors in New Orleans. Public health officials are currently tracking the disorder among soldiers returning from Iraq. Yet, while war and natural disasters tend to call the greatest attention to PTSD, it's estimated that millions of Americans suffer from it as a result of assault, rape, child abuse, car accidents, and other traumatic events.

Previous studies have shown that PTSD is associated with changes in brain activity, but those studies couldn't determine whether the changes were contributing to the disorder or merely occurring because of it.

Jordan Grafman, a senior investigator at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of NIH, turned to the Vietnam Head Injury Study (VHIS) to make that distinction. The VHIS is a registry of Vietnam veterans who sustained penetrating brain injuries (which are less common in Iraq compared to concussion brain injuries). It has received support from the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans of Affairs and NIH, and is currently supported by NINDS.

"If we could show that lesions in a specific brain region eliminated PTSD, we knew we could say that the region is critical to developing the disorder," says Grafman. The results of his study appear online in Nature Neuroscience.

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Bush's War of Diminished Expectations

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Deployment Stress Leads To Higher Risk of Child Abuse, Neglect

Rates of abuse and neglect of young children in military families in Texas has doubled since October 2002, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows, raising concerns about the impact of deployment on military personnel and their families across the country.

The study, published in the May 15, issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, was designed by UNC School of Public Health researchers to measure the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on military and non-military families. The researchers chose to study Texas because of the large military population there and the availability of data.

Researchers found that prior to October 2002, rate of abuse and neglect – called maltreatment – was slightly higher among non-military families compared to military families. However, after the U.S. started sending larger numbers of troops to Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003, rates of abuse and neglect in military families far outpaced the rates among non-military families. Military files indicate more troops were deployed and fewer returned home in 2003.

In addition, the rate of occurrence of substantiated maltreatment in military families was twice as high in the period after October 2002 compared with the period prior to that date. During the same period, the rate of substantiated child abuse and neglect was relatively stable for non-military families, says Danielle Rentz, lead author of the study, which was part of her doctoral dissertation at the UNC School of Public Health.

“Among soldiers with at least one dependent, for every one percent increase in the number of active duty soldiers departing or returning, we saw an approximately 30 percent increase in the rate of substantiated maltreatment cases,” Rentz says. “These findings indicate to us that both departures to and returns from operational deployment impose stresses on military families and likely increase the rate of child maltreatment.”

State records showed that the majority of substantiated child abuse and neglect that occurred in military families was perpetrated by a parent, Rentz says. Before October 2002, the parent who was in the military was the perpetrator of abuse and neglect about equally as often as the non-military spouse. However, between October 2002 and June 2003, the non-military parent was found to have abused or neglected the children more often than the military parent.

“The stress of war extends beyond the soldier to the family left behind,” Rentz says.


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ATF, U.S. Military Team To Defeat Roadside Bombs

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced that it has expanded its program to help the U.S. military combat the use of improvised explosives devices (IEDs) by terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. IEDs, or homemade, roadside bombs, are a top killer of U.S. troops in combat.

The expanded program, under a Department of Justice initiative, includes detailing an ATF special agent certified explosives specialist to the military's Joint Improvised Explosive Device DefeatOrganization (JIEDDO) Joint Center of Excellence (JCOE) at Ft. Irwin,Calif., and assisting in the training of military bomb technicians before they deploy overseas in post-blast explosives investigations and homemade explosives.

Under a memorandum of agreement signed late last year by ATF acting Director Michael Sullivan and JIEDDO Director Montgomery Meigs, the ATF detailee will be the Department of Justice's representative to JCOE and provide technical instruction for the roles ATF and other Justice Department components play in the Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell (CEXC) in Iraq and the Terrorist ExplosiveDevice Analytical Center (TEDAC) in the United States.

CEXC provides immediate, in-theater technical exploitation and operational analysis of the IEDs that insurgents have used againstmultinational forces, and assists in the development of measures and procedures to counter the insurgent bombing campaign. TEDAC exploits and analyzes the returning IED components, confirming the intelligence received by CEXC for assessment and eventual sharing with law enforcement and U.S.allies.

"This agreement and the military's decision to have ATF assist intraining its bomb techs further strengthens the collaboration essential to winning the war against terrorism," Sullivan said. "We're proud to be ableto share our well-established expertise in explosives training and investigations with our comrades in uniform."

Since 2001, ATF's National Center for Explosives Training and Researchhas trained almost 6,000 bomb technicians and investigators in explosivedisposal and investigative techniques. ATF also provides explosivestraining to the new Iraqi Police Service and at the International Law Enforcement Academies in Botswana, El Salvador, Hungary and Thailand.


