WAR

FEATURED CONTENT: Military suicide and invisible wounds of war

Jo-Ann and Merrill Clark lost their son, Army Spec. Christopher Journeau, to suicide in 2010. /Rich Beauchesne photo, seacoastonline.com

The media and suicide prevention: An open letter (11/15/2013)

When Jo-Ann Clark invited me into her Stratham home in September to share the story of her soldier son, her first words could have come from any mother who lost a child to suicide: "I don't want him forgotten."

I’ll never forget Army Spec. Chris Journeau. His story was a worst-case scenario for veterans who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD and TBI.

I’ll also never forget the level of cooperation achieved in the seven-week Portsmouth Herald effort to report on suicide among N.H. veterans. Members of the N.H. suicide prevention community inside and outside the military were active participants in the project. I was handed all of the information needed to write compelling, informative and valuable stories.

One of the top lessons of the Portsmouth Herald project is the need for the media to play a constructive role in suicide prevention. An informed and engaged media could significantly reduce stigma about mental illness and educate the public about suicide prevention.

Amber Alerts transformed the relationship between the media and public safety officials in missing children cases. A similar spirit of partnership between the media and suicide prevention officials would help address this gravely serious mental health challenge.

In the Portsmouth Herald’s military suicide project, the essential elements that fueled cooperation were time and trust. I had the time to speak with many people and learn the complexities involved in suicide. A shared commitment to helping prevent suicide made creation of partnerships based on trust easy to build.

Other lessons and recommendations

• Journalists should be familiar with the media guidelines for reporting on suicide available at www.ReportingOnSuicide.org. The guidelines include a concise “factbox” on suicide prevention including warning signs that should be part of in-depth media reports on suicide.
• The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline contact information (800-273-8255) should be included as a “tagline” at the end of most media reports on suicide. In many media outlets, this kind of information is routinely provided for good causes and as part of crime coverage.
• Media reports should avoid glamorizing, normalizing or sensationalizing a suicide.
• Suicides are the result of a complex set of circumstances. It takes time to unravel the individual strands that snare someone in suicide. Media reports should avoid portraying suicides as linked to a single cause or moment where someone “snapped.”
• Maintaining periodic and constructive coverage of suicide should be part of prevention officials’ outreach and education efforts. Steps include developing media contacts who are experienced in reporting on suicide; providing timely notice of accomplishments, initiatives and new information linked to suicide prevention; and building partnerships with media outlets.

A complex set of circumstances drove Chris Journeau to take his life in June 2010, including PTSD, isolation, the Great Recession and alcohol abuse. /Rich Beauchesne photo, seacoastonline.com

VETERANS CRISIS HOTLINE
800-273-TALK (8255)
Press 1 for veterans

Military suicide: Parting words (11/13/2013)

Army Spec. Christopher Journeau died by suicide in June 2010. /Family photo

This last pair of perspectives from my recent research on suicide in the military community sheds light on the hidden wounds of war:

Jon "Chief" Worrall served in the military for 28 years. He was a Navy chief petty officer until he mangled his leg in a motorcycle accident, then he returned to the military through the National Guard.

In 2003, Chief was an Army Guard sergeant and 49 years old when he got orders to join the Mountain Infantry and deploy to Iraq.

Chief fought in Iraq for 11 months until an improvised explosive device exploded next to his Humvee. "The impact of a bomb when you're in a vehicle -- it turns things to jelly," he said. "The bomb that hit me was six feet away."

Chief and the other three soldiers in the Humvee survived but they all suffered severe injuries. The Brentwood resident has endured 12 surgeries, most recently a reconstruction of one of his shoulders.

He has also suffered ongoing effects from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. A trip to pick up pizza in town can end up in the next county with no recollection of the take-out mission.

"Losing my noggin was not easy," he said, listing mental health issues including memory loss, dizzy spells and confusion. "You try to make yourself as good as possible -- then you move on."

"...Out on the road, we didn't know who's who. We were out on the road surrounded by cars. We didn't know who was there to help us and who was there to kill us."


Ken Norton is president of National Alliance on Mental Illness-New Hampshire and has adopted safe messaging as one of his suicide prevention missions.

