Home > Maimed in Iraq, then mistreated, neglected, and hidden in America

Maimed in Iraq, then mistreated, neglected, and hidden in America

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 19 October 2004
62 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts International Health USA


by Frederick Sweet

Combat veterans wounded in Iraq were left waiting weeks and even months for proper
medical attention at military bases. According to an officer, their living conditions
were so unacceptable for injured soldiers he said they "were being treated like
dogs." Then the Pentagon underreported the number wounded.

The Bush administration, referring to veterans of the war in Iraq, told a House
panel that they would avoid last year’s "mistakes" of leaving sick and injured
troops at U.S. bases to wait for months to be properly treated by doctors. Adding
insult to injury, Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. James B. Peake told the House
panel that he "was not aware" that last fall soldiers were waiting for medical
care at U.S. bases and under substandard living conditions.

Wounded "treated like dogs"

Mark Benjamin’s investigative report on Oct. 20, 2003 for UPI, revealed that many wounded veterans from Iraq had to wait "weeks and months at places such as the Fort Stewart military base in Georgia, for proper medical help." They had been kept in living conditions that are "unacceptable for sick and injured soldiers." One officer characterized conditions for the wounded by saying, "They’re being treated like dogs."

In January, 2004 Benjamin reported that the largest American troop rotation is now underway. Daniel Denning, assistant secretary of the Army, testified to the House Total Force Subcommittee, "We recognize that last fall, we temporarily lost sight of the situation. It is likely that during this period of force rotations, patient loads at some installations may exceed local capacity. The Army has developed a series of options to handle this surge."

Subcommittee chairman John McHugh, R-N.Y. said, "In October of last year a series of articles revealed that many mobilized Reserve and National Guard soldiers in a medical holdover status felt the Army was not treating them as equals to their active component counterparts. The articles described substandard living conditions at two Army posts in particular — Fort Stewart, Ga., and Fort Knox, Ky. Many of the ill and injured soldiers interviewed at these posts reported having to wait for long periods of time — sometimes weeks or months — before receiving the medical care they needed."

More than 1,000 National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers at Fort Stewart and Fort Knox, including hundreds who had served in Iraq, had waited weeks or months in "medical hold" to be seen by doctors. At Fort Stewart in Georgia, they waited in hot concrete barracks with no air-conditioning or running water.

Sgt. Craig Allen LaChance, a soldier who was on medical hold at Fort Stewart, told the panel that it "took months to get appointments" with specialists while sick and injured soldiers waited in what he said were substandard barracks. "We lived in deplorable conditions," LaChance said. "We were made to feel like we had failed the Army."

Col. Keith Armstrong, garrison commander at Fort Knox, told the congressional committee "we were stretched pretty thin" last fall. Fort Stewart Garrison Commander Col. John M. Kidd said, "We recognized that we had some difficulty here. We recognized that we had a problem with medical hold." Both commanders said they had asked for help from the Army and both described it as slow in coming.

How many wounded?

Combat deaths were accurately reported, but according to an article in July, 2003 by Editor & Publisher Online and later in October by National Public Radio, the numbers of wounded, in and out of battle, were being underreported. The news media had accepted that the military high command kept the number of wounded from the American public. "There could be some inattention to [the number of injured troops]," answered Philip Bennett, assistant managing editor of the foreign desk at the Washington Post when questioned by E & P Online.

As American casualties increased during the summer of 2003, US military officials suppressed discussion of the total number wounded. Only by July 10, 2003, nearly four months after the invasion of Iraq had been launched, did CNN report that for "the first time since the start of the war in Iraq, Pentagon officials have released the number of US troops wounded from the beginning of the war through Wednesday [July 9, 2003]."

However, Seth Porges wrote in Editor & Publisher (10/23/03) that coverage of injured and wounded U.S. soldiers gets very little media attention. "For months, the press has barely mentioned non-fatal casualties or the severity of their wounds," writes Porges. "Few newspapers routinely report injuries in Iraq, beyond references to specific incidents. Since the war began in March, 1,927 soldiers have been wounded in Iraq, many quite severely."

But newspapers neglected to report or keep a tally on the wounded, as an informal survey of some top papers has shown. This comes on the heels of reports that attacks on American troops in Iraq had increased in recent weeks from an average of 15 to 20 attacks per day to about 20 to 25 attacks a day, with a peak at about 35 attacks in one day, according to the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez.

