Iraq

Back From Iraq... With A Traumatic Brain Injury

NPR - July 10, 2009 · One out of every five U.S. soldiers reports coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with mild traumatic brain injury, also known as TBI. Roadside bombs and Humvee wrecks are often to blame.
TBI symptoms can be hard to identify, but Army doctors are finding more cases because of baseline testing that began two years ago. Early detection is helping more soldiers heal instead of suffering in silence.

Six months ago, after a Humvee rollover in Iraq, Staff Sgt. Clifford Lee forgot that he was married and that he had kids. Now he has been cleared to return to duty.

Tragedy strikes back at home

Col. Elspeth Ritchie at a Pentagon press conference

http://socialistworker.org/2009/03/04/tragedy-strikes-at-home

Phil Aliff was deployed to Iraq with the Army's 10th Mountain Division and is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). In March 2007, he helped start IVAW's first active-duty chapter and became a dedicated antiwar activist.

Here, he reports on the growing epidemic of suicides among veterans of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cost of War? 900 Billion

One of the biggest factors in the economy's downturn is the war. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost so much money. There are so many commons myths about how a "war economy" will save the US from bankrupting itself. I think all that has come to a head in recent months disproves those commons myths.

So how much have we spent on the wars? Well this report by David Morgan, "US Costs of Iraq, Afghan Wars Top $900 Billion" puts the number close to a trillion.

UPDATE (Visualizing the cost): http://www.xinjo.com/interesting/a-little-visual-perspective-on-the-87-b...

The pictures I promised.

This is the little boy mentioned in the Blog "Insomnia - A re-enlistment bonus." As a corrective Note he is probably younger than 7 years old. This will be corrected in my blog as soon as possible and I'm sorry for my unintentional Misrepresentation.

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