"We don't have a solution for suicide," said the advocate who helped create the New Hampshire Suicide Prevention Council, noting a complex mix of factors are almost always at play.

Norton said the biggest danger in media coverage of suicide is the risk of glamorizing or normalizing suicide. He put a scare in my journalistic nerves when he shared how there were about 200 more U.S. suicides than "normal" in the weeks after Marilyn Monroe's death. I didn't want any part of that kind of media coverage of suicide.

There is no doubt that TBI is a signature injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But Norton shares my concern that facets of the asymmetric warfare fought in those conflicts has put troops at high risk of PTSD as well.

"Unlike previous wars, there is no clear ID'd enemy," he said. "When they were inside the wire, they weren't particularly safe, either."

Norton said serving in Baghdad must have been particularly unnerving: "They're in the middle of a civilian community and they don't know who the threat is."

And America's technological advantage was not always a strength. "In many ways, instant communication can be a curse," he said. "Earlier, communications took days, mostly by mail. Now people talk on Skype or Facebook just hours off a mission. Home life can seem close by, but they're really not a part of it."

"...Cell phones and Facebook can get word out fast," Norton said. "Family members know when someone in the unit has been harmed."

In states such as New Hampshire, where 10 percent of the adult population has served in the military, he said there needs to be a broad approach to mental health services for veterans. "Public and private agencies need to get involved in supporting military members," Norton said. "Veterans need to be able to access community resources."

The Veterans Crisis Line is a key resource for those who have served in the military, he said. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline (800-273-8255) is composed of 150 call centers nationwide. By pressing 1, calls are sent to a facility in New York with staff trained to work with veterans and their family members.

"The Veterans Crisis Line has saved a lot of lives," Norton said.

He stressed that 90 percent of people who attempt suicide do not die by suicide.

"They really didn't want to die. They just wanted the pain they were living with to stop," Norton said. "The reality is most people really don't want to die. If people were just as concerned about the effects of suicide as heart attacks, we could save more lives."

VETERANS CRISIS HOTLINE
800-273-TALK (8255)
Press 1 for veterans

Connecting veterans with mental health services (11/9/2013)

Exeter High School graduate Kevin Lapointe has struggled with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury since he deployed to Iraq more than seven years ago. This summer, his wife, Donna, compelled him to seek mental health treatment at a VA medical center. "The anger has totally decreased," he said of the rage that dogged him every day. "I'm more approachable and reachable." /Don Himsel photo, The Nashua Telegraph

When veterans seek treatment for the psychological wounds of war, it can heal not only their troubled minds but also the rifts that are created between them and their loved ones.

This Veterans Day weekend, the Portsmouth Herald and The Nashua Telegraph will be running a story I wrote about connecting New Hampshire veterans with the mental health services they need. This story is part of a seven-week investigation of suicide in the Granite State's military community and follows a story published last weekend on the suicide of Army Spec. Christopher Journeau. The mental health services story will run Sunday, Nov. 10, on the Portsmouth Herald's website at www.seacoastonline.com and Monday on The Nashua Telegraph's website at www.nashuatelegraph.com.

Dozens of sources contributed to this project. So many people had so much to say about suicide prevention in the military community that I couldn't squeeze all of them into the newspaper stories. But all of these sources informed my understanding of the complex array of issues at play. I will share a couple of these missing voices on the Bullwork of Democracy blog.

First up is Al Porsche, a Vietnam War Army veteran who served as a peer counselor at the Vet Center in Manchester, N.H., for 10 years:

"We're at least naive to send people to wars and think they won't come back with emotional and psychological issues. There is no magic bullet to solve this problem. ... The solution is not to send folks off to war in the first place."

When it comes to bridging the gap between troubled veterans and the available mental health services, "we continue to reach out to these people in any way we can."

The VA-affiliated Vet Centers, which offer confidential counseling services, are among the most vital resources for veterans. "It's easier for combat veterans to speak with other combat veterans. ... We do a lot of community building. ...

"As a country as a whole, we are doing nearly everything we can to help these veterans heal. But some of these veterans make the decision to end their lives. Part of the solution is not to be so quick to send these men and women to war. There's a price to be paid. ...