Julian Borger, writing in the British Guardian last August, cited the comments of Lieut. Col. Allen DeLane, in charge of airlifting injured GIs into Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.
According to Bolger, DeLane, who had already seen thousands of wounded flown in, told National Public Radio, in regard to the sharp increase in the number of US wounded last autumn, "the official number of combat wounded alone averaged nearly 100 a week between mid-September and mid-November (lunaville.org)." This made the resistance of the military to giving out accurate figures increasingly suspicious.

As the US media began to request injury figures, the Pentagon put up as much resistance as it could. In September, 2003, the Washington Post noted, "Although Central Command keeps a running total of the wounded, it releases the number only when asked" making the combat injuries of US troops in Iraq one of the untold stories in the war.

Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, had complained in September 2003 that he was unable to find out how many US soldiers had been wounded in Iraq because the administration refused to release this information.

Higher Survival Rates

Because of the higher survival rate of injured soldiers compared with previous wars, information about the seriously wounded is essential to any accurate assessment of the success of the war in Iraq.

But Lawrence F. Kaplan wrote in the October 13 New Republic: "Pentagon officials have rebuked public affairs officers who release casualty figures, and, until recently, US Central Command did not regularly publicize the injured total either."

Kaplan’s report cited the condition of many injured soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, pointing out that modern medicine and rapid response techniques allow many wounded soldiers to survive injuries that would otherwise have killed them in previous wars. Kevlar body armor also reduced deaths. Still, many of these wounded soldiers are left with debilitating injury or loss of limbs.

Kaplan wrote: "The near-invisibility of the wounded has several sources. The media has always treated combat deaths as the most reliable measure of battlefield progress, while for its part the administration has been reluctant to divulge the full number of wounded."

Last December, Congressman Gene Taylor (Dem.-Mississippi) complained that the Pentagon deliberately undercounted combat casualties. He cited the case of five members in the Mississippi National Guard who had been wounded in a booby-trap bomb explosion. Incredibly, their injuries were listed by the military as "non combat." The truth emerged only because Taylor spoke face to face with the most seriously injured of the five at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC. Taylor sent a memo to the other members of Congress to "ask if anyone has had a similar incident."

On October 3rd UPI reported that 4,000 soldiers had been medically evacuated from Iraq for non-combat reasons. As for the tally of total deaths in Iraq, most of the media continue to cite only those killed in hostile action. The administration’s numbers game of "combat" and "non combat" injuries, however, is far from the whole story. That still leaves out the thousands who have become physically or mentally ill in Iraq not resulting from bombs and bullets. Estimates of the real number of US servicemen and women evacuated for medical reasons from Iraq by the end of 2003 vary widely.

Last January 7, National Public Radio’s Daniel Zwerdling reported on the difficulties in finding out the truth about US casualties in Iraq. He said few Americans are aware of the surprisingly large number of US wounded in Iraq. Questioning several dozen people on the street about the total number of American soldiers who had died in Iraq, he had found that most could answer correctly. But when the NPR reporter asked about the number of US military personnel that had been wounded, no one came close to the actual figure. The answers ranged from a few hundred to a thousand.

The actual estimates are between 11,000 and 22,000 for the number of US soldiers, sailors and Marines medically evacuated from Iraq by the end of 2003 because of battlefield wounds, illness or other battlefield reasons.

Trying to get more accurate casualty figures, Zwerdling said he contacted Sen. Chuck Hagel (Rep.-Nebraska), a Vietnam veteran and former deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration. Hagel had tried to obtain the "total number of American battlefield casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq" from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The senator had also tried to find out: "What is the official Pentagon definition of wounded in action? What is the procedure for releasing this information in a timely way to the public and the criteria for awarding a Purple Heart [awarded to those wounded in combat or posthumously to the next of kin of those killed or those who die of wounds received in action]?"

Hagel had been seeking an accurate, updated count on the number of Purple Hearts and the dates they were awarded to US military personnel in Iraq. That number is significant because it is an official record of the total number of battlefield casualties. After six weeks, the reply Hagel received was, "the Department of Defense does not have the requested information."

Stars and Stripes (November 5, 2003 European edition) noted that the Landstuhl military hospital in Germany had "treated more than 7,000 injured and ill service members from Iraq." But at the same time, the military had recorded some 2,000 combat casualties. This discrepancy is 3.5-times (350%) between the number of wounded in combat listed by the military and the number of service personnel medically evacuated from Iraq for treatment in Germany!

The Landstuhl facility, located near the huge US air base at Ramstein Germany, reported on January 23, 2004 that the total US medical evacuations from Iraq to Germany by the end of 2003 was 9,433. The number of hostile and "non-hostile" wounded listed by the Army at that point was approximately 2,750. The under reporting of wounded continues.

Figures don’t lie, but . . .