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Analysis Reveals Ways to Reduce 'Friendly Fire' Incidents

One of the most tragic consequences of war is "friendly fire": casualties that result when warfighters mistakenly fire on their own or allied troops. The causes and possible mitigators of friendly fire are being studied by a group of human factors/ergonomics researchers at the University of Central Florida and at the Air Force Research Laboratory. Their findings, to be published in the April issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, include a taxonomy by which troop teamwork could be strengthened to reduce confusion and error.

Although precise figures are hard to pin down, it has been estimated that 17% of deaths during Operation Desert Storm were attributable to friendly fire. "Whatever the absolute numbers," the researchers say, "friendly fire incidents occur and will continue to occur." But they believe that human factors research and analysis can provide information and methods that can reduce the likelihood of such incidents.

They began their investigation by examining the literature on friendly fire, then used a human-centered approach to understand errors and create the taxonomy. It contains a list of questions that draw attention to ways in which teamwork breakdown could occur. They concluded that in the absence of adequate shared cognition – the sharing of information about the dynamic, ambiguous, and time-stressed battlefield environment – warfighters can have problems interpreting cues, making decisions, and taking correct action.

"The battlefield is one of the most difficult operational environments within which to perform cognitive tasks," the researchers state. "[T]herefore, breakdowns in shared cognition are inevitable."

Although technological solutions, such as combat identification systems (e.g., Blue Force Tracker), have been implemented to enhance shared cognition and prevent friendly fire incidents, other factors, such as sleep deprivation and visual misidentification, can still lead to human error. In addition, these technologies can fail or simply be unavailable. What's needed, the researchers say, is a better understanding of specific failures of teamwork, including information transmission, team behavior, and team attitude. "Human solutions cannot be ignored, such as better teamwork...and training to improve communication, coordination, and cooperation."

The researchers believe that this taxonomy can help in the analysis of trends in friendly fire incidents or near misses, leading to recommendations and solutions to improve teamwork in order to minimize risk.

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Newsweek Cover: Failing Our Wounded

Recent revelations about the decay and mismanagement at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., were especially shocking because it is one of the most prestigious U.S. military hospitals. But a Newsweek investigation--which focused not on one facility but on the services of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a sprawling 235,000-person bureaucracy--found that the VA system is unprepared for the scope of the task at hand and ahead.

Around 50,000 service members so far have been banged up or burned, lost limbs or sacrificed something less tangible inside them in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And a new study projects that at least 700,000 moreveterans from the global war on terror will flood the system in the coming years. In the March 5 cover story, "Failing Our Wounded" (on newsstands Monday, February 26), national security correspondent Dan Ephron and Assistant Editor Sarah Childress paint a grim portrait of an overloaded bureaucracy cluttered with red tape; veterans having to wait weeks or months for mental-health care and other appointments; families sliding into debt as VA case managers study disability claims over many months, and the seriously wounded requiring help from outside experts just to understand the VA's arcane system of rights and benefits.

Tonia Sargent, whose husband, Kenneth--a Marine master sergeant who had been in the corps for nearly 18 years--nearly died in a sniper attack in Najaf in 2004, says no one ever sat her down and explained the benefits and how to access them. Her husband's brain injury made him often incapable of understanding his own care. Key decisions fell to her alone. It's a "don'task, don't tell system," she says. The Sargent's story, and the stories of many other veterans, is raising concerns that the United States is failing to meet its most basic obligations to those who fight its wars, Newsweek says.

"In no way do I diminish the fact that there are veterans out there who are coming in who require treatment and maybe are not getting the treatment they need," White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto tells Newsweek. "It's real and it exists."

Dr. Michael Kussman, the VA's acting under secretary for health tells Newsweek that the department is trying to reach veterans earlier, as they approach their date of discharge, and that he does not believe Iraq and Afghanistan are straining resources severely.

"The impact on the VA so far has been relatively small," Kussman says. "It has not kicked the system over in our budget and in our ability to absorb it."

But the number of veterans has to grow and critics worry the VA is in a state of denial. In a broad sense, Newsweek reports, the situation at the VA seems to mirror the overall lack of planning for the war. "We know the VA doesn't have the capacity to process a large number of disability claims at the same time," says Linda Bilmes, a Harvard public-finance professor who last month released a 34-page study on the long-term cost of caring for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Veterans' support groups and even some former and current VA insiders believe there's a reluctance in the Bush administration to deal openly with the long-term costs of the war, Newsweek says.

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Poor Contracting Hindering Iraq Reconstruction

The Department of Defense (DOD) effort to reconstruct Iraq following the U.S. invasion is being hampered by poor contracting with companies and inadequate security, a government watchdog agency says.

