Local Marine Fatally Shot

A marine from Indiana County has been killed in Afghanistan. The Marine Corps says 21 year old Lance Corporal Joshua Twigg of Indiana, Pennsylvania died of gunshot wounds Thursday in Helmand Province. Corporal Twigg was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7 based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Corporal Twigg was a 2007 graduate of Penns Manor High School in Indiana County. He served in Iraq from September 2008 to April 2009 and deployed to Afghanistan in July.

Pennsylvania Man Member of Human Terrain Teams

They're called "Human Terrain Teams." They help give the U.S. military commanders insight into the culture of the civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. A Pennsylvania man helps prepare the 5-member teams at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Harry Pecote, a 49-year-old father of six from Erie, Pennsylvania is a Civil Affairs Officer in the army. He train officers, anthropologists and political scientists to be members of human terrain teams.

Pecote says the team members get to know civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan in an effort to promote peace and reduce military and civilian deaths.
"We're not seeking ideally the local government official or police chief. We want to know what is the true mindset of the person in the street, what does the village really feel, what do they think. Often there is a disconnect between what the local government says and what the local population is truly thinking."

Pecote says during his trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, he's noticed that every region in each country is different....
"Village by village, it will vary and that's one of the problems we have as a military and as Americans in general. We look at people as Iraqis or Aghanis and that would be like saying someone from Western Pennsylvania is the same as someone from Eastern Pennsylvania whereas the people grew up with different cultures, different perspectives."

When he's not serving, he owns and operates an antique shop.

The program started in 2006. The teams typically consist of five members. Several hundred have been deployed since it started. Three have died.
It has been criticized by anthropology groups who see it as a way to weaponize anthropology.

PA Lawmaker/Guardsman Returns From Iraq

A Delaware County lawmaker is back at the state Capitol after a tour in Iraq.
Freshman Republican Nick Miccarelli spent just a few weeks in the House before heading to southern Iraq with the Pennsylvania National Guard.
He served as a tail gunner in a Blackhawk helicopter.
Addressing the chamber on his first day back, Micarelli said he and Cumberland County Republican Scott Perry, who's also in the Guard's 28th Combat Aviation Brigade, learned a lot about life's contrasts.

"And Scott and I would go from laughing in the chow hall and arguing politics to hiding in bunkers hoping that the rockets didn't land too close. This chamber, we legislate in peace, while in Iraq government buildings are routinely blown up by car bombs

He says he feels like he's back where he left off in January, recounting a phone conversation he had with Representative Bill Adolph earlier this year.

"He's like, Nick, you know, it stinks you're over there, but I'll tell you - at least you won't have to deal with any of these budget bills. And I get home and the first thing I'm doing is voting on a budget bill for this past fiscal year. So, here we go."


Miccarelli has served three overseas tours. Perry is still in Iraq. He's scheduled to come back over the next few months.

Protest of President's Plan for Afghanistan

Peace groups plan to protest President Obama’s plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and to demand an end to the war. several peace groups will hold an emergency protest demanding an end to the war.
Pete Shell of the Thomas Merton Center Antiwar Committee says the longer the military stays there, the more resistance will grow. "The war is unpopular, it’s unwinnable, and it’s wrong.”
The president says the troops are needed because the situation has deteriorated and the additional personnel will help train the Afghan military so they can take over the job of security sooner. Mr. Obama says troops would start leaving in July 2011.

The protests are part of a nationwide day of actions sponsored by a wide variety of antiwar and peace groups, including the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations, United For Peace and Justice, Code Pink, Iraq Veterans Against the War, ANSWER, and others.

The Pittsburgh protest will take place this evening at 6 o'clock in Schenley Plaza in the Oakland part of Pittsburgh. Legal observers from the ACLU are expected to be present in order to help ensure that protesters’ constitutional rights are respected. That's the scene of more than 100 arrests during the G20 Summit in September.

Atryker Brigade Arriving Home

After nine months in Iraq, Pennsylvania Guard soldiers are now reuniting with their families in Pennsylvania.
With dramatic music playing in the background, two busloads of soldiers marched into a room at Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County, while their families waved and cheered.
They'd completed a tour of duty in Iraq, and are now backed with their loved ones.
Once the members of the 56th Strkyer Brigade were dismissed, Lieutenant Douglas Belfiure of Glassport, Allegheny County, was swarmed by his three children, wife, mother and father.

