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During every military conflict the young people who have chosen to dedicate themselves to protect us are exposed to horrors that will live with them forever. Much of this is unavoidable in war, however this was an avoidable war. I am not convinced in the least bit that this invasion and slaughter was in any way imperative. As a matter of fact I think the world would have been better off if it never would have taken place, ever! More death, horror and destruction was caused by Bush’s actions than would have ever taken place if left alone. There is no link between Iraq and Al Quaeda; there were no weapons of mass destruction that were posing a threat to us; there were no hostile actions to any nations on the part of the Iraqis; and inspections were not given a chance. The entire invasion was predicated on lies perpetrated by the Bush administration so that they can implement the PNAC plan of world domination.
While peace protesters and the Dixie Chicks are accused of putting our troops in danger (a ludicrous accusation; saying that voicing opposition compromises the safety of the troops), it is the Bush administration that put the troops in harms way while lying to them about the very reasons they have been put there. It is Bush and his administration, and them alone who have harmed the troops.
In a primitive civilization when Humans were too stupid to communicate and reason, violence was their natural reaction. With intelligence comes the ability to find new ways to solve problems. Why should it surprise us that we chose violence in this case when we have one of the stupidest people to ever walk the Earth acting as our leader. Of course we all know that it is PNAC who really runs this country, but if there were a President with the slightest bit of intelligence not only would he/she not have flooded the White House with PNAC maniacs, but if by chance they got there without anyone realizing they would not have been permitted to lead this county into the most degraceful period in human history.
Now what is left for the troops? The Bush administration is doing everything in it’s power to cut any funding that would take care of them or their families once they are no longer able to commit murder on behalf of the Bush administration. What is worse is the troops will eventually learn what the rest of the world already knows, that they were killing for all the wrong reason. They were not protecting America; they were not liberating an oppressed people. They were murdering men, women and children in order to carry out the PNAC vision of American domination of the world. How will they deal with that personal torment? Will one of them eventually crack and try to kill the people who lied to them and made them kill children? Will some of them commit suicide? Only time will tell. What we do know for sure is that whatever price the troops have to pay is the direct fault of the Bush administration, of Congress for not protecting the Constitution and for not fighting for the people of this country, and of the media who sold this war like it was a mini-series rating game.
Please check this page for updates.
Suffer not the children - The Associated Press photograph caught an emotional moment: a Toledo soldier being consoled in his grief by a buddy after military doctors allegedly refused to treat three Iraqi children with painfully serious burns from some sort of explosive device. Military Investigates 7 Suspected Suicides - Soldiers Deployed for War in Iraq - Overall, the military has not released an official count of possible suicides under investigation, and the total could be higher than seven, given a number of unexplained deaths included in the Pentagon's casualty statistics. The military has reported nine cases of accidental death that could include suicides, most of which were from "noncombat weapons discharges." US army admits Iraq suicides - US forces in Iraq have suffered cases of probable suicide, a senior military official said today, amid slumping morale among troops faced with daily and deadly attacks. Moving Forward, One Step at a Time - After Iraq, Wounded Soldiers Try Out New Limbs, New Lives - "I came back here and people think the Iraqis just surrendered," Garth says. "The TV didn't show anything. I saw bodies. Melted bodies. Skulls. Bodies with the skin falling off. We got to Karbala and we started fighting the Republican Guard. Those guys don't want to take no for an answer." Low-Morale Letters From Iraq - “Our troops, and our equipment are worn out. Many of our troops have been through some truly terrible experiences; They have been told by mental health professionals that they need to get out of this environment. They however, either don’t care about those of us out here on the front lines or they have been lied to by their subordinates and have passed those lies on to the rest of the world. “ Military Wife Rebuked for E-Mail - Spouse Accused of Spreading Fear in Bid for Information - Desperately worried, she tried to get information about the blast from family support staff and Army officials at Fort Meade, where the 400th is based. But after three days of inquiries, Peacock said she still knew nothing. Life at the front no picnic for GIs - It is soooooooooooo hot and nasty, but what are you going to