Showing posts with label Iraq war ends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq war ends. Show all posts

Sunday, June 15, 2014

National Press Playing Psyops Pushing War

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 15, 2014

If you read about Iraq veterans wanting to go back into Iraq, that is exactly what the national press wants you to know. They don't seem too interested in giving voice to the countless veterans believing they should not have been sent there in the first place. They give even less voice to those who know first hand how the VA was not ready to take care of any of them when they were getting wounded in Iraq as well as in Afghanistan. The national press decided long ago that history did not matter. Why look up facts when they have such a salacious story today? Trouble with the VA is like porn to them because they are allowed to freely blame anyone and everyone, except themselves, much like they did with pushing to send troops into Iraq back in 2003.

It seems that they always give greater voice to the opposing team. Hey, why not? After all it worked so well for them all these years. They have been playing psyops like pros!
PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS SPECIALIST
OVERVIEW

As a member of the Army special operations community, the psychological operations specialist is primarily responsible for the analysis, development and distribution of intelligence used for information and psychological effect.

JOB DUTIES

Research and analyze methods of influencing foreign population from a variety of information sources Operate and maintain equipment such as ground tactical vehicles and shelter systems, loudspeaker systems, state of the art computers, analog and digital recording and playback devices and communication systems

Travel to overseas locations in peace, crisis and conflict to assist U.S. and foreign governments, militaries and civilian populations
The press pulled it on us, at least those of us incapable of remembering the last time troops were sent to fight against the Iraqi Army, when they had a real Army.
Richard Stengel: When we got into the Iraq war we didn’t know how long it would last. When we got into the Iraq war we didn’t know how much it would cost. It’s lasted longer, it’s cost more than we ever expected. The real toll is coming out now. The Pentagon is releasing a report saying, one in five American serviceman and women who have been in Iraq are coming back with brain injuries. Mild, traumatic brain injuries. More than 250,000 people. That legacy of that will last all of our life times and it’s incalculable.

The problem is this guy was managing editor of TIME when he said that. I was wondering what part of dinosaur stuck in tar pit he didn't understand. That was what General Schwarzkopf said about sending troops into Iraq after getting them out of Kuwait.
Schwarzkopf: On the question of going to Baghdad. If you remember the Vietnam war, we had no international legitimacy for what we did. As a result we, first of all, lost the battle of world public opinion and eventually we lost the battle at home.
In the Gulf War we had great international legitimacy in the form of eight United Nations Resolutions, every one of which said "Kick Iraq out of Kuwait", did not say one word about going into Iraq, taking Baghdad, conquering the whole country and hanging Saddam Hussein. That's point number one.

Point number two, had we gone on to Baghdad, I don't believe the French would have gone and I'm quite sure that the Arab coalition would not have gone, the coalition would have ruptured and the only people that would have gone would have been the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

And, oh by the way, I think we'd still be there, we'd be like a dinosaur in a tar pit, we could not have gotten out and we'd still be the occupying power and we'd be paying one hundred percent of all the costs to administer all of Iraq.

They knew what was coming. They knew how many years it would take. They knew how many wounded they should have planned for as well as how many veterans would need care for the rest of their lives.

Jon Soltz Co-Founder of VoteVets.org, served as a Captain in Operation Iraqi Freedom and wrote this on the Huffington Post back in 2008.
Today's release of the Army's latest mental health survey provides very little to be happy about. In the past, I've talked repeatedly about mental injuries in war, so I won't rehash all of that again. But here are the highlights from today's report:

Despite all the talk about how wonderful things are in Iraq, the overwhelming majority of troops in Iraq continue to say that morale in their units and their own morale is low. Just 11 percent reported that their unit's morale was "high or very high." Only 20 percent said their own morale was "high or very high."

Afghanistan, which is quickly becoming the 'forgotten war' for Bush/McCain, is finding a worsening of the mental health among our troops there. Preliminary reports are that there has been a rise in the amount of troops in Afghanistan reporting depression. In Iraq, troops report the same level of depression as last year.