"Three kids makes it hard, but my wife did a wonderful job taking care of them, and (I'm) just glad to be home with them."

Belfiure's mother, Pauline, says the family will spend the next few days catching up.

"We're going to troop around, and then we're going to spend the weekend in Gettysburg and Lancaster."

Soldiers will keep trickling back home for another few weeks. Guard officials say they'll all be back by the middle of the month.

PA Troops Provide Security for Iraqi Lawmaker Meetings

More than 300 Pennsylvania National Guard troops returned home from Iraq Tuesday after serving more than six months of combat operations north of Baghdad. They are the first wave of more than 4,000 members of the 56th Stryker Brigade to return to the U.S.

Some of the soldiers have gotten a first hand look at Iraq’s fledgling Democratic government’s efforts to take shape.
Scott Detrow, who reports for DUQ and WITF in Harrisburg, was recently embedded with the brigade for 4 weeks. Scott rode along as two platoons provided security for a meeting of regional lawmakers.
Listen to the full story.

No Charges in Death of Shaler Green Beret

No criminal charges will be filed against defense contractor KBR Incorporated in the death of 24 year old Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth of suburban Pittsburgh. The green beret from Shaler was electrocuted while taking a shower in his barracks in Baghdad. The Pentagon Inspector General said Sergeant Maseth died when he came in contact with a metal shower that became electrified due to a failed underground water pump installed by KBR. The Pentagon says there's insufficient evidence to prove that anyone is criminally culpable.

PA Strykers Keep Lines Open

In addition to its presence on Camp Taji, the Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Strkyer Brigade mans nine smaller bases called "joint service stations" with the Iraqi Army. It takes a lot to keep them running, including fuel, water and food -- and it's the 328th Brigade Support Battalion's job to get those supplies there. To do tat they have to travel less than safe roads in trucks that are not always up to the riggers of the trip. Listen to a longer version of the story here.
To here all the stories in this series click on the "IRAQ EMBED" Label below.

PA Soldiers Losing State Stipends

The effect of the commonwealth's ongoing budget impasse is being felt as far away as Iraq. A significant number of Pennsylvania National Guard troops deployed there are state employees.
They've been getting a 500-dollar stipend from the commonwealth each month but like all other government payments, that's been halted. The last checks, until a spending plan is passed, went out a week ago.
Sergeant Robert Meghahen a corrections officer from Altoona, says he's thankful he's receiving full military pay during the impasse...

"Like right now, I know?I feel it's going to be passed by the time I get back to work. And it's not going to have that big of an adverse effect on me, the state budget, but I'm just really concerned about my friends who have kids and mortgages and stuff."

Sergeant Richard Snyder of Lebanon, who works for PennDOT, says the budget negotiations and possible layoffs leave him uneasy...

"I'm already having a hard time even though I'm making pretty good money now with my family. But I have five kids to support, so what's going to happen when we get back?"


Soldiers are regularly checking the news to keep up to speed with negotiations.
Many of them say they blame Governor Rendell for the impasse, and are angry their friends and co-workers aren't getting paychecks.
Rendell would not definitively say whether the stipends would be restored in a temporary "bridge" budget he could sign next week.

Where Do Strykers Go When They Get Sick?

Members of the Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigade who are injured or sick make their way to a squat building at Camp Taji, Iraq. It's just down the road from the base's dining facility. It's the home of the unit's medical team, nicknamed "Charlie Med." The team is more likely to treat the flu than it is a combat wound but they are always ready to answer the call. However Scott Detrow reports that does not keep hem from have a wheelchair race or two on the slow nights. Listen to a longer version of the story here. To here all the stories in this series click on the "IRAQ EMBED" Label below.

PA National Guard Looks For Buried Weapons in Iraq

Communicating and cooperating with the Iraqi Army is one of the main challenges members of the Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigrade are facing during deployment. Brigrade members are about 6 months into a 9 month tour in Iraq. Scott Detrow, who reports for WDUQ, WITF in Harrisburg and other Pennsylvania Public Radio stations, is embedded with the brigade for three weeks. For this story, he accompanied a platoon, plus some Iraqi soldiers as they searched for buried weapons. Listen to the report.
Photos: top left: Sergeant Michael Raley outside Iraqi Army barracks; center left: Soldiers wait with Iraqi Captain Abbas; bottom left: Captain Abbas questions Iraqi woman.