DOD has relied extensively on private contractors to undertake major reconstruction projects and provide support to its deployed forces in Iraq, but these efforts have not always achieved desired outcomes, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

Further, the Iraqi government must be able to reduce violence, sustain reconstruction progress, improve basic services, and make a positive difference in the daily lives of the Iraqi people, GAO says.

"The challenges faced by DOD on its reconstruction and support contracts often reflect systemic and long-standing shortcomings in DOD’s capacity to manage contractor efforts. Such shortcomings result from poorly defined or changing requirements, the use of poor business arrangements, the absence of senior leadership and guidance, and an insufficient number of trained contracting, acquisition and other personnel to manage, assess and oversee contractor performance, the GAO says in a new report. "In turn, these shortcomings manifest themselves in higher costs to taxpayers, schedule delays, unmet objectives, and other undesirable outcomes."


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U.S. Troops, Vets Not Getting Care They Need, Playboy Says

American troops fighting in Iraq and Iraq war veterans are not receiving the mental health care they deserve, specifically when it comes to the diagnosis and treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to an investigative report for Playboy magazine.

Journalist Mark Boal spoke with numerous mental health experts, government sources and former military personnel who paint adisturbing picture about the government's handling of PTSD, according to Playboy.

Boal found that the Department of Defense (DOD) diagnoses about 2,000 cases of PTSD a year. Yet according to a landmark study conducted by Army researchers and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, PTSD rates for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are running between 10 and 15 percent. That means one would expect to see the military diagnosing 13,000 to 20,000 cases of PTSD, Playboy says.

Former government officials agree there is a problem, according to Playboy.

"PTSD is being underdiagnosed on a fairly wholesale level," Playboy quotes Dr. Robert Roswell, a former undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as saying.

Sources in the Pentagon and former officials of the VA, doctors working for the VA and DOD are being pressured to limit diagnoses of PTSD in order to save the military money and manpower, reports Boal.

Budget pressures may be the motivation to discourage diagnoses of PTSD, according to the Playboy article, which reports that when the DOD submitted a war budget to Congress, the line item for mental health casualties was simply left blank.

"DOD never prepared for a long war; it never prepared for anoccupation," says one senior congressional staffer, according to Playboy. "Now we're seeing the third thing it didn't anticipate: what to do with the soldiers when they come home. Now they really don't have the money."

Boal discovered politics may also be a factor, Playboy says.

"The soldier has tremendous symbolic power in American politics. Healthy, happy soldiers bespeak a just war. Like the amputees and flag-draped coffins the administration hides from public view, such soldiers are antithetical to the hawkish goal of mitigating the costs of the conflict," writes Boal."The critical difference is that mental illness isn't always obvious and is therefore easier to sweep under the rug."

As one congressional staffer puts in the Playboy story, "It's much easier to deny the reality of mental illness than it is to deny the spinal cord injury of some guy sitting in a wheelchair."

When questioned for the piece, Pentagon and VA officials vigorously denied there is a policy to underdiagnose PTSD, Playboy says.

"That would be immoral and unethical," Playboy quotes Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, the assistant secretary of defense for troop readiness as saying.

Officials attribute the low rates of diagnosis to a reluctance on the part of military doctors to "stigmatize the person or bring harm to their careers" by labeling them with PTSD according to Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Charles Engel, the director of the deployment health clinic center at Walter Reed Medical Center. "It's out of respect for the patient that they don't make the diagnosis."

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O'Connor: Iraq Study Was 'So Out Of My Field'

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor admits to initially feeling a little out of her element when she was invited to join the Iraq Study Group to offer new alternatives to U.S. involvement in Iraq.

"I wasn't sure I should do it,"she tells Newsweek in an exclusive interview in the current issue. "It was so out of my field of judging. I don't know anything about the military."

President Bush has all but rejected the study group's recommendations but O'Connor is unwilling to criticize Bush.

"There are probably no perfect answers," she tells Assistant Managing Editor Debra Rosenberg in the February 12 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, February 5).

O'Connor also talks about her decision to retire. In the spring of 2005, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist publicly battling thyroid cancer, the two justices discussed timing. "We talked a little bit,"O'Connor recalls. "I was concerned about whether he had an intention to step down since his plans might have altered my own. It's hard for the nation to grapple with two [retirements] at once," she says. "He indicated he didn't want to step down." So she realized she had to go first.

O'Connor retired so she could spend more time with husband John, battling Alzheimer's disease. O'Connor has had to place her husband at a care facility near their Arizona home.

"It's such a miserable disease. It's so sad. It's so hard. I did the best I could," O'Connor says. "He wants me there all the time."