Clearly, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld don’t really care about the US servicemen and women casualties from their war on Iraq. They rarely acknowledge it publicly.

But why did the Bush administration knock itself out to conceal the number of combat veterans injured in Iraq? Answer: To avoid the appearance of a Vietnam quagmire. The seemingly low, "acceptable" number for American loss of life in Iraq looks much better than Vietnam, but the injury figures are much worse. That’s why.

The Bush administration claims an overwhelmingly popular support for its war on Iraq. But the political and media establishment can see that the public’s opposition to the war is constantly growing. Like the sensation caused by recent revelations of Bush being AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard in 1972-73 during the Vietnam war, the tide of public opinion would further turn if the true picture entered the public mind of the war’s real effects on American troops. But how can the "success" of Bush’s war be measured?

Comparing the war in Iraq with that in Vietnam, the total number of combat troops in Vietnam was 550,000. As many as 155,000 of them were wounded while 10.7% were killed during 10 years. In Iraq, so far, the total number of combat troops total 150,000 and between 11,000 and 22,000 of them have been wounded during nine months. Thus 28.2% of combat troops were wounded in Vietnam while in Iraq "only" 0.3% died in combat, so far, and as many as 14.7% had been wounded in combat.

At first glance, Bush’s war in Iraq seems to be much more "successful" than the war in Vietnam — especially when the number of wounded are eliminated from the equation. The proportion of combat troops killed in Vietnam appears to be 35-times more than in Iraq. By contrast, the proportion of Vietnam wounded is only two-times that sustained in Iraq. That’s getting pretty close.

A fairer comparison of casualties in the Vietnam war, lasting ten long years, and Iraq, now less than one year old, should include how long each of the two wars has lasted. While the war in Vietnam has been over for more than three decades, American soldiers in Iraq are still being killed and wounded on a daily basis. The casualty figures in Iraq are still rising — and there’s no end in sight.

Clearly, if Bush’s war continues for another two to five years, according to most estimates, the casualty figures from the Vietnam debacle could make it look even more "successful" than Bush’s war!

With the specter of the Vietnam quagmire hanging over them, Bush and Rumsfeld can only talk about a "successful" war by emphasizing the relatively low number of Americans killed in Iraq, and hiding the extraordinarily high number of wounded. But for those who had sacrificed their lives and limbs to preemptively protect the U.S. against Saddam Hussein’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, Bush’s war has been a complete failure.

Frederick Sweet is Professor of Reproductive Biology in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. You can email your comments to Fred@interventionmag.com

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=654

Forum posts

  • I feel the article would be more powerful if split in two. One on the deplorable conditions for wounded vets (with some mention the numbers to get an idea on the scope) and another focused more on the political agenda concerning hiding of the numbers. A clean article on the poor treatment of the wounded would be useful and would not carry (for some) the bashing-baggage that the accusations of ’hiding number’ carries. I have no doubt that is true but accusations of ’intent’ are clearly different than exposure of the lack of treatment.

    • Soldiers are so called tough guys who agree to kill, maime, bomb rape and murder women children, bedowan shepherds, and innocent civilians for $9,200 base pay a year, to start. After Vietnam war , wounded vetrans in CA. VA "hospitols" also called "chicken coops"were stacked in wire pull out beds, stackable beds, 6, 8 and 10 or more deep, scant hostile to vets staff, would use pully ladders to pour the non nutrious liquid suger water they called food and guinia pig drugs into the vets iv’s, the wire and steel pull out beds were stacked one upon another, like pull out drawers. Each bed contained a dying, often catatonic vet, writing in so much pain they were in catanoic shock, delerium and endless agony. The vets were nelected for months and years and were covered with bed sores from not being moved for months or years. The doctors just made notes on how long it would take the vets to die, no attempts to save them were made. Most of the hundreds and thousands of stacked vets, weighed about 50- 60 lbs. They looked worse then dying chemo injected cancer patients or dr. mengelas experimental guinia pig medical experiment torture prisoners as in Auchwitz photos.
      Families often had impossible times trying to get the vets out of these butcher experiment labs. Many vets were injected with urainium, titainium, and other biological warfare chemicals to test and see specific guinia pig reactions, using the vets much the same as muskeegee prisoners trials, where the men were injected with syphilis, so thier crippling and death progressions could be observed. Medical torture using vets as lab rats goes on all the time.
      The powers that be see genocide and medical torture of vets as what killers deserve. The vets wanted to maime and kill others, so the vets are maimed, tortured and killed.
      What you do to others will be done unto you.