Combined, the findings are highly troubling. What it tells me, and any person with an elementary school education, is that for all the talk of success in Iraq, the troops aren't feeling that, at all. At the same time, we're crushing our troops in Afghanistan, who have done heroic work there with little help, but now are feeling increasingly overwhelmed.


Everyone seems so upset about the VA and "two sets of books" but the original two sets kept by the Pentagon were forgotten about. Back in 2008 the Pentagon was keeping two sets of books on the wounded
"The Pentagon keeps two sets of books," said Linda Bilmes, a professor at Harvard and an expert on budgeting and public finance whose newly published book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War," was co-authored with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

"It is important to understand the full number of casualties because the U.S. government is responsible for paying disability compensation and medical care for all our troops, regardless of how they were injured," Bilmes said.

The war in Iraq was supposed to end in 2009, but yet again, the national press won't remind anyone of what they reported on way back when it mattered. The War's Expiration Date, on the Washington Post By Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway was published on April 5, 2008.
A crucial yet overlooked deadline looms over the Iraq debate: Unless further action is taken, the war will become illegal on Jan. 1, 2009.

Despite protestations to the contrary, Congress clearly understood that it was authorizing the president to intervene militarily when it passed its joint resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq in October 2002. But it did not give him a blank check. It allowed for the use of force only under two conditions.

The first has long since lapsed. It permitted the president to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq." This threat came to an end with the destruction of Saddam Hussein's government. It makes no sense to say that it continues today, or that our "national security" is "threatened by" the Iraqi government headed by Nouri al-Maliki.

Instead, U.S. military intervention is authorized under the second prong of the 2002 resolution. This authorizes the president to "enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq." This has allowed the Bush administration to satisfy American law by obtaining a series of resolutions authorizing the United States to serve as the head of the multinational force in Iraq.

But here's the rub. The most recent U.N. resolution expires on Dec. 31, and the administration has announced that it will not seek one for 2009. Instead, it is now negotiating a bilateral agreement with the Iraqi government to replace the U.N. mandate.

Whatever this agreement contains, it will not fill the legal vacuum. That's because the administration is not planning to submit this new agreement to Congress for its explicit approval. Since the Constitution gives the power to "declare war" to Congress, the president can't ignore the conditions imposed on him in 2002 without returning for a new grant of authority. He cannot substitute the consent of the Iraqi government for the consent of the U.S. Congress.

USA Today, Gregg Zoroya reported that "More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show." At the same time a vote in the House on funding for the wars brought 132 representatives voting "present" instead of having the courage to vote "yea or nay."

Yet aside from fighting two wars, there was the other factor of PTSD and not enough working in the DOD to care for mental health casualties.
The military has had trouble finding enough mental health professionals to deal with a wave of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems among servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Mental health providers are in short supply across the country. This is no secret, it's well established. It's a struggle to get people the right provider in any state in the country," said Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.


Military lags on suicide prevention
In 2006, 30 soldiers and Marines committed suicide while serving in the war in Iraq, the most in any year since it began in 2003, according to information released by the Defense Manpower Data Center in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Bee.

This year is on track to meet or surpass that number with at least 27 suicides so far in 2007.

Soldiers and Marines are being required to serve on the front lines for longer than any time in U.S. military history, according to a report on mental health by the Army's Office of the Surgeon General.

The Sacramento Bee reported this in 2007.

Four Erie County Soldiers committed suicide
Top left, Airman Andrew Norlund, praised for his work ethic, was frustrated and angry. Top right, Sgt. Matthew A. Proulx, a soldier to the end, had no interest in seeking help. Bottom left, Staff Sgt. Justin Reyes, a proven leader in Iraq, was troubled back in the U.S. Bottom right, Sgt. Gary Underhill loved the Army life, but had nightmares and anxiety.
That was reported by Buffalo News in 2007.

It is great to report on what is happening right now to keep the public informed however, it is even better to remind them once in a while how today's news came to be. What happened matters because the ramifications live on.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Iraq War Ended But Not For Veterans

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 13, 2014
Some Iraq veterans are thinking Coalition forces gave up on Iraq too soon. Others think they should have not been sent in the first place. All of you are dealing with your own service facing the news that Iraq is falling apart as a bitter civil war begins.

