More on the CBS News report accounting for the extreme rate of suicide amongst Iraq veterans.
The Pentagon was covering up the real magnitude of the “suicide
epidemic”. Following an exhaustive investigation of veterans’ suicide
data collected from 45 states; CBS discovered that in 2005 alone
“THERE WERE AT LEAST 6,256 AMONG THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE ARMED
FORCES. THAT’S 120 EACH AND EVERY WEEK IN JUST ONE YEAR.”That is not a typo. Active and retired military personnel, mostly
young veterans between the ages of 20 to 24, are returning from
combat and killing themselves in record numbers. We can assume that
“multiple-tours of duty” in a war-zone have precipitated a mental
health crisis of which the public is entirely unaware and which the
Pentagon is in total denial.If we add the 6,256 suicide victims from 2005 to the “official” 3,865
reported combat casualties-we get a sum of 10,121. Even a low-ball
estimate of similar 2004 and 2006 suicide figures, would mean that
the total number of US casualties from the Iraq war now exceed 15,000.That’s right: 15,000 dead US servicemen and women in a war that–as
yet–has no legal or moral justification.