It's been a difficult transition, says former Sen. Alan Simpson, a family friend. "It's tough to go home at night and no longer have this warm,witty guy there," he says of O'Connor.

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Nearly 200,000 Veterans May Be Homeless Tonight

Americans say they want to "support the troops." But what about the veterans?

Nearly 200,000 veterans may be homeless on any given night and twice that many veterans experience homelessness during the year, according to a report released by a coalition of advocates for homeless persons.

The report released finds that affordable, permanent housing coupled with supportive services provides a powerful tool for preventing and ending homelessness among veterans, particularly thosewho confront chronic disabling health problems such as mental illness, substance addiction and HIV/AIDS.

Homeless male veterans are more likely to be homeless for an extended period of time than homeless male non-veterans, the report, titled "Ending Homelessness Among Veterans Through Permanent Supportive Housing," says.

The report notes that 32 percent of homeless male veterans reported that their last homeless episode lasted 13 or more months compared to 17 percent of male homeless non-veterans.

Homeless housing and service providers reported that they are already serving returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans at local emergency shelters, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs-financed transitional housing programs and local permanent supportive housingprojects. Participants noted that while it is too soon to have a complete picture, evidence suggests that unique risk factors for homelessness and mental illness will confront veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

These factors include a housing market that is far tighter and morecostly than it was in the Vietnam era. Expert observers also contend thatthe nature of the current conflicts, including the near-complete blurring of combat versus non-combat zones, will generate higher rates of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health traumas. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association documented that 19 percent of soldiers who served in Iraq screened positive for the signs and symptoms of a mental health disorder.

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2008 Candidates, Celebrities Among Those Dedicating New Troop Rehab Centers

An array of celebrities, including dueling 2008 candidates for the White House, were among 3,000 people taking part in the dedication ceremony for The Center for the Intrepid -- a $50 million, 60,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation center -- and two new Fisher Houses, 21-room residences for hospitalized soldiers'families, earlier this week in San Antonio, Texas.

U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ) were among the luminaries. Clinton and McCain are competing for their respective party's presidential nomination and may face each other in the 2008 election.

The event also featured a performance by singer John Mellencamp, and a military fly-over. Other special guests included Denzel Washington, Rosie O'Donnell, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and country music group Big & Rich.

The Center for the Intrepid is unique because of the number of rehabilitation programs co-located under one roof, enabling a morecomprehensive care approach. Many of the next-generation treatment and rehabilitation environments were conceptualized and designed based on direct input from specialists in amputee care, and patients themselves.

More than 18,000 men and women have been wounded in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The Center for the Intrepid will provide for the critical needs ofAmerica's most severely wounded and disabled military personnel, giving them the best opportunity to regain their ability to live and work productively," says Clinton. "Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to these men and women who have volunteered to defend our country, and their sacrifice demands that their care and rehabilitation be given the highest priority."

"I am proud to be part of this wonderful initiative to help our severely wounded service personnel. I am equally inspired by the thousands of Americans who have stepped forward to help our wounded troops andveterans," says McCain. "I am aware of the tremendous challenges facing the young men and women who have been injured in our nation's service. This facility will go far in providing them the ability to meet those challenges."

Also opening today are two 21-bed Fisher Houses, designed as homes awayfrom home for families of patients receiving medical care at major militaryand VA medical centers. The homes are normally located within walking distance of the treatment facility or have transportation available. There are more than 35 Fisher Houses located on 18 military installations and eight Veterans Affairs medical centers around the country and in Germany.


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Majority Leader: Iraq Needs a Peace Conference

The violence within Iraq could benefit from a peace conference such as that in Dayton, Ohio in 1995 that helped solve the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the Democratic majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Many scholars have called for a Dayton-like peace conference, an idea I support," says Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland. "Frankly, it is time for the president to accept that we are no longer involved in a nation-building exercise. We are involved in a conflict resolution, and there is no better means for resolving such conflicts, especially escalating civil wars that run the risk of becoming genocide, than to convene an international conference to achieve a cessation of violence and advance reconciliation."

President Bush has called for an increase of more than 20,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, a move opposed by Hoyer and other Democratic leaders in Congress.

Sectarian violence has surged in Iraq over the last year, prompting some to say Iraq is in civil war. U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003 and overthrew strongman Saddam Hussein. Moer than 3,000 U.S. service personnel have lost their lives in Iraq.

Organizing a peace conference for Iraq would also help United States' reputation abroad, Hoyer says.

"I urge the president to do this. I would propose that the conference be carried out under U.N. auspices with robust involvement from various Iraqi factions, neighboring countries, key Middle East nations, the European Union and others with the hope of brokering deals on securing Iraq's borders, disbanding militias, finalizing the constitution, establishing divisions of power and oil resources and other outstanding issues," Hoyer says.