"PTSD isn't just a problem with the soldiers, it's a problem for the entire society. There are consequences down the road" every time the country goes to war.

"The communalization of of their sacrifices helps the individual veterans. ... It's helpful for the veterans to share their stories with broader society. But unfortunately, we won't be able to connect with all of them."

Many veterans suffer "cognitive dissonance" when they come home from wars like the Iraq conflict that end up unpopular among citizens across the country. "Civilians are proud of their service, but too often the country uses their service in a situation that was foolish or unnecessary."

VETERANS CRISIS HOTLINE
800-273-TALK (8255)
Press 1 for veterans

A soldier's suicide: Invisible wounds of war (11/3/2013)

Spec. Christopher Journeau is surrounded by camouflage during his deployment to Iraq. The New Hampshire native died by suicide less than six months after leaving the Army. /Family photo

The parents of Chris Journeau had already given too much to their country when I knocked on their door in Stratham, N.H., about six weeks ago.

Jo-Ann and Merrill Clark lost their only child to suicide after he returned from the Iraq War with post-traumatic stress disorder. They could have mourned their loss in lifelong silence. Instead, the Clarks have shared their family's tragedy in hopes of saving the lives of other troubled veterans.

Read their story at seacoastonline.com.

Military suicide: 'I don't want him forgotten' (112/2013)

Spec. Christopher Journeau of Hampton, N.H., died by suicide less than six months after leaving the Army in 2010. The Iraq War veteran was 23. /Family photo

When Jo-Ann Clark invited me into her Stratham, N.H., home six weeks ago to share the story of her soldier son, her first words could have come from any mother who lost a child to suicide: "I don't want him forgotten."

I will never forget Army Spec. Christopher Journeau, and I doubt many readers of the Nov. 3 edition of Seacoast Sunday and seacoastonline.com will forget him, either.

Thousands of U.S. troops and veterans have post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries as a result of their experiences in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Journeau's PTSD-fueled descent into suicide is a cautionary tale for every one of them, their families and the country.

Since that first interview in Stratham with Jo-Ann Clark and her husband, Merrill, I have spoken with dozens of Journeau's friends and family members as well as many N.H. suicide prevention officials. Their collective story is not what many citizens would assume.

Like any sprawling bureaucracies, the U.S. government and military have their faults. Veterans do fall through the cracks. But when it comes to suicide among vets, there's no shortage of blame to spread around:

• Many employers discriminate against veterans who have sought psychological treatment, which compels vets to shy away from getting help. 
• Longstanding stigma surrounding mental illness fuels shame and embarrassment, which are the top reasons cited by N.H. veterans polled about why they often avoid seeking treatment.
• There is a widespread lack of awareness about the signs of PTSD and TBI. Many veterans are suffering unseen before our eyes. Friends, family and other members of a troubled vet's community often do not see the warnings of a brewing mental health crisis. When they do, intervening to connect a vet with help can be daunting or come too late.

In short, suicide among veterans is not just a problem for the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is a problem facing nearly all U.S. citizens, businesses and institutions.

Next Sunday, Nov. 10, www.seacoastonline.com and Seacoast Sunday will publish a second story inspired by Journeau's suicide. This story will focus on the challenge of connecting as many troubled veterans as possible to mental health services.

Many N.H. suicide prevention officials, veterans and family members of vets who died by suicide contributed to the mental health treatment story. So many had so much to say, it was impossible to fit all of them or all of their insightful comments into even a long-form newspaper story. To each and every one of these people: This entire project could not have been possible without your contributions. Suicide is a complex, emotionally charged and taboo topic.Many of the contributors to this project showed extraordinary courage and selflessness.

One of the beauties of Bullwork is bountiful space. Coming soon on Bullwork of Democracy, hear more voices and see more perspectives about veterans who die by suicide.

VETERANS CRISIS HOTLINE
800-273-TALK (8255)
Press 1 for veterans

U.S. military suicide by the numbers (10/27/2013)

Former Army MP Kevin Lapointe was best friends with Chris Journeau, an Army infantryman who died by suicide in 2010. The MP came back from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. /Don Himsel photo, nashuatelegraph.com

GENERAL SUICIDE STATISTICS

90 percent of people who attempt suicide do not die by suicide.