The truth is, wars are never really honest and few are righteous. You need to know that what you did was honest and righteous because you did it for each other.

That is the reality Vietnam veterans have been living with after they saw the fall of Saigon. They thought their lives were wasted and the fallen died needlessly. If you look at your service that way, that is all you see. If you truly think about it, the reasons you risked your life, you see that it was all about the ones you served with and there is no shame in that.

Wars are started and ended by politicians. They are fought by Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors. Politicians come and go out of office. War veterans are veterans for the rest of your lives. When wars start and when they end is all up to them. What they do for you or to you afterwards is also up to them. What you do for each other, is always the same. Anything it takes to keep more of your buddies alive.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Paradise lost to veterans back home

Paradise lost to veterans back home
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 22, 2013

“The mind is its own place,
and in itself can make
a heaven of hell,
a hell of heaven..”
John Milton, Paradise Lost
Noble reasons make them join. They use words like duty, honor, country but most of the time they discover it really wasn't about any of those. Why choose that duty? Why choose military life for honor? Why choose it for their country? There are so many other careers they could enter into that would serve all of those, yet they choose the hardest, most demanding and dangerous job they could do in order to serve.

The reason is discovered when they are asked why they were willing to die. It was for each other.

Presidents come and go but they stay. Wars are begun by Congress and they leave office but the deployed troops stay. For many, they never thought of doing anything else with their lives. For others, as with draftees up to the Gulf War, "fate" was used to explain why they didn't refuse orders.

Wars can be a mistake and leaders can regret their decisions to start them. The people can regret supporting the belief that the cause was worth the lives that would be lost and the thousands of lives forever changed along with the treasury spent but their regrets come with a heavy price. A price that cannot simply be forgotten as their attention moves onto other things, as if they had no obligation of their own to the men and women they sent.

When troops were sent into Iraq, the American public and politicians no longer talked of troops in Afghanistan and the media focused on Iraq. Protestors took the streets against the Iraq war but no one held signs for Afghanistan even though thousands of troops remained there from many nations.

While the war in Iraq ended, troops remain in Afghanistan. The general public soured on Iraq long before the last troops left with few remaining there and now it appears they have changed their minds about Afghanistan as well. 66% think sending troops into Afghanistan was not worth the price paid but the true price paid will not be tallied until those sent are all laid to rest.

“Innocence, Once Lost,
Can Never Be Regained.
Darkness, Once Gazed Upon,
Can Never Be Lost.”
John Milton
The American people forget too easily but the troops cannot. They cannot forget the lives of those they served side by side with. They cannot forget the scars on their bodies or the cuts to their souls. They cannot forget that once they heard cheers as they left this land but returned to silence, ambivalence and ignorance. The nation was not committed to either war, asked to pay no price, shown no reminder of what they asked of them so it was easy to forget them.
“Silence was pleased.”

We settled. We settled for the Department of Defense telling us that they were doing everything to take care of them as the number of suicides and attempted suicides went up even though the number of enlisted personnel declined. We settled when they told us that most of the suicides were not tied to deployments but did not ask what was so wrong with their mental health evaluations for recruits they missed mental illness before handing them weapons. We settled when their "resilience" training was not even enough to help the non-deployed stay alive. We settled for the congress spending billions on what was clearly not working and refusing to hold one single hearing on who was to be held accountable.
“Our cure,
to be no more;
sad cure! ”

As the number of servicemen and women suicides went up, so did the number of veterans. They survived combat doing whatever it took to stay alive, enduring hardship after hardship, longing for home and creature comforts. Families thought they could stop worrying about lives being ended just when they had more reason to worry and in ignorance expected their veteran to just get over where they were sent and what they had to do as much as they were expected to forget what they felt.