do? It is just getting worse every day. I think I may have lice or fleas or something. - Our living conditions are just so difficult to keep clean and maintain it all. On Battle and Home Fronts, a Roller Coaster of Nerves - Randomness of Attacks Takes a Toll on Troops - "It's tough mentally," O'Neill said. "You never know where it's coming from. You could walk into the market and somebody could walk up to you and shoot you, and you'd never see it coming." Troops near collapse in Iraq heat - The Ministry of Defence has said it is doing what it can to improve the conditions of servicemen and women in Iraq where temperatures are hitting 120F. - But a number of soldiers from units within 19 Brigade have reportedly claimed that troops are without basic welfare, including air conditioning and cool water, and were using fly-infested chemical toilets. For Want of Adequate Life Jacket, a Marine Dies - What if I told you that I let you wear that life jacket while I let most other balcony-walkers under my charge to wear a newer, and more expensive, life jacket that automatically inflated when it came in contact with water? How would that decision of mine make you feel? If I were you, I would probably think of that memorable line from one of the Rambo movies: "Rambo, what mean expendable?" THE SUICIDE SQUADDIES - TWO young soldiers have killed themselves after falling ill with suspected Gulf War Syndrome following the latest conflict in Iraq. 'Bring us home': GIs flood US with war-weary emails - An unprecedented internet campaign waged on the frontline and in the US is exposing the real risks for troops in Iraq. Paul Harris and Jonathan Franklin report on rising fears that the conflict is now a desert Vietnam NEW REVELATION SURFACES ABOUT GULF WAR II “MYSTERY ILLNESS” - One of the most surprising statements to come from The Power Hour interview conducted on “The Genesis Network” was that while the son, Josh Neusche, was a healthy young soldier on June 26, 2003, when he reported that he was going to serve on the secret hauling mission, by July 1, 2003, he was in a coma, and that day was suddenly classified by the military, as medically retired from the Army without Josh or his family’s consent. U.S. troops say they're not feeling the love in Iraq - Iraqis say their quality of life is deteriorating rapidly despite work done - Most soldiers never dreamed they would be held accountable by the Mosul citizenry for restoring essential services. - But being the only American faces here, they are the prime targets of residents' wrath. We are facing death in Iraq for no reason - A serving US soldier calls for the end of an occupation based on lies - From the moment the first shot was fired in this so-called war of liberation and freedom, hypocrisy reigned. - So what is our purpose here? Was this invasion because of weapons of mass destruction, as we have so often heard? If so, where are they? Did we invade to dispose of a leader and his regime because they were closely associated with Osama bin Laden? If so, where is the proof? - Or is it that our incursion is about our own economic advantage? Iraq's oil can be refined at the lowest cost of any in the world. This looks like a modern-day crusade not to free an oppressed people or to rid the world of a demonic dictator relentless in his pursuit of conquest and domination, but a crusade to control another nation's natural resource. Oil - at least to me - seems to be the reason for our presence. Army counsels soldiers dealing with Iraq war aftermath - Army Sgt. Joe Dombrowski did not see the worst of the war, but he witnessed some pretty bad stuff: the sound of enemy artillery as his unit crossed the Tigris River; the bloodstains on a Humvee after one of his commanders was killed; the soldier who survived a grenade blast that blackened even the whites of his eyes. Army probes soldier suicides - In the past seven months, at least 11 soldiers and three Marines have committed suicide in Iraq, military officials say. That is an annual rate of 17 per 100,000. The Navy also is investigating one possible suicide. And about a dozen other Army deaths are under investigation and could include suicides. Many Troops Dissatisfied, Iraq Poll Finds - A broad survey of U.S. troops in Iraq by a Pentagon-funded newspaper found that half of those questioned described their unit's morale as low and their training as insufficient, and said they do not plan to reenlist. - The survey, conducted by the Stars and Stripes newspaper, also recorded about a third of the respondents complaining that their mission lacks clear definition and characterizing the war in Iraq as of little or no value. - In the survey, 34 percent described their morale as low, compared with 27 percent who described it as high and 37 percent who said it was average; 49 percent described their unit's morale as low, while 16 percent called it high. Sick, wounded U.S. troops held in squalor - Hundreds of sick and wounded U.S. soldiers including many who served in the Iraq war are languishing in hot cement barracks here while they wait -- sometimes for months -- to see doctors. - The National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers' living conditions are so substandard, and the medical care so poor, that many of them believe the Army is trying push them out with reduced benefits for