80 percent of people who die by suicide give some warning signs in advance.

U.S. MILITARY SUICIDE STATISTICS

349 active-duty military service members died by suicide in 2012.

50 percent of active-duty armed service members who die by suicide never serve in a combat zone.

U.S. civilian vs. armed services suicide rates:

• General population: 11 suicides per 100,000
• Armed services: 19 suicides per 100,000

Note: Several factors contribute to the elevated suicide rate in the U.S. armed services, including age, gender, PTSD, TBI, substance abuse and suicide risks associated with "military life" such as moving on a yearly basis.

SOURCES: NAMI-NH, TAPS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Call of duty: Preventing suicide in military community (10/3/2013)

Chris Journeau was 23 when he died by suicide in 2010. /Family photo

Every journalist has a dream: Working on a story that makes the world a better place. I am living that dream right now.

Like Martin Luther King's dream, which was born in the harsh realities of America's history of racial injustice, my dream story began in a dreadfully dark place.

In June 2010, a young U.S. Army veteran was alone in his apartment in Hampton, N.H. His world had melted down to the point where there was nothing left but his post-traumatic stress disorder, a bottle of alcohol and a handgun. This decorated combat veteran decided the best option available to him was to end his life with the pull of a trigger.

The torment this soldier endured, a barely imaginable pain that will haunt his family members the rest of their lives, has inspired me to do the best work of my 17-year journalism career.

With partners at a growing number of New Hampshire media organizations, I am working on a journalism project about suicide in the military community that will hopefully become a model for other journalists to follow across the United States and around the world. The project will come to fruition this Veterans Day weekend, but there is a message that needs to get out now.

One of my best sources for this project shared an undeniable truth with me this week: "We all need to play a part in suicide prevention."

Whether you are in the military, working for a civilian human services agency, employ members of the military community at your business, or have loved ones who have been in the military, look out for these men and women. If they are not discussing what happened during their tours of duty, do not assume that they are OK. Do not be afraid to ask how they are doing.

These are proud people who are often reluctant, even ashamed, to share their afflictions. But do not run the risk of losing them and wondering for the rest of your life if there was more you could have done to help. I have spoken with some of those people. You do not want to be one of them.

VETERANS CRISIS HOTLINE
800-273-TALK (8255)
Press 1 for veterans

SUICIDE PREVENTION

WARNING SIGNS

The more of these signs a person shows, the greater the risk:

- Talking about wanting to die

- Looking for a way to kill oneself

- Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose

- Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain

- Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs

- Acting anxious, agitated or recklessly

- Sleeping too little or too much

- Withdrawing or feeling isolated

- Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge

- Displaying extreme mood swings

WHAT TO DO

If someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide:

- Do not leave the person alone

- Remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt

- Take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional

- Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 

Source: www.reportingonsuicide.org

FEATURED CONTENT: Military suicide and invisible wounds of war

History points to dire danger on Korean peninsula (4/1/2013)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un strikes a heroic pose. His grandfather, Kim Il-sung, was one of the longest-serving national leaders of the 20th century, taking the helm of North Korea from its inception in 1948 and keeping a firm grip on power until his death in 1994. "The Great Leader" created a pervasive cult of personality in North Korea, forming the basis of a Kim dynasty that has endured for more than six decades. /image via blogs.canoe.ca

The North Korean crisis is proof that history is not only interesting but also critically important to guiding world leaders through perilous times.

The drama that has played out on the Korean peninsula over the past 65 years appears to be entering its final act. It's a tragedy of epic proportions, filled with high stakes as well as variously colorful and doomed characters. Here are some of the key episodes to keep in mind as we await the likely explosive finale:

• In one of the biggest diplomatic blunders of the Cold War, the Russian delegation boycotted the United Nations Security Council in 1950 during debate over sending international troops to stop Pyongyang from forcefully reuniting the Korean peninsula. Without the Russians present to cast a veto, the Security Council authorized intervention, and the Korean War began.
• After literally turning the tide with a bold amphibious landing at Inchon in September 1950, legendary U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur went rogue. The commander of the U.N. forces pressed his troops across the 38th parallel, the demarcation line established at the end of World War II that cut the Korean peninsula in half: the North allied with the Russians and the South in the American camp. MacArthur then went a step too far, threatening to cross into China to attack North Korean bases even though President Harry Truman had ordered him to avoid provoking the Chinese from entering the war. On October 25, 1950, about 100,000 Chinese troops crossed into North Korea, the U.N. forces suffered a series of setbacks and MacArthur pressured Truman to launch nuclear weapons strikes. Truman relieved MacArthur of command in April 1951.
• The entry of China into the war ultimately led to stalemate. The Armistice Agreement that has maintained an uneasy peace on the Korean peninsula was signed in July 1953.
• While MacArthur suffered a spectacular fall from grace during the Korean War, the North Korean leader, Kim Il-sung, emerged as one of the most formidable national leaders of the 20th century. When Nikita Krushchev launched a series of reforms in the Soviet Union in 1956, Kim Il-sung ditched the Russians and alligned North Korea with China and its more virulent strain of Communism. The North Korean leader cemented his power by establishing a cult of personality that was later inherited by his son, Kim Jong-il, and grandson, Kim Jong-un. "The Great Leader," who died in 1994, ultimately outlived six South Korean presidents, seven Soviet leaders and 10 U.S. presidents.
• The first detailed accounts North Korean concentration camps emerged after the defections of a camp guard and a camp security chief in the mid-1990s. In 2004, Kwon Hyok, who had served as security chief for Camp 22 in the northeast of the country, was interviewed for a report in The Telegraph. Kwon Hyok described a system of prison camps modeled after the Soviet Union's gulags. He said the camps were filled with not only political prisoners but also generations of their kin serving life sentences of collective punishment. Kwon Hyok said water torture, hanging torture and public executions were commonplace in Camp 22. "The most unforgettable scene I remember was when I watched an entire family being killed," he said of gas chambers where chemical experiments were conducted on prisoners. "They were put inside the chamber and I saw them all suffocate to death. The last person to die was the youngest son, who was crying for his parents and eventually died."
• Kim Jong-il followed in The Great Leader's footsteps, and Kim Jong-un is on the same path. In 2009, the North Korean constitution was amended to refer to Kim Jong-il as "Supreme Leader."
• The North Korean nuclear weapons program was launched under Kim Jong-il to raise the country's prestige and boost its bargaining power on the world stage. In 2005, Kim Jong-il declared North Korea had joined the Nuclear Club, and a spokesman for his foreign ministry said, "We have produced nuclear weapons to defend ourselves and to oppose the increasingly obvious intentions of the (George W.) Bush administration. The current reality proves that powerful strength is needed to preserve justice and truth." To squelch dissent, the Supreme Leader also mastered the technique of alarming the North Korean citizenry over the spectre of a U.S.-led invasion. Kim Jong-un was placed in charge of the drive to develop nuclear bombs before his father's death in December 2011.
• It's hard to tell what superlative Kim Jong-un will adopt as his moniker, but he has clearly adopted his father's vision of a nuclear-armed North Korea extracting concessions from the international community in general and the United States in particular.

There are several sobering lessons and conclusions to draw from North Korea's history.

First, it would be a terrible mistake to underestimate the latest heir to the Kim dynasty. Kim Jong-un has not deviated from wielding the same levers of power his grandfather and father perfected. The Kim cult of personality is as strong as ever. The rhetoric and threats directed at the United States and South Korea have reached alarming proportions. And satellite imagery indicates an expansion of the North Korean gulags since Kim Jong-il's death.

Second, it's going to be extremely difficult to drive a big enough diplomatic wedge between North Korea and China to bring any kind of meaningful regime change to Pyongyang. China remains as adverse as ever to instability at home and in its sphere of influence. Even as the Chinese leadership strives to play nice with the world community and take its place as an equal to the United States as a global superpower, the uncertainty and likely chaos that would follow the collapse of the Kim dynasty is unthinkable in Beijing.

Third, North Korea's successful tests of nuclear bombs and long-range rockets have raised the security stakes on the Korean peninsula immensely. Pyongyang's capability to reach out and touch U.S. bases and allies with nuclear weapons has torn a gaping hole in the decades-long diplomatic strategy of isolating North Korea from the rest of the world. The United States and its allies in the region, particularly South Korea and Japan, are on a collision course with North Korea that could result in a cataclysmic military confrontation at any moment.