“Gratitude bestows reverence
changing forever how we experience life
and the world.”
What is gratitude worthy of their actions? It is allowing them to mourn and remember at time in their lives when others mattered more to them than their own lives. To support the fact that the purest form of love lived within them even during the horrors of war. That they were willing for a time to die for the sake of someone else. Willing to pay any price for what few others dared to do. Veterans are a mere 7% of the population of this nation. We are not expected to know what it was like for them but we are expected to at least understand what makes then so different from us.
“What is dark
within me,
illumine.”

John Milton, Paradise Lost

They experience the horrors of war and it consumes them so powerfully they cannot turn their eyes to gaze upon the selflessness surrounding them. That hand that reached out to comfort. The tear that was shed for a stranger. The prayer that was sent up to God for the wounded. The picture that was held of a hand fading from this earth. Love lived within them and still does back home but they cannot see it. They cannot see that they grieve because they loved. They are tormented because the goodness within them still lives and they have not become that which they fear most, evil.

That kind of love comes from great strength because it is not greatness or riches they sought. It was answering the question of why they were sent here compelled to use everything within them for others.
Greater love hath
no man than this
that a man lay down
his life for his friends.

To heal their souls is to heal others because they do not stop putting others first. They turn around, reach out their hands and help another veteran find peace to live a life of purpose. It is to heal the families of others not able to find the will to live on and to prevent others from enduring that wordless grief.
“...freely we serve,
Because we freely love
as in our will
To love or not in this we stand or fall:”

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Vietnam veterans arrested for taking too long to read war dead names?

Forgive our trespasses: Judge tosses convictions for vets arrested in Vietnam Memorial name-reading ceremony
New York Post
By DANA SAUCHELLI
July 13, 2013

They're guilty — but exonerated.

A Manhattan judge today convicted 11 Vietnam veterans and one Bronze Star-holding World War II veteran of trespassing for refusing to stop reading the names of the dead "in a timely manner" at a downtown war memorial last Fall.

But Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum then immediately dismissed the convictions in the interest of justice.

"In these unique circumstances, this is the rare case where justice is served by dismissing the case," the judge told the silver-haired seniors.

A total of 25 people had been flex-cuffed, frisked and tossed in a paddy wagon last October for refusing to observe a 10 p.m. park curfew and leave the Vietnam Memorial between South and Water streets.

The eleven vets who took the case to trial argued that it should not be a crime — no matter what time of day it was — to solemnly read the names of the 1,754 military personnel from New York State who were killed in action during Vietnam, as well as the thousands more names of KIA from Afghanistan and Iraq.
read more here

Sunday, March 17, 2013

235 US Military forces committed suicide in Iraq

Iraq War Casualties Still Ripple Across The Home Front, Huffington Post, by David Wood posted today has an incredible amount of information few in this country are aware of. I urge you to read the entire article.

There are two parts you should pay attention to. This first one points out how dangerous it was for the troops.
In contrast to past conflicts, where soldiers could retreat to "safe" areas in the rear, the survey found that in 2006, more than two-thirds of the U.S. troops in Iraq had been attacked and had received small-arms fire, 65 percent had seen dead bodies and 72 percent knew someone who had been killed or seriously injured. Eighty-eight percent had experienced incoming artillery or mortar fire, and 45 percent had shot at the enemy. Half had felt an IED explode nearby. Sixty percent reported having a member of their unit become a casualty.
Yet it is this part that supports the simple fact that more suicides happen after combat than during it. With this, "During that time, 1,111,610 Americans served there for a total of 2,337,197 deployments, with some serving two or more times", look at the number of suicides while deployed into Iraq.

"Two hundred and thirty-five took their own lives while deployed."

That is what most people simply don't get. They survived combat, but could not survive being back home.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Study: Iraq war cost 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion

Study: Iraq war cost 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion
By Pat Reber
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Published: March 14, 2013

WASHINGTON — The US-led war in Iraq claimed 190,000 lives and will cost the US government at least 2.2 trillion dollars, according to the findings of a project at Brown University released Thursday.

The Costs of War report, released ahead of the 10th anniversary of the war on March 20, said that the financial calculation included "substantial" costs to care for wounded US veterans.