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Newsweek Poll: Bush Standing Hits All-Time Low

U.S. approval for President Bush has hit a record low level despite pitching policies in his recent televised State of the Union address, according to a new Newsweek poll.

President Bush's job approval rating hit an all-time low in theNewsweek Poll at 30 percent. Sixty-one percent of all those polled says they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time; just 30 percent are satisfied.

Sixty-seven percent of those polled believe Bush's decisions about policy in Iraq and other major areas are influenced more by his personal beliefs regardless of the facts, while just 22 percent say his decisions are influenced more by the facts. And 71 percent say Bush will not have enough support over the next two years to make a difference in getting things done in Washington; just 21 percent say he will. The public is split on whether or not Congress is likely (42%) or not likely (48%) to give serious consideration to the proposals Bush made in the State of the Union address about energy, health and other domestic policy.

Fifty-three percent of all those polled say they think history will see Bush as a below average president; 30 percent say average and 14 percent say above average. And 58 percent of all those polled say at this point in time, they personally wish that Bush's presidency was over; 37 percent do not feel that way.

In deciding whether to vote Democratic or Republican in the 2008 presidential election, among registered voters, 31 percent say their view of Bush will be very important; 17 percent say it will be somewhat important and 15 percent say not too important.


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U.S. To Step Up Iraq Reconstruction Alongside Troop Surge

The U.S. government will boost its Iraq reconstruction efforts in Baghdad and Anbar Province alongside President Bush's intended troop surge in Iraq, says a senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and coordinator for Iraq.

President Bush says he will deploy more than 20,000 troops to deal with the violence gripping Iraq.

The State Department, meanwhile, will also immediately begin "deploying greater resources alongside our military in Baghdad and Anbar" in Iraq, says Ambassador David Satterfield.

"The centerpiece of this effort will be our expansion of our Provincial Reconstruction Teams," Satterfield says. "We will double our PRTs from 10 to 20, adding more than 300 new personnel. We will expand our PRTs in three phases with the first phase occurring over the next three months to complement our enhanced military efforts. In that time, we plan to co-locate nine new PRTs – six in Baghdad and three in Anbar – with Brigade Combat Teams engaged in security operations."

The PRTs Iraq will also include US Agency for International Development advisers, as well as civil affairs officers and bilingual advisors from the Department of Defense, Satterfield says.

PRTs will support local moderate Iraqi leaders through targeted assistance (e.g. microloans, vocational education and grants) to foster new businesses, create jobs and develop provincial capacity to govern in an effective and sustainable way, Satterfield says. PRTs will continue to play a leading role in coordinating several U.S. programs funded by the Congress, including Iraqi Provincial Reconstruction Development Councils (PRDC) and USAID’s local governance, community stabilization, and community action programs, he says.

"We intend to complete all three phases of our PRT expansion by the end of the calendar year," Satterfield adds, noting however that completion will be dependent both on the timing of, and level of funding appropriated in, the fiscal year 2007 supplemental appropriation measure to fund the Iraq war, as well as "circumstances on the ground in Iraq."

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Latest Harris Iraq Poll: 'We're Not Winning, We're Not Losing'

The latest Harris Poll of U.S. attitudes on the situation in Iraq war shows that many U.S. adults hold the attitude of "we're not winning and we're not losing." However, while this suggests the U.S. adult public thinks that perhaps things aren't quite as negative in the war in Iraq, other data within this same survey still paints a very negative picture. Most of the numbers are nearly as low as they have ever been in the course of more than three years.

A slight majority (52%) believe that we are not winning, but we are not losing either. However, almost three times as many feel we are losing (29%)as compared to just 10 percent who think we are winning. There are significant differences by political party. Many Republicans (57%) agreethat we are neither winning nor losing, though 23 percent of Republicans believe we are winning and 11 percent think we are losing. Conversely,about half of Democrats (49%) think we are losing and 43 percent think we are neither winning nor losing.

In this survey conducted just before the State of the Union address, seven in 10 (70%) U.S. adults give President Bush a negative rating on his handling of Iraq, while only a quarter (26%) give him positivemarks. These are virtually identical to a November 2006 assessment when President Bush also received a 71 to 26 percent negative rating.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll survey of 2,337 U.S. adults conducted online between January 11 and 18, by Harris Interactive.

In the past few weeks, President Bush has also embarked on a major campaign to see his new Iraq policy of sending in more troops. The "sell" may be working somewhat as more people (27%) now accept the premise of sending more troops to Iraq for a few months. In November, a lower 19 percent agreed with this. However, that being said, over four in 10 (44%) U.S. adults think a timetable should be set for the withdrawal of US troops from the Iraq war. This is down from November, when 51 percent felt this way.