Iran is biggest winner in the Iraq War (3/25/2013)

In the cold, hard world of geopolitics, the increasingly cozy relationship between Iraq and Iran does not bode well for U.S. interests in the region. In the eyes of many American officials, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are working hand-in-hand. /Image via pbs.org

Of all the terrible consequences of the misguided U.S.-led war in Iraq, Americans are likely to regret the strengthened standing of Iran in the region most of all.

Those Americans with a conscience will beg to differ, given the more than 110,000 Iraqi civilians killed in the war and the 4,800 coalition troops lost in the fighting, among them 4,486 U.S. Armed Services members who never came home to their families. But for far too many of my fellow citizens, war is nothing more than the cost of doing business because the American way of life is non-negotiable.

Those millions of Americans who bow at the altar of self-interest have much to bemoan with the passing of Saddam Hussein, who was a brutal dictator but served as a powerful counterweight to hold Iran in check. Let us count the ways:

- Iraq's nascent dictator, Nouri al-Maliki, is walking a fine line between Washington and Tehran. During his visit to Iraq over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry scolded al-Maliki for allowing Iran to use Iraqi airspace to deliver arms and ammunition to Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad. After meeting with the Iraqi leader, Kerry said he had told al-Maliki that the Iranian overflights were "helping to sustain President Assad and his regime" along with a warning that members of the U.S. Congress were puzzled over "how it is that Iraq can be doing something that makes it more difficult to achieve our common goals."

- With Tehran no longer worried about the possibility of an Iraqi invasion, the country's theocratic regime is free to throw its considerable military muscle around the region. Iranian leaders have been making threats to close down the Strait of Hormuz for decades, which would choke off a crucial shipping route for Persian Gulf oil exports. Those threats are now more credible than ever and can throw global financial markets into turmoil instantaneously.

- Saudi Arabia and other U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf are nervous about Washington's policies in the region, particularly when it comes to restraining Iran's military and nuclear weapons ambitions. "Kerry is not tough enough on Iran," Dubai-based strategy analyst Mustafa Al Alani recently told gulfnews.com. "They think the United States should leave the military option on the table in case the policy of sanctions fails."

- And with less need to throw resources into conventional weaponry with Iraq on its knees in more ways than one, Iran can accelerate its nuclear weapons program. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month, the commander of the U.S. Central Command said a nuclear-armed Iran would spark an arms race in the region. Gen. James Mattis said Iranian possession of nuclear weapons would be the "most destabilizing event that we could imagine for the Middle East."

'I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist' (3/15/2013)

Albert Einstein's theory of relativity became one of the scientific building blocks for atomic bombs. Five months before he died in 1955, Einstein offered the following observation about nuclear weapons: "I made one great mistake in my life ... when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification -- the danger that the Germans would make them."  /Image via hebus.org

Albert Einstein, who was born on March 14, 1879, is widely viewed as the greatest physicist of the 20th century. But his standing as a committed humanitarian and advocate for peace is less well known.

Here are a few of his comments about the human condition:

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."

"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle."

"Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools."

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."

"An empty stomach is not a good political adviser."

"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives."

"In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same."

"I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war."

"Love is a better teacher than duty."

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"

"Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it."

"It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."

Hope, dread and rape in Congo (2/19/2013)

Refugees from North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, arrive in Uganda in 2012. /UNHCR image

With a United Nations-brokered peace deal set to be signed this weekend to improve the security situation in eastern Congo, simmering violence in the southern part of the country is threatening to derail a surge of mining activity that is critically important to one of the most underdeveloped nations on Earth.

On Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and about a dozen leaders of African nations and organizations are expected to sign a peace agreement that includes creation of a U.N.-commanded military force. The so-called intervention brigade significantly deepens the peacekeeping role of the international organization because U.N. troops will have authority to use deadly force against the M23 rebels who have been clashing with government troops in eastern Congo for nearly a year.