The total estimate far outstrips the initial projection by president George W Bush's government that the war would cost 50 billion to 60 billion dollars.

More than 70 per cent of those who died of direct war violence in Iraq were civilians, or an estimated 134,000 people. A small number of the 190,000 dead were US casualties: 4,488 US military members and at least 3,400 US contractors, according to the report.
read more here

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Thousands at parade honoring Iraqi war vets in St. Louis

January 28, 2012 3:33 PM

St. Louis hosts parade for Iraq War vets
Participants in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans make their way along a downtown street Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

(AP) ST. LOUIS — Thousands of people lining downtown streets cheered wildly as veterans, some wiping away tears, marched through St. Louis on Saturday during the nation's first big welcome-home parade for Iraq War veterans.

Several hundred veterans, many dressed in camouflage, walked alongside military vehicles, marching bands and even the Budweiser Clydesdales. People in the crowd held signs reading "Welcome Home" and "God Bless Our Troops," and fire trucks with aerial ladders hoisted three huge American flags along the route.

"It's not necessarily overdue. It's just the right thing," said Maj. Rich Radford, who became a symbol of the event thanks to a photo of his young daughter taking his hand while welcoming him home from his second tour in Iraq in 2010.

Since the war ended, there has been little fanfare for returning veterans aside from gatherings at airports and military bases — no ticker-tape parades or large public celebrations — so two friends from St. Louis decided to change that.
read more here

UPDATE from ABC
Veterans Share Stories at Iraq War Parade in Mo.

By JIM SALTER Associated Press
ST. LOUIS January 29, 2012 (AP)
Veterans who attended the nation's first major Iraq War parade Saturday in St. Louis said they appreciated the welcome home, even though some expected to be redeployed to Afghanistan or elsewhere in the coming months. Here are a few of their stories:


Army Maj. Rich Radford had two long tours of duty in Iraq under almost constant threat of violence.

Radford, a combat engineer, spent 15 months on his first tour starting in January 2004, then about 10 months when he went back in September 2009. He earned the Bronze Star for his service.

"Every day we were in danger," Radford, 40, said, "because the Iraqis didn't like us, didn't want us in their country. They would sell out our positions, our missions."

Radford, a 23-year military veteran, marched in the parade with his two children, Aimee, 8, and Warren, 12. An image of the father and daughter upon his return home from the second tour of duty is emblazoned on T-shirts and posters associated with the parade, fashioned from a photo taken by Radford's sister of Aimee, then 6, reaching up for her father's hand as family greeting him at Lambert Airport in St. Louis.
read more here


Thousands at parade honoring Iraqi war vets
BY JONAH NEWMAN
Saturday, January 28, 2012 12:30 pm
ST. LOUIS
A downtown parade to honor Iraq war veterans stepped off at noon today at Kiener Plaza.

Thousands of people lined the parade route on Market Street, cheering, waving American flags and holding signs "Welcome Home."

Christine Willey of Webster Groves was one of those along the parade route. Her nephew served in Afghanistan and was wounded in Iraq when his Humvee was hit by an explosive.

"I think he would appreciate it a lot," she said of the parade. Her nephew, of Wentzville, who suffered brain injuries, was unable to attend the parade.
read more here



Thousands at St. Louis parade welcome home Iraq War vets

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Thousands of people have turned out in St. Louis for the nation's first big parade welcoming home Iraq War veterans.

Several hundred veterans, many dressed in camouflage, marched Saturday afternoon through downtown along with marching bands, politicians and even the Budweiser Clydesdales.
read more here

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

23-Year-Old Was Last US Soldier Killed in Iraq

23-Year-Old Was Last US Soldier Killed in Iraq

December 19, 2011
Associated Press
by Tom Breen and Don Babwin
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- As the last U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on Sunday, friends and family of the first and last American fighters killed in combat were cherishing their memories rather than dwelling on whether the war and their sacrifice was worth it.

Nearly 4,500 American fighters died before the last U.S. troops crossed the border into Kuwait.