Furthermore the main trends are:

* By 67 to 16 percent, a clear majority still believes that there is a civil war in Iraq now. This has not changed since November 2006 when 68 percent to 14 percent felt this way;

* A 55 percent majority now believes that the situation for U.S. troops is getting worse and only 13 percent think it is getting better. In November, a 58 percent to nine percent majority felt this way;

* A 46 percent to 37 percent plurality (compared to 46% to 36% in November) now believes that "taking military action against Iraq" was the wrong thing to do;

* A 61 percent to 19 percent majority is "not confident" that U.S. policy in Iraq will be successful, compared to a 63 percent to 17 percent majority in November.

The public is split between those who believe that "it was a mistake to take military action in Iraq in the first place" (40%; down from November's 42%) and those who think it "was the right thing to do but that things have gotten off course" (41%; virtually unchanged from 40% in November). Only a small minority (12%; similar to November's 13 percent) believes that it "was the right thing to do and things are going reasonably well."

This survey finds that attitudes toward events in the Iraq war are still highly polarized by party. Fully 67 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of independents think that taking military action in Iraq was "a mistake inthe first place," but only 12 percent of Republicans feel this way. On the other hand, 57 percent of Republicans (compared to 24 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of independents) believe invading Iraq "was the right thing to do, but things have gotten off course there." Further, 26 percent of Republicans, but only two percent of Democrats and nine percent of independents, believe it was the right decision "and things are going reasonably well."

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NEWSWEEK COVER: Black Hawk Down

At 5:14 in the evening on Friday, Jan. 19, Donna Brown was at home in Little Rock when her husband, Sergeant 1st Class John Gary Brown, called to say he was at the airfield and ready to take off on a "mission"--a code indicating that he was going into dangerous territory in Iraq and would contact her as soon as he landed. He told her how much he'd enjoyed being with her and their two children and pair of grandchildren during his recent leave. Then he had to cut the conversation short.

She began to worry when he didn't call or e-mail on Saturday, but told herself he was probably still on duty and couldn't get to a phone or computer. The solemn visit from the Army's casualty assistance officers that Monday came as a surprise, she tells Newsweek in the February 5 cover story, "Black Hawk Down" (on newsstands Monday, January 29).

An international reporting team--including Baghdad Bureau Chief Babak Dehghanpisheh, Miami Bureau Chief Arian Campo-Flores, senior White House correspondent Richard Wolffe and national correspondent Dan Ephron--reports on the lives of Brown, and 11 other soldiers killed in the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq.

Combined, the 12 left behind 34 children and at least a dozen grandchildren. Newsweek looks at what their deaths say about the human cost of the Iraq war.

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Poll: Bush Continues To Face Steep Public Disapproval on Iraq

Less than two weeks after President Bush unveiled his plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, a 68-percent majority of Americans strongly (45 percent) or moderately (23 percent) oppose Bush's "surge" strategy, according to the January 17-18 Newsweek Poll.

Fourteen percent moderately favor the plan and only 12 percent strongly favor it. Half (50 percent) of those polled advocate a reduction of troop levels in Iraq, versus 23 percent who want to increase the number of U.S. troops and 18 percent who want to keep troop levels the same.

Generally, only 24 percent of Americans approve of how Bush is handling the war-an all-time low in the Newsweek Poll; 70 percent disapprove. And two-thirds (67 percent) say they think the United States is losing ground in its efforts to provide security and democracy in Iraq; only 24 percent say the U.S. is making progress.

President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003 because he said Iraq was developing nuclear weapons. No weapons of mass destruction were found. More than 3,000 American troops have died in Iraq. Tens of thousands more have been wounded in Iraq and 34,000 Iraqis have lost their lives in Iraq.

Iraq has been plunged into increasing violence since the invasion ousted Iraq strongman Saddam Hussein. Saddam has since been hanged.

President Bush wants to add more than 20,000 U.S. troops to Iraq; Democrats who now control Congress are resisting that so-called surge strategy. President Bush does not want to withdraw forces from Iraq.

Taking a closer look at Americans' thoughts on the situation in Iraq, a majority now say they are not too confident (29 percent) or not at all confident (36 percent) that the Iraqi government will be able to control the violence and provide security to its citizens if U.S. troops are withdrawn. Twenty-two percent say they are somewhat confident and 5 percent say they are very confident, the poll shows. When it comes to U.S. political leadership, 55 percent of those polled say they have more faith in the Democratic congressional leaders to make decisions regarding Iraq policy, versus 32 percent who trust Bush to make better decisions. When asked whether Congress should try to block the additional funding Bush would need for additional troops, poll respondents were split evenly: 46 percent say lawmakers should, 46 percent say they should not.