their ailments. One document shown to UPI states that no more doctor appointments are available from Oct. 14 through Nov. 11 -- Veterans Day. US troops question presence in Iraq - Stars and Stripes noted that soldiers who were open about morale problems had at times faces disciplinary action. Although the malaise appears to be linked to uncertainty about the length of tours of duty in Iraq, pay scales, and conditions on the ground, another significant factor appears to be the meaning of their mission. Stars and Strips said 35% of respondents complained their mission was not clearly defined. It quotes a member of the National Guard as saying: "We're in the dark." Brain injuries take toll on US soldiers - According to military officials, roughly 20 percent of the wounds suffered by the troops in Iraq have been severe brain injuries. And Major General Kevin C. Kiley, commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command, said that figure does not even take into account milder neural injuries. He estimated that as many as 70 percent of the wounds suffered by US forces in Iraq had the potential for resulting in brain injury. Soldiers Miss Flights Back to Iraq - Few of More Than 30 Absent Troops Offer Explanation - More than 30 soldiers who came home from Iraq for two weeks of leave have failed to show up for their flights back to the combat zone, military officials said yesterday. ‘Non-Hostile’ Fire - The rate of U.S. military suicides is rising in Iraq. The Army needs to tell us more about the numbers and the causes Sick soldiers wait for treatment - More than 400 sick and injured soldiers, including some who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, are stuck at Fort Knox, waiting weeks and sometimes months for medical treatment, a score of soldiers said in interviews. - The delays appear to have demolished morale -- many said they had lost faith in the Army and would not serve again -- and could jeopardize some soldiers' health, the soldiers said. - The Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers are in what the Army calls "medical hold," like roughly 600 soldiers under similar circumstances waiting for doctors at Fort Stewart, Ga. Army attacks Iraq wedding - TWO US soldiers who marched down the aisle with Iraqi brides are to face a court martial.- "They've been formally charged with disobeying an order - no fraternising with the Iraqi people," said Vicki McKee, mother of one of the soldiers. - HOME-LEAVE TROOPS FLEE - MORE than 30 US soldiers are missing after being given a two-week break from combat in Iraq. - The troops were among 1300 in the first large-scale home-leave program since the Vietnam War. The wounded who never die - If we were to believe our government (and who does?), our military doctors are the best in the world. Nobody ever dies in their care. - Common sense tells us we're being lied to again. - Troops with major injuries are flown to Germany for treatment, and from there to the United States. - But, judging from press reports, none of these wounded ever dies. Maybe I don't know where to look, but I haven't been able to find one single report of a soldier who died later of his or her injuries. The Wounded Come Home - For every soldier who dies in Iraq, many more are injured. TIME takes an up-close look at the battle they face after the shooting is over - This is a story of the unseen war — and the grim, quiet battles that take place when wounded soldiers arrive home. What happened to members of the 2nd Squad of the 1st Platoon — who call themselves the War Machine — of the 43rd Combat Engineer Company is a tale that has never been told. In a soldiers' haven, worry and frustration taking a toll - As members of the 101st Airborne trickle back from Iraq, cracks are showing in the once unwavering confidence.- But Sgt. 1st Class John Bogle, who returned from Iraq six weeks ago to retire, finds little comfort with the state of affairs there, and after 22 years of service he's not shy about questioning the Army's dangerous and evolving role. - "At the beginning, it was very clear: Get that maniac out of power, get him and his regime gone, and everything else would take care of itself," Bogle said. "We reached that goal, and continued past that goal, and we've lost track of what we're doing. - "You can't leave, but you can't win. ... All they're doing now is getting people killed." The hidden cost of Bush's war - Concern about fatalities among Western forces in Iraq tends to overlook another ghastly statistic: the spectacularly mounting toll of the severely wounded. Andrew Buncombe reports on America's invisible army of maimed and crippled servicemen - Last week all but 20 of the hospital's 250 beds were reportedly taken up with soldiers injured in Iraq, where there are now some 35 attacks on US forces every day. Fifty soldiers had lost limbs often more than one while dozens of others were being treated for burns or shrapnel wounds. Others require psychiatric help. Officials say that 20 per cent of the wounded have suffered "severe brain injuries" while 70 per cent had wounds with the "potential for resulting in brain injury". About 600 have been dispatched to a specialist burns unit in San Antonio, Texas.  