    • The person writing this article CLEARLY has no idea what it is to be an American Soldier. We do not like to "kill, maim, bomb, rape or murder" women and children and innocent civilians.....that is a pathetic description of what an American Soldier feels or believes in. I have been a soldier for 22 years now and fought in Desert Storm, and I NEVER had the desire to hurt innocent civilians, or murder women and children. My true goal was to protect these people, not hurt them. A true American soldier has integrity and we swear an oath to "protect innocent victims" from harm. To say we deserve to be killed or treated badly because we do it to others is disgusting and totally unfair. The writer of this story needs to fill the boots of an American soldier and be one before he gets the right "to know what we believe in or how we feel" This person should be ashamed of himself/herself!!

    • Please give proof of your charges. It is far too easy to state such claims without actual proof. I know first-hand of the "experimental" mind of our government — just look to our autism epidemic for one.

      As for your statement about killing, maiming, raping and murder of women and children: When the enemy uses its own people as shields and hides munitions among them a whole new feature of war is presented. That does not make the soldiers guilty of acts of "brigandage" . There has always been an element in war that enjoys taking further advantage of the weak and helpless but that doesn’t make all guilty. Remember, one can not paint with a broad brush.

      Your vitriholic attack at our forces makes one wonder what type of individual YOU are. Point to ponder.....

  • I find it deplorable that a idiot like Bush can stay in office this long. What’s happened to the people of this country? They must be asleep from all the drugs brought in by Bush and Co. Impeach the BASTARD! Kick his ASS out! This war never should have happened. Bring all the troops home where they belong, on good old US of A soil.

    • Unfortunetly, too many people in this country are being brain-washed into believing the idiots they blindly put in control. Then you also have the brain-dead from the "Lush Dimbaugh" radio talk show, spouting his drivel to his dumbed-down listeners who will believe anything they are told to believe.

    • re: Message: I’m so disgusted with George Bush for treating the wounded like that.
      re: Reply : I agree with you, you are absolutely right.

    • I was going to write a response to this, then I found THIS:

      caution : we will erase messages with caractere defamatory, abusive, xenophobe, sexist, the threats, politic and commercial advertising...

      so it seems inteligent rethoric will go without as the very posts to which I could respond should all be banned and erased, as per this sites own posting rules. I really wish all you all would stop whining into your lattes about killing yourselves and just do it. This country doesn’t need you, too bad it’s the very things you cry of that bred you into being.

    • Please continue to write, make sure you vote and get others to vote.
      The USA is permanently damaged in the world eyes, it will affect our children and our lives for generations to come.

    • Rush Limbaugh says it like it should be said. Kerry is a BAD choice for President, and he proves it, EVERY morning. Man is he right on about Kerry! He says it like it is, and thank GOD he opened my eyes about Kerry before I made a BAD decision come the 2nd......

    • I feel the smae way that you feel becauese he mistreated our schools and he isn’t
      fair and he just want our money and he don’t care about our children either.

    • Bush is not telling the truth about the " war" he has misled our sons into thinking this was about 9-11 yet failed to tell them oh by the way BIN LADEN isnt in IRAQ so just join up to be suicidal just like those we are sent to kill. VOTES TO IMPEACH BUSH

  • A true tragedy for our fighting men. We should all hang our heads in shame. Bring them home immediately, then treat them like humanbeings as they deserve.

  • So much for supporting the troops... How long will Amewricans sit by while the Bush admin. and friends treat their sons and daughters with the most cynical contempt?

  • I’m a retired United States Air Force Chief that gave 26 years of service. I had three tours of duty in Vietnam and a tour during the first Gulf War. I have always supported our troops and those of other nations involved with this conflict. But, I will not support or have supported the need to go into Iraq. Our involvement was ill-prepared and illegal. There was no threat to us from Saddam. Our troops are dying for a cause that I can’t make sense of. It makes me sick and upset to see the lives of our troops and those of other nations wasted so that George Bush can justify his existence.

    • and you know what, all those brainwashed soldiers vote for ....guess who...Bush!

    • I doubt it. I think you’re a fraud and a plant. 26 years in the USAF and you don’t know rank? Chief what? Crew chief? The highest "Chief" you could go is and was was chief master sergeant, an E9. Your telling me in 26 years of active service you only made E9? No wonder your pissed.

