Salem-News Editor Tim King Joins Veterans Today 

VeteransToday.com welcomes Tim King to it’s columnist team.

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com’s Executive News Editor.

Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting.

Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon.

View Tim King’s Most Recent Articles on VeteransToday.com

A member of West Chester University’s history faculty since 1986, Dr. Davidson earned his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and completed his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Alberta in Canada, respectively. View his latest articles

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

By Senior Editor Gordon Duff

Gilad served in the IDF during the 1982 conflict, a paramedic, but has noted that he is more than a bit uncomfortable with Israel’s policies. I feel much that way about the United States. Gil is joining like minded people from more than a few countries.

We are simply happy to have gained a decent saxophone. He is that and a bit more.

Those of you unfamiliar with Atzmon can buy his novels (2) or his music (much) or visit his website. More risky, is reading what others have written about him. Best stick to reading what Gil has written. I recommend this, not just to learn about him but to have the joy of seeing someone live with courage. He certainly does that.

I hope this is how we all want to define ourselves, our imperfect selves, in a world increasingly undefinable each day.

I know of Atzmon from Ian Dury and the Blockheads, the punk band he joined in the late 90s. He has moved on and does 100 concerts a year.

During 2011, read all of Gilad Atzmon’s posts on VeteransToday.com here on his Gilad Atzmon Profile Page.

by John P. Allen

Sibel Edmonds

Sibel Edmonds, national radio and TV commentator on matters related to whistleblowers, national security, and excessive secrecy & classification who has been featured on CBS 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The American Conservative, and others has joined VeteransToday.com as a staff writer.

Edmonds is the founder and president of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers. The PEN American Center awarded Ms. Edmonds the 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award for her “commitment to preserving the free flow of information in the United States in a time of growing international isolation and increasing government secrecy”. She is also the recipient of the 2004 Sam Adams Foundation Award.

Ms. Edmonds worked as a language specialist for the FBI’s Washington Field Office. During her work with the bureau, she discovered and reported serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence that had national security implications. After she reported these acts to FBI management, she was retaliated against and ultimately fired in March 2002.

Since that time, court proceedings on her issues have been blocked by the assertion of “State Secrets Privilege”, and the Congress of the United States has been gagged and prevented from any discussion of her case through retroactive re-classification issued by the Department of Justice.

Ms. Edmonds began her career in 1993 as Project Director for the Rostropovich Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian organization providing medical and food aid to children of the former Soviet Union. She re-located to St. Petersburg, Russia and managed correspondence, shipments, inventory and security precautions in the largest children’s hospital in St. Petersburg.

Later, she worked as the Executive Director & Co-Founder of Edmonds Industries, a Consulting and Holding Company, investing in international business and residential real estate development. Ms. Edmonds also worked as a volunteer for the Alexandria CASA program (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for abused children, and as an instructor for the Alexandria Office on Women’s Domestic Violence Program.

Ms. Edmonds has a MA in Public Policy and International Commerce from George Mason University, a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University, and AA degree in Science from NVCC. She is certified as a Court Appointed Special Advocate and as an instructor for the Women’s Domestic Violence Program. She is fluent in Turkish, Farsi and Azerbaijani. She is also founder and publisher of Boiling Frogs Post

View Sibel Edmond’s Latest Posts on VeteransToday.com >>>

Veterans Today (www.veteranstoday.com) is pleased to announce the appointment of Lt. General Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), to its Editorial Board of Directors, joining, among others, Jeff Gates, Dr. Alan Sabrosky, Col. Jim Hanke, Gordon Duff, Khalil Nouri and Col. Eugene Khrushchev.

Gul began his military career in 1958 and helped lead forces allied to the United States during the effort to end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Controversial Spy Cheif, Often Misquoted, Joins Veterans Today

Veterans Today believes that General Hamid Gul, one of the most controversial figures of our era, is the kind of person we need, a true friend to American veterans and our military, someone to consistently tells the truth. With America a nation threatened on all sides, led into disaster by liars, weaklings and those with questionable foreign allegiances, Gul’s “straight talk” and “shooting from the hip” has been a breath of fresh air for those Americans lucky enough to hear his unedited and undistorted views. Gul has stuck to the truth even when demonized for it.