Shattered Lives - Wounded Reservists Back From Iraq Face Uncertainty, Bitterness - Four months later Mateo carries shrapnel from that day in his knee. His hearing has been severely damaged and this once strong, proud soldier now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. War relative's message for Bush - "I don't know how the man (Bush) has the nerve to show his face in his country after costing the lives of 53 British servicemen," said Mr Keys, of Llanuwchllyn, near Bala.  Amputee soldiers ponder bitter-sweet price of survival - Many soldiers survive attacks that would have killed them a generation ago. But more are returning from Iraq with grievous injuries, including amputations. - Already, 58 amputees have been treated at Walter Reed, 47 with major single-limb removals and 11 with multiple-limb amputations.Tired, Terrified, Trigger-Happy - Among the less publicized incentives propelling Iraq overseer Paul Bremer's urgent dash to Washington last week was the concern in various quarters of the administration that the U.S. expeditionary force in Iraq was in a dangerously unstable state. "We are one stressed-out reservist away from a massacre," remarked one senior official closely involved in the search for an exit strategy. - Vandergriff is also fiercely critical of the Army's practice of constantly rotating individuals, especially commanders, in and out of units. Morale and cohesion of the Army in Iraq "is deteriorating at four times the rate it did in Vietnam," he states. At Least 17 U.S. Troops Have Committed Suicide in Iraq; Army Seeks Answers - Since April, the military says, at least 17 Americans - 15 Army soldiers and two Marines - have taken their own lives in Iraq. The true number is almost certainly higher. At least two dozen non-combat deaths, some of them possible suicides, are under investigation according to an AP review of Army casualty reports. Senate committee tasks Army with morale review after Stripes’ report - The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday tasked the Army with providing a point-by-point assessment of Stars and Stripes' recent “Ground Truth” series, in which a significant number of troops in Iraq were laboring under difficult conditions and said morale was low. A Traumatized Trauma Counselor - Chaplain Glenn Palmer experiences the violence and horror of Baghdad firsthand - “Whenever I blew air during mouth to mouth I could feel the air coming out of the hole in the side of his head,” Palmer recalled. Misdiagnosed Green Beret demoted - Soldier nearly court-martialed before rare brain illness revealed - “They called him stupid, told him he was lazy, he was a liar, that he wasn’t any good, that he was a faker,” his mother said, recalling what little her son could tell her about his time in Kuwait. “I want them shamed the way they shamed my son.” Iraq war creates new generation of wounded vets - Toll not widely known: 2,094 injured in action - This new generation of disabled veterans promises to be among the painful, expensive legacies of the Iraq war, one that hasn't received much attention. Facing the Horrific Every Day - Army Hospital in Baghdad Is First Refuge for U.S. Casualties - Since the largest U.S. Army hospital in Iraq opened its doors on April 10, nearly all U.S. casualties have passed through its first-floor emergency room. Some come already dead. Some arrive with one arm instead of two, a shattered leg or a face wiped away by an explosion. Hold On to Your Humanity - An Open Letter to GIs in Iraq - I am a retired veteran of the army, and my own son is among you, a paratrooper like I was. - So the lie that you would be welcomed as liberators was just that. A lie. A lie for people in the United States to get them to open their purse for this obscenity, and a lie for you to pump you up for a fight. Peacekeeping duties may harm soldiers' health - Peacekeeping duties in trouble spots around the globe may be damaging soldiers' mental health, British researchers said on Friday. - Long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of extreme anxiety -- rather than the constant tension of war -- are taking their toll, they found. Words from the front-lines - “Before I came over, watching the news I was rah-rah and here we go. Now I am just thinking, this needs to stop and go away. When talking to my wife at home, you know, people just hear about a few casualties a day and it doesn't sound like a big deal. But when you see a 19-year-old kid with his leg barely hanging on, that one alone is a big deal.” – Major Gordon Olsen, orthopedic specialist, Heber City, Utah where the most seriously injured from Iraq go for treatment. Letters the Troops Have Sent Me... by Michael Moore - As we approach the holidays, I've been thinking a lot about our kids who are in the armed forces serving in Iraq. I've received hundreds of letters from our troops in Iraq -- and they are telling me something very different from what we are seeing on the evening news. Stressed Out at the Front - The wounds are hard to see, and soldiers often try to hide them. In the field with combat-stress teams. Pentagon: Suicides of U.S. Troops Rising in Iraq - At least 21 U.S. troops have committed suicide in Iraq, a growing toll that represents one in seven of American "non-hostile" deaths since the war began last March, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. British soldier's widow releases damning Iraq tape - The widow of a British