David Hickman, 23, of Greensboro was the last of those war casualties, killed in November by the kind of improvised bomb that was a signature weapon of this war.

"David Emanuel Hickman. Doesn't that name just bring out a smile to your face?" said Logan Trainum, one of Hickman's closest friends, at the funeral where the soldier was laid to rest after a ceremony in a Greensboro church packed with friends and family.
read more here

One military family, two fallen sons and one with PTSD

When I put up the post For Those I Love I Will Sacrifice

I had no idea how hard it would hit people. "Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, of 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Infantry Regiment, 1st Heavy Combat Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, who was injured in an improvised explosive device attack near Haji Ramuddin, is treated by flight medic Cpl. Amanda Mosher while being transported by medevac helicopter to the Role 3 hospital at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan on June 15, 2011. Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes" 28,315 read it and Time Magazine did a follow up to Hockenberry's story. There were a lot of pictures taken at the combat hospital in Afghanistan, but this one seemed to express what is really going on. The men and women serving the country put their lives on the line everyday but in the end, when the truth is told, they are willing to die for each other. They don't do it for a politician or a political cause or religious ideology. While all these things may factor in their enlisting into the military, while they are deployed, the men and women they serve with are all that matters to them.

Here is another story about love and sacrifice.

Jared Hubbard and Jeremiah Baro were friends in high school and they served together. On their second tour in Iraq, they died together. The families had the funeral for them together and they were buried together.

Jared's two brothers joined the military right after the funeral. Nathan was killed in a helicopter crash and brother Jason ended up bringing the war home trapped inside of him by PTSD.

This one family gave so much that when I read so many opinions on the worthiness of invading Iraq, opinions don't seem to matter when the people talking never knew what it was like to send a family member or serve where they did.

Wars begin and end. Politicians come and go. What has remained since this nation began is the willingness of the few to sacrifice their lives for a cause greater than themselves.



As war ends, Clovis family searches for closure
Monday, December 19, 2011

by Mike Cerre
CLOVIS, Calif. -- U.S. forces completed their withdrawal from Iraq over the weekend, and most of the troops will be home stateside by Christmas. Reporter Mike Cerre, who's covered the Iraq war for ABC7 News over the years, re-visits a family in the Central Valley, as it searches for closure.

While watching our first embedded reports from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard's family back home in Clovis, CA had very mixed emotions.

"There was an excitement that was kind of positive along with the anxiety of what could happen," Jeff Hubbard said.

His son Jared was one of the first Americans to cross into Iraq that night and into Baghdad less than a month later to a generally positive reception by Iraqis.

His unit, Second Battalion, 5th Marine unit was one of the first combat units to come home that same summer when the much of the country thought the war was winding down.

"I really think I was more realistic than the rest of the country how long it would take but still didn't think it would take this long," Jeff said.

Jared Hubbard and his high school teammate Jeremiah Baro went back with for a second tour of duty in 2004 with Second Battalion, 5th Marines as a sniper team.

They were killed together in an ambush in Ramadi, the capital of the Sunni Triangle.

Nathan and thirteen other soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash outside of Baghdad in 2007.

For the Hubbard family, the emotional rollercoaster ride that was their war in Iraq continues with Jason, their only surviving son. He was discharged from the Army and is being treated for PTSD.
read more here

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Spoof New York Times reports end to Iraq war


(Fake) New York Times reports end to Iraq war


NEW YORK (AFP) — The United States has ended the war in Iraq and indicted President George W. Bush on treason charges, The New York Times reported Tuesday. OK, well not really.

An elaborate spoof hit the streets of New York on Tuesday: a convincing fake of The New York Times announcing not just the withdrawal of troops from Iraq but a raft of other US liberal fantasies.

Bush is indicted, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologizes that the fuss about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was invented, and Americans are finally getting national health insurance.

And that's just on the front page.

The only problem? The free, 14-page "special edition" newspaper -- and its equally realistic looking "New York Times" website -- are phoney.

Website www.gawker.com has identified the pranksters behind the stunt as The Yes men, a liberal group famous for practical jokes.

go here for more