Molly Ivins: A few political developments

As we take this long weekend to digest our Thanksgiving dinners and the ensuing leftovers, let us also devote some time to digesting a few political developments that have flown in under the wider media radar recently.

-- Mental health experts say we face a crisis because one in six returning soldiers from Iraq is suffering from post-traumatic stress, and the number is expected to grow rapidly. You will not be amazed to learn that the Pentagon did not anticipate the problem, since it has yet to anticipate anything about Iraq correctly.

A study by the Walter Reed Army Institute found 15.6 percent of Marines and 17.1 percent of soldiers surveyed after tours in Iraq suffer from major depression, generalized anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can cause flashbacks, sleep disorders, violent outbursts, panic attacks, acute anxiety and emotional numbness. The numbers are expected to be higher among reservists than among career soldiers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 30 percent of Vietnam Vets experienced PTSD, and the greater tragedy was that at first it went unrecognized and later often went untreated. This time, we should have known it was coming (except this was supposed to be a "cakewalk" and our troops greeted with flowers). We're totally unprepared again, and the system cannot move fast enough to treat the problem. But hey, anyone who criticizes the Pentagon is "not supporting our troops," right?

more...

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2004/1006

but they suck at it. They suck at everything except warmongering, propaganda, and lies. When will America learn?

of course they know nothing about it (having scrupulously avoided it when they were young enough to serve). And -- like most incompetents, they're arrogant as well as ignorant -- so they'll never learn.

More men living in our society who have been taught to kill and have. We will have problems with more men killing.

Remember that DC sniper incident a couple of years back and how it horrified everyone? Are we prepared to deal with more of them?

will make everything A O.K.

She writes so well, and nails the bastards repeatedly- but then you think about the disasters she's describing. What a freakin' nightmare.