Americans differ on what might result from increasing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, the poll shows. Sixty-seven percent say it is very or somewhat likely that it will lead to increased U.S. casualties without helping achieve our goals there; 62 percent say it is very or somewhat likely that it will make the Iraqis more dependent on U.S. military protection and only delay the time when they are ready to take responsibility for their own security; 33 percent say it is somewhat or very likely that it will give the Sunnis, Shias and Kurds time to settle their differences; and 42 percent say it is somewhat or very likely that it will help reduce violence in Baghdad. The poll shows Americans are also split on the United States' priorities in Iraq. Forty-six percent favor withdrawing troops as soon as possible to minimize the number of American casualties while 45 percent say we should maintain troop levels for at least another year or two to give Iraqis more time to settle their differences and reach a political settlement.


Bush Job Approval Low


President Bush's job approval rating remains at its all-time low in the Newsweek Poll: 31 percent. Sixty-two percent of those polled disapprove of how he is handling his job as president. Only 30 percent say they are satisfied with how things are going in the United States; 62 percent are dissatisfied. On the subject of Bush's leadership, 57 percent say he does not possess strong leadership qualities, 41 percent say he does. This represents a near reversal from Newsweek's September 29-30, 2005 Poll, in which 50 percent of those polled said he had strong leadership qualities while 47 percent said he did not.

In another turnaround from the September 29-30, 2005 poll, 54 percent of respondents in the latest poll say they do not think Bush is honest and ethical, versus 41 percent who say he is. Inthe earlier poll, 50 percent found him to be honest and ethical, while 45 percent did not. Only 35 percent of respondents in the most recent poll feel Bush cares about "people like them," versus 60 percent who do not.

For this Newsweek Poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates International interviewed 1,003 adults aged 18 and older on January 17-18, 2007. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.


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New Obama Site On Iraq Launched

A grassroots organization encouraging U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to run for president in 2008 announced the launch of ObamaWasRight.com, an affiliated website and blog dedicated to discussion and solution-finding on the issue of the war in Iraq, the group says.

The new site coincides with Obama filing paperwork to open an exploratory committee as a prelude to a White House campaign. Obama's top Democratic competition in the primaries could come from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York who is also mulling a 2008 run. Former Sen. John Edwards ofNorth Carolina is another prime contender for the Democratic nomination.

Obama reportedly will decide on a 2008 run by Feb. 10.

"We're incredibly excited about Obama's exploratory committee," says Ben Stanfield, founder of DraftObama.org. "It's a major step in our ultimate goal, seeing Senator Obama enter the presidential race. We've been working hard for the last few months to organize thousands of volunteers across all 50 states, and we'll continue that hard work right up to his announcement on Feb. 10th."

The website was launched today in response to strong interest from participants in the DraftObama.org movement for creating a forum specific to issues concerning the war. It highlights Obama's uniquely consistent position in opposition to the war in Iraq among the six leading presidential hopefuls in both parties, organizers say.

"Although he could easily be the 'I-told-you-so candidate,' Senator Obama has shown remarkable statesmanship by focusing not on the past, buton the future," says Stanfield. "Our new site,'ObamaWasRight.com' will become a leading forum for Americans whoappreciate that Senator Obama has been consistently opposed to the Iraq War, and who want to follow his lead, and help in the process of findingnon-partisan approaches to bringing our troops home."

President Bush launched the invasion of Iraq nearly four years ago. It has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 American service personnel. Polls have found Americans disapprove of the war in Iraq.

DraftObama.org is an all-volunteer grassroots organization supporting apresidential run by Senator Obama. Spearheaded by a growing collection ofvolunteers from around the country, the movement has grown from a singleweb page created by Ben Stanfield, a computer technician in Rockville, Md., to a national movement with tens of thousands of petition-signers, hundreds of volunteers in every state, and over half a million unique visitors tothe DraftObama.org site, site organizers say.

The movement gained national attention by airing the first television advertisement of the 2008 presidential election cycle, airing "Believe Again" in Washington, DC, New Hampshire, Iowa and Hawaii. The 60- second spot also reached many YouTube milestones, including moer than 100,000 viewings, site organizers add.


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NEWSWEEK: Army Ex-Vice Chief Knew That 'We Were in Deep S---'

Gen. Jack Keane, former Army vice chief of staff, was stepping down just as the insurgency in Iraq started in late spring 2003.