soldier shot dead in Iraq while not wearing a flak jacket has just released an audio tape made by her husband. - On it, he complains about the lack of proper equipment they had been issued for battle. - "He had to give up his personal flak jacket to infantry soldiers because there were not enough to go around," she said. Language barrier proving insurmountable for GIs - How do you say "win the hearts and minds" in Arabic? Not many US soldiers in Iraq would know the answer and combat troops turned peacekeepers face an almost insurmountable language barrier as they seek cooperation from local civilians. High Suicide Rate For Iraq War GIs - Texas Army Specialist Joseph Suell told his mother he wasn't cut out to fight the Iraq war. - "He said 'Momma I haven't killed anybody here and I hope I never have to kill anybody,'" said Rena Mathis. Suicides in Iraq, Questions at Home - Pentagon Tight-Lipped as Self-Inflicted Deaths Mount in Military - According to William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who discussed the suicides in a briefing last month, that represents a rate of more than 13.5 per 100,000 troops, about 20 percent higher than the recent Army average of 10.5 to 11. T 10% At Hospital Had Mental Problems - Between 8 and 10 percent of nearly 12,000 soldiers from the war on terror, mostly from Iraq, treated at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany had "psychiatric or behavioral health issues," according to the commander of the hospital, Col. Rhonda Cornum. Our Wounded Warriors - Thousands of U.S. troops have been wounded and injured in Iraq. They have been paralyzed, lost limbs, suffered blindness, been horribly burned and so on. They are heroes, without question, but their stories have largely gone untold. Seventh Iraq war veteran kills himself - Another soldier who was attached to that unit in Iraq, Staff Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany, has claimed that the 10th Special Forces Group ignored him when he sought help with mental problems there, and then charged him with cowardice instead. Pogany, 32, also says the Army is ignoring the side effects of an anti-malaria drug called Lariam he took with the Special Forces, which has been linked to mental problems, aggression and suicides. Camp Casey's 2nd ID sees surge of post-traumatic stress disorder - The 2nd Infantry Division is experiencing a surge in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among soldiers who rotated here from assignments in Iraq or Afghanistan, says a senior health official. - PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that occurs when a person is exposed to a traumatic or life threatening event such as war, assault, sexual assault, natural disasters or disasters in general, Dorritie said. - Symptoms include panic attacks, nightmares, insomnia, hyper-vigilance, flashbacks, outbursts of anger and irritability, concentration and attention problems and the inability to relax, she said. Mental toll on troops detailed - Nearly one in five US combat troops returning from war-torn Iraq suffered from post-traumatic stress, major depression, or other serious mental afflictions, according to new data detailing the psychological costs of the bloodiest war in a generation. - The new study's chief purpose was to gauge the effectiveness of mental health services provided by the military. The data indicated a dramatic improvement since the Vietnam era, when the military's mental health care was relatively unsophisticated. Marine returns from Iraq to emotional ruin, suicide - But when Jeff returned to his parents’ home in July 2003 after serving six months in Iraq as a truck driver, there was nothing ordinary left about him. - He started drinking too much. He became withdrawn, depressed and distant. - In June, after what his parents describe as months of mental and emotional torment, the lance corporal went down to the basement and hanged himself. - He was 23. Some Marines Mentally Ill After Iraq, Documents Show - U.S. Navy documents released Tuesday provided detailed accounts of Marines suffering from deep psychiatric problems after serving in Iraq. - According to the documents, some Marines appeared delusional, describing how they single-handedly shot Iraqi soldiers in combat, or stabbed Iraqis on the ground who might have been feigning death. - Another Marine told how he and his unit would "go through villages" and stab Iraqi soldiers lying on the ground to make sure they were dead. Some were stabbed 28 times, he said. GAO report: VA assets inadequate to handle expected stress disorder cases - The Department of Veterans Affairs does not have the resources to handle the expected posttraumatic stress disorder cases from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a Government Accountability Office report. - A 2004 study by defense officials of Army and Marine troops in Iraq indicated that between 15 percent and 17 percent of those servicemembers showed signs of depression, anxiety or PTSD-related problems. - The GAO report notes that as of September 2004, officials at six of seven medical centers surveyed said they likely could not handle an increased demand in PTSD services, and fewer than half of patients treated last year were screened for PTSD-related issues.
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