The peace pact had been set for final approval last month, but the three countries expected to supply the most troops for the intervention brigade (South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique) apparently balked over the issue of who would control the new military force. Diplomats said the trio opposed having the existing U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, in charge of the intervention brigade because of its checkered record in supporting the Congolese government's effort to stave off the M23 rebels. Those differences have been papered over and the intervention brigade will be commanded through MONUSCO.

'Triangle of Death' in Katanga

While hope springs in eastern Congo, Mai Mai rebels in the southern part of the country have stepped up attacks against civilians and soldiers loyal to President Joseph Kabila.

The Katanga region has been a hotbed of Congo's mining industry since the country's colonial period under Belgian rule. Copper production in Katanga has increased steadily since a peace accord was signed in 2003, helping to fuel an increase in Congo's copper exports from 20,000 tons a decade ago to 600,000 tons last year, according to Congolese officials.

Katanga, which is about the size of Spain, has a long secessionist history, and the Mai Mai rebels appear to be trying to take advantage of growing discontent with the central government. The Mai Mai have been linked to massacres, rape and cannabalism in the northern part of Katanga, which has been dubbed the "Triangle of Death."

Medecins Sans Frontieres, one of the few aid organizations operating in the Triangle of Death, is reporting the Mai Mai are expanding their area of operation. "The Mai Mai are coming out of their normal zone within the triangle," Pascal Duchemin, an MSF official working in Katanga's provincial capital, recently told the Reuters news service. "Since December, we've seen an intensification of clashes with the army."

While officials in the country's national capital, Kinshasa, are putting a brave face on efforts to turn back the Mai Mai offensive, Katanga leaders are less optimistic. Gabriel Kyungu wa Kumwanza, president of the provincial assembly, told Reuters the spike in violence poses a threat to investment in the region's mining industry. "Yes, there's a risk," he said. "Money doesn't like noise. While there's the sound of tanks and boots, money will not come in."

Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. /Image via csmonitor.com

Healing Congolese rape survivors

Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and his colleagues have treated about 30,000 rape survivors over the past dozen years. The 2008 U.N. Human Rights Prize recipient and 2009 African of the Year shared his story with the BBC this week.

Here is an excerpt of the interview with this amazing healer of broken bodies and souls:

"When war broke out, 35 patients in my hospital in Lemera in Eastern DR Congo were killed in their beds.

"I fled to Bukavu, 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the north, and started a hospital made from tents. I built a maternity ward with an operating theatre. In 1998, everything was destroyed again. So, I started all over again in 1999.

"It was that year that our first rape victim was brought into the hospital. After being raped, bullets had been fired into her genitals and thighs.

"I thought that was a barbaric act of war, but the real shock came three months later. Forty-five women came to us with the same story, they were all saying: 'People came into my village and raped me, tortured me.'

"Other women came to us with burns. They said that after they had been raped, chemicals had been poured on their genitals.

"I started to ask myself what was going on. These weren't just violent acts of war, but part of a strategy. You had situations where multiple people were raped at the same time, publicly -- a whole village might be raped during the night. In doing this, they hurt not just the victims but the whole community, which they force to watch.

"The result of this strategy is that people are forced to flee their villages, abandon their fields, their resources, everything. It's very effective.

"We have a staged system of care for victims. Before I undertake a big operation, we start with a psychological examination. I need to know if they have enough resilience to withstand surgery.

"Then we move to the next stage, which might consist of an operation or just medical care. And the following stage is socio-economic care -- most of these patients arrive with nothing, no clothes even.

"We have to feed them, we have to take care of them. After we discharge them, they will be vulnerable again if they're not able to sustain their own lives. So we have to assist them on socio-economical level -- for example through helping women develop new skills and putting girls back in school.

"The fourth stage is to assist them on a legal level. Often the patients know who their assailants were and we have lawyers who help them bring their cases to court.

"In 2011, we witnessed a fall in the number of cases. We thought perhaps we were approaching the end of the terrible situation for women in the Congo. But since last year, when the war resumed, cases have increased again. It's a phenomenon which is linked entirely to the war situation.

"The conflict in DR Congo is not between groups of religious fanatics. Nor is it a conflict between states. This is a conflict caused by economic interests -- and it is being waged by destroying Congolese women."