Hamid Gul is one of the most respected authorities on the Middle East and South Asia, continually turned to by western military and intelligence leaders when the chips are down. With lifelong personal friendships that stretch the great divide from the Pentagon to Langley and beyond and wide respect from elements critical of the United States, Gul has been an enigmatic figure, one often seen as a threat to the “party line” scripted by Washington’s powerful Israel lobby.

If anything, Gul faces criticism in Pakistan for having too many American friends and for his loyalty to the United States, a loyalty he fears some American leaders themselves no longer share.

Gul’s recent “interview” with the Washington Post was widely misquoted. His challenges to them to compare their misrepresentations against their own audio tapes of his interview go unanswered. Similarly, we found that a 2001 “interview” with UPI, one published around the world right after 9/11, never happened at all but was fabricated out of thin air. This is typical.

General Gul became a controversial figure for being among the first to question the cover story for 9/11, that a few men with box cutters and no logistical support managed to pull off one of the largest military operations in history. As former head of one of the world’s most effective intelligence agencies and a soldier of considerable operational experience, Gul immediately challenged 9/11 and the subsequent disastrous Bush era “War on Terror” warning the United States that it was being manipulated and victimized from within and without.

History has proven General Hamid Gul to have been absolutely correct.

General Gul’s assessments of geopolitics are always fact based, incisive and well considered. When he challenged the rationale for the Bush era war on terror, pointing out broad inconsistencies in the 9/11 cover story, his response was measured, based on a lifetime of service as both a military officer and the former head of the top five intelligence agencies in the World.

His choices were dishonest silence or speaking up and risking the ire of the Cheney/Rumsfeld “Zionist” consensus, intent on unleashing a juggernaut that would drive America’s military into decades of unresolved conflict that would likely destabilize and collapse government after government.

America was building a factory for terrorism, fueled by debt and economic collapse, fueled by the lives of American soldiers, fueled by American hubris and producing only poverty, extremism and endless war.

Gul spoke out in 2001. To silence him, he has been accused of sneaking into Afghanistan and training the Taliban or having continual meetings with long dead Osama bin laden. Those of us who know Gul personally find this outlandish, even humorous. Who needs to train or even fund the Taliban, soldiers from birth, awash in American cash, overflow from the tens of billions of dollars funneled to insurgents in Afghanistan by Kabul and Washington?

Every fuel truck that heads into Afghanistan, and hundreds do each week, the United States pays the Taliban $3000 to let it through unharmed. Dozens of other American schemes not only arm the Taliban but American allies like Israel see to it they have state of the art encrypted communications, keeping them one step ahead of Americas efforts to control Afghanistan.

There is business to be done in Afghanistan, drugs, weapons and billions in “development projects” that suck in money but never seem to materialize.

No one speaks of the $65 billion in heroin Afghanistan, formerly drug free under the Taliban, is now exporting to the world or the 10% of Afghanis now dying a slow death as addicts.

General Hamid Gul had it right all along. With the vast majorityof Americans either openly opposed to the war in Afghanistan or utterly oblivious to it, a majority tired of paying for the war, tired of hearing war news, tired of hearing about wounded soldiers, homeless veterans, a vast majority more frightened of losing their homes, their jobs, Gul predicted it all years ago.

America isn’t going down by itself. Paksitan is circling the drain with it. Only profiteers, politicians and certain powerful members of the “established” press seem tireless in their prosecution of policies of entropy and destruction.

He is also a social entrepreneur utilizing direct action marine conservation, he is more widely known for leading the human shield action to Iraq and as a survivor of the Israeli attack on the MV Mavi Marmara in which he participated in “defending the ship” and “disarming two Israeli Commandos”.