Listen to an interview with Brigade Commander Colonel Marc Ferraro

Listen to a report by Scott Detrow as he undergoes training at a camp in Georgia to prepare to be embedded with the Stryker Brigade

PA National Guard Brigade in Iraq

The Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigade is a bit more than two thirds of the way through a nine month tour in Iraq. Scott Detrow, who usually reports from the state capitol for WDUQ as well as WITF in Harrisburg and other Pennsylvania Public Radio stations, is embedded with the brigade for three weeks. Two members of the brigade have been killed during this current tour. Detrow sat down with the unit's commander, Colonel Marc Ferraro at their headquarters at Camp Taji to discuss their mission. Listen to the interview with Colonel Ferraro.

Gearing Up for War Reporting

Reporter Scott Detrow usually covers the Pennsylvania capitol for WDUQ but for the next few weeks he will be covering the Pennsylvania National Guard troops stationed in Iraq. He begins a three-week embed tomorrow. As he began gearing up for the assignment, he didn't really know where to start. He says a recent weeklong "Hostile Environment" training course in Georgia helped a great deal. It covered everything from what to do if you find yourself in the middle of a minefield to how to handle yourself in a riot or a firefight. Detrow says the trainer told him not to worry too much. He says it is more likely to get food poisoning in Iraq than it is to be shot.

Listen to a longer version of this story.

Lawyer says DC Case Has No Impact on Murtha Suit in PA

A federal appeals court judge in Washington DC has put an end to the defamation suit filed against congressman John Murtha but a Johnstown attorney says he thinks his suit will be allowed to go to trial. The ruling Tuesday specifically spoke to the suit filed by Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich who claimed defamation when Murtha called the marines involved in the November 2005 killings in Haditha Iraq “cold blooded killers.” Attorney Noah Geary says the suit filed by his client, Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt, goes much deeper and has Pennsylvania law in its corner. Geary says D.C. law allows a judge to decided if Murtha’s comments were outside of his job duties but in Pennsylvania that question needs to be answered by a judge. Geary says he expects the Department of Justice lawyer assigned the case to weave the D.C. ruling into his brief which are due April 20th but he says he thinks he has strong legal arguments to file against those claims. The suit filed by Sharratt also included constitutional arguments. Geary says the suit claims the Marine’s 6th amendment right to a fair trial was violated when Murtha made his comments on TV shows. He says Murtha also violated 5th and 14th amendment protections on due process.

Former CIA Officer Speaks on Waterboarding

A former CIA officer says he believes waterboarding is torture. John Kiriakou is speaking at the University of Pittsburgh today on ethics in intelligence. Kiriakou was involved in the questioning of Abu Zubaida, the first high-ranking al-Qaeda member captured after 9-11. Abu Zubaida was uncooperative until his captors submitted him to waterboarding. Kiriakou had already moved on to another assignment by that time.
Kiriakou is conflicted on waterboarding. He says in the short window after 9-11, he thinks the United States needed to do whatever it took to forestall another attack. But he says he believes the United States now needs to take the moral high road.
Kiriakou says he's had a mixed response from his former colleagues on his decision to speak out. He says about a third believe he should have kept his mouth shut; another third have supported him. He says another third have told him they are similarly conflicted on the issue.

Army Colonel Says Iraqi Police Still Need Support

Iraqi police need the continued backing of Coalition forces, according to a U.S. Army Colonel who's speaking in Pittsburgh today. Thomas Evans is a member of the Current Affairs Panel at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle. He says the challenge in Iraq has been training about 300,000 police officers after law enforcement there had completely disintegrated. Evans says Coalition forces have trained the officers, put them on a standardized radio system, and equipped them. Now, he says, they're regaining the trust of the Iraqi people, who had become accustomed to paying bribes if they wanted to report a crime.
Still, he says, some corruption remains. For the short term, and Evans says he doesn't know how to define "short term," he believes Coalition forces need to be in Iraq to make sure police keep control.
The Current Affairs Panel is speaking at the University of Pittsburgh's student union at 4 pm and will be at libraries in Mount Lebanon and Peters Township later tonight.