Saturday

A Flood of Mentally Ill Soldiers Coming Home From Iraq

Contrary to the NY Times reports by Scott Shane today, psychologists at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in California have said that approximately 30% of the marines returning from Iraq have serious mental problems. Shane writes of 1 in 6, those psychologists who spoke with me said it was more like 1 in 3--twice what the NY Times is reporting. But then again, we know the NY Times has been soft on the Bush team in its reporting about negative matters pertaining to the Iraq and Afghan wars.

Elaine Cassel and I wrote an article about this, "When the Killers Come Home," back when the war in Iraq started, because we knew what kind of brutality our leaders were urging the military to train into our soldiers. This brutal training, pushed especially by Wolfowitz and the generals under Rumsfeld at the Pentagon and in the field, went, and continues to go against, the decency most of our soldiers were taught in their churches and in their homes. This attitude of treating Iraqis as "ragheads," "satan's soldiers," "worthless pieces of shit," and "the enemy, destroy them all," has made our soldiers into animals on the kill--that's why they are killing so many innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another factor in this equation that no one in the major American media will touch, but the British journalists like Robert Fisk, Patrick and Alexander Cockburn, do speak about, is the Israeli presence and influence on American troops through their new influence at the Rumsfeld Pentagon. Many ex-Israeli officers, Mossad, and South African Israeli trained mercenaries are directing and training American troops in "urban warfare," and torture methods. This Israeli posture on behavior is contrary to the best of American values of decency and humanity.

An example of how our homecoming troops have been damaged can be seen in the case of Jeffrey Lucey who was so upset with his recollections of the war that he hanged himself shortly after returning from Iraq.


Another case is Robert Brown
“Robert E. Brown was proud to be in the first wave of Marines invading Iraq last year. But Mr. Brown has also found himself in the first ranks of returning soldiers to be unhinged by what they experienced. He served for six months as a Marine chaplain's assistant, counseling wounded soldiers, organizing makeshift memorial services and filling in on raids. He knew he was in trouble by the time he was on a ship home, when the sound of a hatch slamming would send him diving to the floor. After he came home, he began drinking heavily and saw his marriage fall apart, Mr. Brown said. He was discharged and returned to his hometown, Peru, Ind., where he slept for two weeks in his Ford Explorer, surrounded by mementos of the war." (NY Times, Dec. 16, 2004)

Thus, the mental breakdowns in our troops because they were being taught to behave in ways that were contrary to everything they'd been taught as they grew up in a more humane America. Our military, with the influence of the Israelis has created this problem, has sickened our soldiers, some unto death. Now, these soldiers and their families, and all the rest of us, must live with these mentally sick people--many of whom have already violently attacked their wives and children or taken their own lives. There is little word on how the women have behaved on their return, but I'm sure it is not good. Many have wondered what transformed Ms. England from a "down home girl" into the person she became in Iraq at Abu Ghraib.

Also, we, as citizens, will be paying the financial bill for these soldiers and their mental disabilities for years, according to psychological experts in and out of the military. Add to this the long term illnesses these soldiers will sustain, as will their deformed children, from the Depleted Uranium they have lived in since the invasion began.

Also, to be dealt with in another article in the near future, is the psychological damage our invasion of Iraq has visited upon generations of Iraqis, old to the very young--as well as the physical injuries the Iraqis sustained from our incessant bombings and the long-term illnesses from Depleted Uranium. Also, remember that the whole world has seen our cruelty on the Iraqi and Afghan scenes--this has turned not only Muslims and Arabs against us, but also over 80% of the citizens of the world (regardless of what their governments may say in England, Poland and Australia).

All I can say is that the worst is yet to come. Perhaps then, the American citizenry will awaken to the truth about Bush,Rumsfeld,Cheney, Tommy Franks, General Myers, Wolfowitz, Sanchez and General Abizaid--that they were the enemy of America and its people, they were the ones responsible for the poisoning of American soldiers with D.U. and the mental breakdowns because of the brutality they forced on our soldiers, not the Iraqi or Afghan civilians who were traumatized, maimed and killed.


Sam Hamod writes on international and domestic affairs; he edits, www.todaysalternativenews.com ; he published and edited 3rd World News in Wash,DC . He may be reached at shamod@cox.net

By Sam Hamod Al-Jazeerah, December 17, 2004

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