On January 7, 2004, O’Keefe burned his US passport in protest of “American Imperialism” and called for US troops to immediately withdrawal from Iraq. He replaced his US passport with a “World Passport”, subsequently proclaiming himself a “Citizen of the World” with “ultimate allegiance to my entire human family and to planet Earth.”   His is also legal citizen of Ireland and Palestine citizenship.

With over 50 esteemed staff writers filing over 11,000 articles to date, VeteransToday.com is now the largest independent media news blog for U.S. Veterans on the net.

Check out Ken O’Keefe’s posts on VeteransToday.com

Last month, we were at 190,000 unique visitors. For May 2010, we had 311,086 unique visitors. That’s a 39% increase…that is massive crazy!

We had over 22 million hits!  Amazing!

IAVA was founded in 2004 by current Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff and his fellow Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. After returning home from their tours, these veterans came together after quickly becoming concerned with the way the war in Iraq was being portrayed in the media and the overall plight of newly returned veterans. There were many policy experts and talking heads on TV, but very few people who had actually served on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan. There was no one talking about what our wounded friends needed and the issues they faced. The creation of IAVA allowed thousands of veterans to join the national dialogue, and to explain what was really happening on the ground overseas and back home in the US.

There are looking for smart, talented candidates to fill the following positions:

1. Online Strategy Associate: Help our innovative, effective, and growing Online department create and implement web-based campaigns to support all of IAVA’s efforts. Candidates must have a demonstrated interest in New Media and basic experience with HTML and Photoshop.
2. Deputy Communications Director: This is a job of significant responsibility. The successful candidate will work closely with Communications Director to draft strategic media plans for key organizational campaigns. Applications must show several years of experience in Communications with demonstrated success.
3. Communications Associate: Play a key role in executing our media and messaging strategy, including writing press releases, pitching media and fielding press requests. Previous experience in communications highly preferred.
   For all positions, high-quality writing skills are a must. A college degree is also required.

Read the full job descriptions and follow the instructions for applying, available here: www.iava.org/content/jobs-and-internships OR view their jobs posted on HireVeterans.com and apply now!

Col. Evgeny Khrushchev

Colonel Evgeny Khrushchev, a military analyst at RT. (Russia Television)  has joined the Editorial Board of VeteransToday.com

Chairman of the Editorial Board Gordon P. Duff says “Col. Khrushchev is a valued addtion to our board as he’s a wealth of experience and knowledge especially during this time of war in Afghanistan.

Contrary to the family tradition, Col. Khrushchev didn’t apply to Vladivostok Navy Academy to join the Pacific Fleet but enrolled in the Red Banner Institute specializing in Central Asian affairs.

In afghanistan, he was a PSYOPS officer of the 56th Airborne Assault Brigade in Gardez, Paktia, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan First Secretary of the Russian Embassy in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

In Yugoslavia, he was part of the Russian Airborne peace-keeping mission under the aegis of UNPROFOR.
In the United States of American, his mission is promote rapport & rapprochement between Russian & American veterans, in close cohesion with US military attaché General Reppert and Special Forces General Metaxis.
He also;

* Led the 1st delegation of Soviet Afghan Vets to the US at the invitation of VVA & VVC
* Addressed SOLIC Command and JFK Special Warfare School
* Consulted CBS 60 Minutes on the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan
* Interviewed by ABC 20/20 and Discovery Channel
* Featured by France Press, Boston Globe and USN& WR during the 1st Moscow putsch.

Inspired by Chinese strategy, Persian Sufi poetry and British cats he is also addicted to Country & Blues and American muscle cars.

Previously, it was a module within our VeteransToday.com site.  However, once we made the switch from a PHP Nuke platform to a WordPress platform for VeteransToday.com, a strategic decision was made to make the Forum it’s own’s site within the network and use the same PHPbb platform that supports Forum postings.

Seperating the data was no easy task.  Yet we hope worth it.

This move makes our updates easier and less complex.  Moreover, it’s our hope is that those users who want a Forum can use it exclusively as a Forum and not be bombarded with other stuff.