    • E9 is THE highest rank an enlisted individual can attain - what do you mean "only E9?"
      Jim Duke
      COL(Ret) USA

    • You’re the one, like most people writing on this site, who doesn’t know "rank" or anything else about the military. As anyone with a clue would know, the highest enlisted grade you can possibly go IS E-9 !! As for military people being "brainwashed", most of them are smarter than the communists and slack-jaw civilians who leave messages on this site that are utter BS and non-factual !! -Ted VB, retired USAF and proud of it, not that any of you know what "self-sacrifice" means

    • erase if you must because the Gov fears the truth of its people but I agree with this writer. Our sons & sister were misled into thinking we were going to fight for the 9-11 attack yet failed to mention thats not even in the same country. SHAME ON YOU BUSH !!! VOTES TO IMPEACH BUSH

  • The people who start wars seldom if ever fight them. I am a disabled VietNam vet, and I have long ago figured out that wars are fought for profit; there is money to be made in guns, tanks, and bombs, Veterans are an expense. They are red ink in the ledger. And nobody cares. Period.

    • What does uranium do to people? Lookat Agent Orange in Vietnam 3rd generation defects it’s disgusting. Australian people are stupid too look at our last election Howard romped it in. Take a leaf out of Muhommed Ali’s book and don’t fight for the bullshit!!!

  • And for what are the heroes sacrificed?

    A bundel of lies.

    Feudal Europe all over again...

    The Earl has become the CEO.
    The Duke has become the Shareholder.
    The King is the president.
    In bed with all the other "elite" letting the masses fight their little pityfull wars.

  • TO SEND A SOLDIER INTO COMBAT AND HAVE THEM KILLED IS A TRADJEDY, FOR A SOLDIER TO BE WOUNDED AN THEN NEGLECTED IS TEN FOLD TRADGEDY. ALL SOLDIERS EXPECT AND ARE MADE TO BELIEVE THEY WILL GET THE BEST CARE HUMANLY POSSIBLE AND DESERVE NO LESS.

  • I miss my arm!

  • As a 100% disabled Vietnam Veteran, I find it incredible that the media has not reported the efforts of this Administration to hide or suppress the numbers of our wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. I think that it shows a contempt on the part of this Administration to pretend or lie about how our wounded are being treated. While President Bush says he fully supports our troops, he has cut veteran’s benefits, cut housing for married active duty members of the armed forces, and sent troops into battle without a plan, personal protection, or an exit strategy. Send Bush back to Texas on 2 November!

    • NO NO NO send him and old man bush back to Maine where they really belong ,this is one TEXAN that don’t want him back

    • The Bush group of corporate criminals, does not care about our people fighting. They also do not care for the civilian infrastructure of DoD. Bush and Rummy, have destroyed the civil service system. In effect, all rights have been taken away. Bush and Rummy, will have the power to hire and fire at will, with no grievance process. This will lead to corruption and favoritism among the ranks. Bush and Rummy, want to and are giving sweet heart contracts to their friends and supporters, to do the civilian work at DoD. Bush and Rummy want a core group of part timers handling the infrastructure of DoD in all aspects of combat support from procurement to administration.

      The American people have no idea how evil and soulless the Bush administration is.
      The US treasury is being looted by Bush and Cheney. As they continue the debacle in Iraq, costing 3 billion dollars a month, the lives of our people and the estimated 30 thousand wounded, they keep hidden from the public.

    • NO NO NO SEND THE ASS HOLES TO IRAQ WHERE THE HELL THEY BELONG. PUT THERE ASS ON THE FRONT LINE. SO THEY CAN DEFEND WHAT THEY STARTED. WHEN WILL THE AMERCIAN PEOPLE GET THE BACKBONE TO STAND UP TO THE GOVERMENT AND REMIND THEM THEY WORK FOR US THE PEOPLE. WE ARE THE GOVERMANT. WHEN WILL WE STOP LETTING THEM FILL THERE POCKEST WITH OUR HARD ERNED TAX DOLLARS. WE NEED TO TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY, BEFORE THEY GET US ALL KILLED.

      GOD BLESS AMERICA

  • You all suck! Everyone in uniform is a volunteer. Every service member knows and understands the inherent risks of their service. No one wants to be wounded but it happens! Suck it up!

    • I didnt realise it was a condition of Military service to be forgotten or mistreated by the Administration you sacrificed your limbs for.Suck that up!

    • let’s try to cut our losses......first we get the shrub out of office.....one thing at a time....it’s not going to be easy because the repubs have all their ducks in a row...he is the most pitiful speciman of a leader I have ever seen.

    • If you are so gung-ho, why aren’t YOU over there asshole! Since when are people who bullshit our young soldiers into a phony war, able to get away with this kind of lies, fraud and treatment? It’s assholes like you that should be put on the front line so that YOU can get it first hand. Let YOU be wounded and see how YOU feel then, asshole!