"I went to Iraq in June, looked at it and I knew we werein deep s---," Keane tells Newsweek. "I was going out the door. I felt frustrated. Frustrated with the situation, frustrated with myself andeverything else. And somewhat guilty because I knew how ill prepared the Army was to deal with it."

But Keane gave no public warnings. In Newsweek's January 22 issue (on newsstands Monday, January 15), national security correspondent John Barry and Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas report on why, to date, the military has received little criticism for its actions in Iraq despite all of the recriminations over the situation there--and why some in the armed forces now feel that the top brass should share the blame.

"Everyone recognizes that we made mistakes," says Keane. "The harder part is what to learn from them."

Now, Lt. Gen. David Petraeus has been chosen to find a better way in Iraq. For the past 14 months, Petraeus has supervised the writing of the Army's new field manual on counterinsurgency warfare, FM 3-24. Petraeus is a resourceful, imaginative commander who has shown an ability to adapt to rude surprises, write Barry and Thomas. But he will need to be creative, and he may need to do what generals do not like to do: tell the president that he's wrong, that Iraq cannot be won by more force, that the time has come to pull back. Even Petraeus's own strategy may have been overrun byevents.

"It's ironic," says one of the drafters of the new counterinsurgency manual. "We've finished the counterinsurgency manual just as Iraq looks like it's heading for civil war. We don't have a doctrine for that."

Part of the problem, report Barry and Thomas, was the lack of such a counterinsurgency plan after the invasion. When Gen. George Casey arrived at Baghdad headquarters as the commander of U.S.-led coalition forces, he asked his staff to set up a meeting with the HQ's counterinsurgency team. "His request was met with silence," reports retired Col. Douglas Macgregor, a gulf-war veteran and author of an admired study of combat organization. (There was no such staff or counterinsurgency plan.)

Army planners were not oblivious to the risks of a long occupation after a successful, lightning invasion. The pre-war chief of Central Command, Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, says, "The thing that kept getting us was: if you go into Iraq you aregoing to inherit a broken society."

But his successor, Gen. Tommy Franks, concentrated almost entirely on the invasion--and essentially ignored postwar planning. Sens. John Warner and Carl Levin, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, respectivelym asked Franks why.

"He said hewas told to stay the hell out of it" by his civilian boss, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Levin recalls. (Franks denies this.)

Keane tells Newsweek that Franks believed that the postwar planning, known as Phase Four, was the responsibility of a different general, retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, the head of the tiny, understaffed Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (who in turn was soon replaced by a civilian, Ambassador Paul Bremer).

"Franks was dead wrong, and I don't believe he did this thing right, but he literally washed his hands of this Phase Four stuff," says Keane, speaking with unusual bluntness about a fellow officer. (Franks disagrees, pointing out that Garner served under him.)

In and around Baghdad, report Barry and Thomas, the Army's approach was"kinetic"; it would use firepower and brute force. Untrained incounterinsurgency, the commander of the Fourth Infantry Division, Lt. Gen.Ray Odierno, ordered his men to kick in doors and arrest any man who looked like an insurgent. Overflowing their cells at Abu Ghraib, the prisoners became targets of poorly trained, overwhelmed guards. The consequences toAmerica's image in Iraq--and in the Arab and Muslim worlds--were disastrous. (Odierno, who has recently gone back to Baghdad, insisted in an earlier interview with Newsweek that he had not been heavy-handed.)

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Many GOP Senators Also Not Enthusiastic About Surge

Some Republican senators are joining Democrats in criticizing the plan President Bush announced last week to surge the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by more than 20,000.

Sectarian violence has increasingly plagued Iraq since the U.S. invasion four years ago. More than 3,000 Americans have lost their lives in the conflict. President Bush's approval ratings have fallen dramatically, due in large part to his handling of the Iraq war.

The U.S. Senate last week questioned senior administration officials about the plan to send the additional troops to Iraq to try to control the situation.

Sen. Sam Brownback, Republican from Kansas and a potential 2008 GOP presidential candidate, said in comments from Baghdad said escalation is not the answer to the conflict.

"I do not believe that sending more troops to Iraq is the answer. Iraq requires a political rather than a military solution," Brownback said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Sen. Jim Bunning, Republican from Kentucky, is also skeptical of sending more U.S. troops.

"You bet I'mskeptical ... I would rather see us maintain our current level and get themout of harm's way and put Iraqi security forces in harm's way," Bunning told the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper.

GOP Sen. Norm Coleman says he opposes President Bush's escalation plan.

"And to put the lives of Americans soldiers -- more, in the center of that, without first having something that's substantial, something we can point to, other than this sense of trust, other than looking someone in the eye, having a conversation. I'm not prepared, at this time, to support that. It's -- the cost is too great," the lawmaker from Minnesota said in a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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