No Time For Rejoicing (40,000 US Troops In Iraq w/Serious Med. Conditions)

No time for rejoicing as Iraq toll keeps climbing
By Frank Walker and agencies
March 20, 2005
The Sun-Herald

Two years after the invasion of Iraq the rate of US soldiers being killed is averaging 18 a week, almost double the rate in the first year after the war.

The country is far more dangerous than 12 months ago, say security experts, and reconstruction has slowed to a crawl.

Between 40,000 and 50,000 US military personnel are in Iraq despite serious medical conditions that should have ruled them out of combat, according to the National Gulf War Resource Centre. The GI Rights Hotline, which counsels troops, says it fielded 32,000 calls last year from soldiers seeking an exit from the military, or suffering from post-combat stress.

Others vote with their feet. Last year the Pentagon admitted that 5500 of its forces had gone AWL, although it claims many returned to their units after resolving personal crises.

http://smh.com.au/news/World/No-time-for-rejoicing-as-Iraq-toll-keeps-climbing/2005/03/19/1111086066617.html?oneclick=true

Those poor men and women--sick, stuck in a dangerous foreign country where their lives are constantly in peril, separated from their loved ones.

And out dumb-as-shit commander-in-thief says "mission accomplished." Fuck him.

in a US newspaper!

No help in readjusting to civilian life; this is extremely traumatic and often PT-SD is ignored.
Our troops come home and the Government says "piss off".
:grr:

A future version of Charles Dickens America.

I believe that the heaviest blow ever dealt at liberty's head will be dealt by this nation in the ultimate failure of its example to the earth. -- Charles Dickens, on "America"

eom

...of medical and nursing personnel, to pass out all that diabetes, thyroid, and heart meds to the poor old Guard geezers taking way too much of the strain over there. Anywhere they find a hole (shooters, snipers, engineers, you name it), they'll fill it with TARGETED involuntary service (sounds nicer than a draft--also sounds like lucky individuals could somehow avoid being targeted, doesn't it?).

It's gonna happen--the Forces Urgent Callup!!! Stand by for some serious FUC-ing!!!!

My brother - in - law worked in a field hospital unit in Iraq. He said that many Guard and Reserve units had large numbers of soldiers who were unfit for combat duty. He saw diabetics who needed insulin injections, soldiers with chronic medical conditions, even soldiers on meds for mental illnesses. According to him the doctors for these Guard and Reserve units lied about the fitness of these soldiers so the units would appear to be full - strength on paper. The Pentagon must have suspected that the readiness reports were fiction but didn't do anything about it. The unfit soldiers weren't a problem when they didn't have to do anything more strenuous than one weekend a month and two weeks of training in the summer. However when these units were sent to the harsh conditions of combat in Iraq the unfit suddenly became a big problem. As a result many of these units are operating at less than full strength. He said it's a well known issue over there but one that has been hushed up.