    • we all know it is a volunteer service sir, but we are not a service for personal agendas nor abusive operations. im a OIF vet and i clearly know all my duties. But nobody should abuse the thrust of any fighting man. In the near future all of us vets will be a living witness of how Americans were fooled by a hidden agenda. I love this country and if i have ill die for it but not in vain. God bless and may the light reach your soul.

    • They may have volunteered to serve their country but I don’t think any of them volunteered to be led by an IDIOT!

    • " I don’t think any of them volunteered to be led by an IDIOT! "

      Actually, you’d be hard pressed to find if any, BTDT’s that share that view. I can’t name ONE however that was joyed to have Clinton as their Commander in Chief. But they served under him becuase they respect the rank, not the person. You’d probably roll your eyes in disgust to know just how many were ELATED to have the OPPORTUNITY to serve under Bush.

    • Sounds like a really bright idea. Why don’t we just elect Kerry so we can tuck our tails and run out of Iraq, which will then be taken as a sign of weakness by the terrorists, only encouraging them more. But hey, then we won’t have to send *anyone* to Iraq!!! Then the terrorists will come to us and fight us here!

  • I live in australia and you’ll notice even us your biggest allies and brothers are not giving more troops for IRAQ because we know how far this evil war will go. It deeply sadens me to think that those poor american boys are going over there and not only being killed or maimed but then recieving sub standard care . Plus I’d like to know why the HELL bush thinks he can ill-equipe the best army in the world and still win the war , the figures say body armour is helping the casualty rates but it aint gonna stop you getting shot in the back cause you gave your back panel to your buddy because he can’t afford one . Mr bush is not only digging his own hole by treating your troops so badly he’s embarassing your country by sending ill -equiped troops out into combat , might I add that the world thinks of the aussie’s as your partner so they’re gonna think our military leadership is sub-standard too. We aussies love you americans as brothers but please vote Kerry or march on the white house or.... just somehow stop the maddness.

    • Hello. I’m a Canadian, retired from editing industrial and military magazines in Canada. I feel that your statement that a march on Washington would be effective in ending the tragic mistake that is Iraq has some merit. If that didn’t work, Americans who really care about their country should begin a Second American Revolutionary War—this one against the Bush Administration. I call on all U.S. military forces to go AWOL in such a revolution and fight the proto-Nazi Bush regime. Right now, non-elected Bush is leading America and the world to Armageddon. Bush should be impeached and jailed for treason along with his Fourth Reich officials such as Tom Ridge and Dick Cheney. I also am certain that the so-called attack of 9/11 was planned at least 25 years ago by Bush, Sr., Nixon and Kissinger. In other words, it was an inside job. I have at least 150 pages of written and photographic evidence to that effect. The objective of controlling Middle East oil supplies was only part of the plan. another was to stir up religious hatred of the Muslims versus all other religions. It must stop. Incidentally, there has never been a declaration of War issued by the U.S. Government against Iraq or Afghanistan. Thus the so-called war on terrorism has no legitimacy under international law. THe real terrorists are Americans who planted a series of remote-controlled bombs inside the World Trade Center. It would have been easy. George Bush’s brother Marvin Bush owns the company which was in charge of security for the WTC. They planted the bombs. People on the ground, including firemen commented that it looked like a series of blasts were set off, floor by floor. No Arab -sounding names were on the passenger lists of the planes that hit the towers I could give you more information, but it would take too long.

    • AMEN! Thank you and thank you Aussies. Too bad we have an idiot running this country. Hope the people in the USA wake up and smell the coffee on November 2nd, before it’s too late and we continue this stupidity. Good Luck to all you folks down under! :)

    • ALL THAT YOU HAVE SAID is TRUE! I’ve researched and found out all of the points you made are in fact very TRUE! All this has been planned to implement the New World Order. Once everything goes to hell in this country, marshall law will be implemented. That is the purpose of FEMA (as an enforcement agency) and the so-called "Patriot Act I" (and the coming Patriot Act II which will destroy the entire US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. SAD...that the American people are so dumbed-down. Time to wake up America before all of you are put under dictatorial domination.

    • You must be a dumbass french-fried canadian.

    • What a bunch of crap. I didn’t know the Communist Party was alive and well in Canada. Anything to "be different" from America, whether it makes sense or not. If Kerry gets elected, are you going to change your position just to be a typical anti-American Canadian ?? I think it would be better for us all to march North and liberate you brainwashed "Socialists"

    • I suggest that you are the dumb person...because...stupid people like you make statements out of anger because you are constantantly in denial and don’t take the time to research issues. Poor soul that you are; I feel sorry for you and your ilk!

