A few months ago, Nancy Gibbs wrote an essay for Time Magazine which really stuck with me. It was called Our Armies, Ourselves, and subtitled How we treat our veterans says a lot about America's character. These days, it isn't pretty.
The full article can be found here (for a while at least).
The article is still stinging me because it is filled with haunting facts about the war in Iraq. It is no secret to those who know me that I am, and have always been, AGAINST this atrocity, the war in Iraq. As Americans, we were led blindly, I feel, into a rage against a people who did nothing to us, using falsified intelligence, against the United Nations, and without the support of most of the free world, into an ILLEGAL war.
Don't misunderstand me, I support our troops, the brave men and women who signed up to fight for the fabric of America. The freedoms which make America special are worth fighting for and I wholeheartedly support the people who make it their livelihood, and often give up their lives, to do so. I support them so much that I want to bring them home. And I want them properly cared for when they are home.
From Ms. Gibb's essay: "Wars are like icebergs: much of the cost remains hidden, and the near doubling of the defense budget since 2001 does not cover what lies ahead. Better body armor and trauma care mean new life for thousands of soldiers who would have died in any earlier war. But many are broken or burned or buried in pain from what they saw and did. One in five suffers from major depression or posttraumatic stress, says a new Rand Corp. study; more than 300,000 have suffered traumatic brain injury. The cost of treating them is projected to double over the next 25 years. Four hundred thousand veterans are waiting for cases to be processed. The number seeking assistance for homelessness is up 600% in the past year."
DID YOU READ THOSE STATISTICS?
She continued, "In the face of so much need, too often comes denial. At a May 6 hearing, lawmakers lit into officials from Veterans Affairs after an e-mail surfaced from Ira Katz, its chief of mental health, on suicide rates of soldiers in its care. The subject line: "Shhh." The VA had been insisting there were fewer than 800 suicide attempts a year by vets in its care; the real number was closer to 12,000."
For the love of Pete, let's bring those brave souls home and start taking CARE of them properly!
EDIT: An anonymous poster took a position that the war is, in fact, legal. As I said in my reply, legality is a fact, not an opinion. And so, I give references to that fact below:
Kreiger
Other links
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
It's not an 'Illegal War'.
You make many good points, but you will never have a 'valid' point until you stop the 'left-wing liberal lunatic' chant... it's illegal. waaa.
WRONG. Perfectly legal war.
Whether or not something is legal is not a matter of opinion, and therefore cannot be "left-wing liberal" in nature. It either IS or it ISN'T. The fact that more liberally minded people tend to see the forest for the trees is a matter for discussion certainly.
However, since you brought up the point, I thank you, as I will add several new references to validate my post.
Thank you.
WOW... You can't validate your post with nothing but drivel from "Robin C. Miller" and the Progressive Moment liberals. They are the shallow end in thinking when it comes to leftwing lunacy. Not even the craziest Democrats listen to anything 'progressive moment' whackos have said or written. And the Time (CNN) article is just another liberal fluff piece. One politician and one disgruntled VA doc ranting on the hill. 12000 attempted suicides annually by vets in VA care? Come on - get real, open your eyes. That's almost 33 a day - most would succeed so that would be 25 suicide deaths - A DAY. Remember too that we still have WWII vets running around - AND - most vets in VA care never actually served in a war, or saw combat action if they did serve in a war.
It seems strange to me that as soon as someone doesnt agree with something, they label it as left-wing and lunatic and drivel.
I kind of agree that the legality of the war is only up for interpretation IF you throw out the frame work set out by the UN. But I dont.
Anyway, whatever you think about the war, we do need to take care of the people who have been fighting it.
Anyone who doesnt agree with that isnt american.
Oh... and we know where (exactly) the WMD went to and who controls it.
Post a Comment