    • It is sounds like McCarthyism is alive and well in the U.S.A. You accuse someone of being a Communist or Socialist with no knowledge of that person’s political beliefs. I began my involvement in politics in Canada at the age of 18 when I voluntarily distributed pamphlets door-to-door on behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. This is the equivalent of the Republican Party in the U.S.A. So much for your accusation that I must be a Communist or Socialist. I majored in history at the prestigious McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and have a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree in Journalism obtained at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. In each course, we had a weekly class in politics with occasional lectures by major Canadian politicians. I am not anti-American. I just do not like what has happened to the Republican Party in the U.S.A. It has drifted too far to the right for my liking. I preferred the style of Republican administration shown when ’Ike’ Eisenhower was President. Most Canadians are against the Bush style of politics, but we do not hate Americans. I have relatives in the States in Baltimore, Woodland Hills. La Jolla, Oakland and San Francisco in California, Miami Beach, and other cities. I am related to Morley Safer of ’60 Minutes’ and none of my American relatives are Democrats. No one insults Canadians who has been here. We are not all French-Canadians. Less than one-third of our citizens are French-speaking. Perhaps you should come and visit us here and see what Canadians are like. I’ll bet you’ve never been to Canada. I’ve traveled through half of the U.S.A., on business as an executive V-P with a Canadian corporation doing business in Manhattan in the 1950’s and on holidays and speaking at conventions in later years. I love Americans in general. It’s too bad that some extremists like yourself give Americans a bad reputation in Canada. I do not like John Kerry’s background for President, but, given a choice between him and Bush, I’d vote for Kerry. Bush is really a puppet run by Cheney. Bush is not responsible for his actions. Oil, money and greed for more of it have warped what little good judgment and intelligence he has shown. That’s not saying much. His IQ of less than normal places him at the lowest intelligence quotient among all American Presidents in history. God save America from Bush, Cheney and Ridge!

  • This is a tragic report. Will Kerry finally announce the figures of the
    tens of thousands wounded and neglected?

    Isn’t that the way to bring home the scandal of what a total failure the
    war in Iraq has been?

  • wow, substandard barracks and poor medical treatment, imagine that. I mean, how would one ever expect to justify that those that are still in the thick of it and need immediate medical attention to get back into the battle would get treated first?

    And "hy Oh why"are the facilities so bad in the states for our veterans? Sure am glad Clinton cut so much of our budget! Whew!

    Oh wait, I know,how about all us Democraps go and give some volunteer time time to these guys stateside? How about we go donate time and money to them? No no... that would take my tea and poetry money for the week... I KNOW! We could tax ourselves more! Yeah, and then 3cents of every tax dollar might make it where it’s going and not be siphoned off like the education money and the rest of our failed schemes that have bred ineptitude!

    Hooray us! Hooray for the democratic Liberals that can’t fend for ourselves and blame everyone but ourselves for our own problems!

    Yaaaaayy!!!!

    • SEVEN months into the war, 40,000 American troops were deployed without Kevlar - nearly a third of all forces there. Those 40k vests cost $60 million (thousands of troops purchased their own through catalogs - ridiculous). An F-22 costs $300 million. Our military budget is a half trillion. Huh?

      The Bush Admin: Proposed a $250 fee for enrollment in the VA medical program (Congress blocked it); opposed a plan for expanding healthcare to veterans from the Reserve and Guard (Congress pushed it through); was charging hospitalized soldiers 8 bucks a day for food (until Congress stopped it); tried to reduce "imminent danger" pay from $225 to $150 a month (Congress, again); tried to reduce pay for families of deployed troops from $250 to $100 a month (Congress balked).

      Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld have never served in combat, nor attended a single public military funeral (Clinton, Bush Sr., and Reagan ALL attended at least several of these). They certainly care about the troops.

      One could keep going on and on like this......anyone who defends the Bush admin. has a small penis, and an even smaller brain.

  • This is just another example of the cynical, arrogant and abusive misuse of our brave troops. The complete incompetence of our leadership in taking an understrength, under-equipped force into a purely hostile environment is reaping its consequences. What a fiasco !!!

  • DR. SWEET, STICK TO BIOLOGY, YOUR ARTICLE MAKES NO SENSE AND THE INSERTED PHOTO CREATES WHAT CAN BEST BE DESCRIBED AS PROPAGANDA.

    S/SGT M J MCCLOSKEY, JR, USMC

    MEDIA, PA

  • I Had a Different Experience in Iraq. I didnt have to wait that long to get a bionicle femer and ulna!! Oh we did find wmd ove there, but I guess 6 barrles aint good enough for anyone! there is still more out there. God Bless you all that are over there still! Go Bush! A Disabled OIF VETERAN

  • Not that my being a high school teacher allows only me to see this, but it is ludicrous to think that eighteen year-old kids who have no knowledge of what freedom is choose to enter into the military out of a strong sense of duty and honor. I don’t know how many eighteen year-olds are even capable of defining the two words, but let’s just say it is not many. Ultimately in their eyes, the military is simply an alternative to college that can help them earn money for college or provide them training for a job when they get out.

    And of course the military uses an array of fit young men fighting imaginary demons and sailing around the world to hide the fact that the military ultimate goal is to be better than their enemy at killing people. And, oh yeah, in the process you just might get killed yourself.

    Who’s fault is this? Is it the military’s for deceptive advertising? Is it the parents of children not doing their jobs as parents (which I see all the time as a school teacher) by teaching their children what the world is really like, ie. if you go to the military you may be killed?

    I don’t have the answers to these questions. However, if this country is to have any hope whatsoever, we must make it our personal mission in life to force the issue onto others of the atrocities of our government. Without getting into CIA drug traffiking, 9/11 coverup, the Federal Reserve scam, etc. (things which I belive to be true), I simply must state that this is one of the many crimes commited by our government on us because we are unsuspecting sheep. The truth must come out. You must talk about this, especially when encountering your average "support the president, troops, war, etc..." type as it is this type of person which is by far the most brainwahsed, and thus dangerous, person in this country.

    Pray for goodness.

  • congratulations on a most remarkable article.. if we dont question all that we hold dear we dont deserve that which is great,to research something of importants must be given a starter an object and this is when curiosity kicks in with this the want to know and understand comes into play and with this must come language and laguage tells us its meaning and function etc....this above is the base of knowledge...we have like it or not be inslaved by those i call the masters and good they are not but evil they most certainly are...and wars they engineer and we are used for either tax wise or physically..... we are pawns on there chess board and our only escape from them is to educate ourselves by starting from the begining with everyting we have learnt to research many subjects like history,language,science,medicine,arts etc..build up a library of books and always take notes and go over them from time to time so you can develope your idears and never say you know when you dont,’ask those who know’ and get a great satisfaction out of discovering something like this artical " worth while "...yours truely open2one.

    • I am a Vietnam Veteran who has just recently re-entered the VA Health Care System. I am amazed at the excellent services I am receiving at no charge. I find it impossible to believe that someone currently serving the military is receiving anything less. I believe the article is a load of crap called propaganda. The revamped and modernized VA Healthcare System is the results of many, but if we had to thank one person it would be George W. Bush. That’s right... George W. Bush, not Clinton!

    • read Urantia.org...............it may help us find the path out of our sad misunderstanding of why were are here in the first place!

  • A 22 year old joins the National Guard. He is given a $2999 bonus for joining. He is stationed in Iraq, and is injured in Baghdad. Extensive head & severe internal injuries, two broken arms etc, etc, and is now 100% disabled. Is given the ’Purple Heart’. His life will never be the same. And the National Guard wants the $2999 back, and it shows on this young soldiers credit report that he now owes the National Guard $2999. This Administration should bow their heads in shame!!! I come from a military family, and I will never allow my 16 & 12 year old grandsons to fight for idiots like Rumsfield, Cheney, Rove, and Bush. Their Mom served in the AF Military Police for ten years, their Dad just retired after 20 years OSI, & my Dad retired after 30 years, CWO4.
    Special thanks to the person with the long message from Canada - I share your views & so do countless of others here in the States. We are being controlled by the media & it is disgusting that we can’t get the truth here......Please keep pounding away!! We need you!!

  • Why did they have to do the soilders like they did. I wish that one day we can have world peace
    and there will be no more killing, injuring, or hurting love ones!

    • In a world that is over a billion years old and men have lived over a million of years now, still men have not overcome the animal instinct to kill one another which is the very thing that great minds claim separates human from animal behavior. And still humans choose to call themselves civil beings. But in facing the truth, the real difference between humans and animals is the one that in the animal kingdom the animals kills only to survive. Humans know how to survive and choose to kill so they can survive in a more leisurely society. And yet mankind has the nerve and audacity to claim they are civil. With all the education and learning humans still do not have the mentality to survive with one another. For what ever the reason is mankind does not have the intelligence or the capability to live in harmony with one another. What will it take and how many will have to die? Is this a task too great for mankind to ever accomplish? Will humans ever see the day that the world will live in harmony? Or does the killing continue until there is nothing or no one left because this so called intelligent being has destroyed the whole world?

      (sorry) But it is true