Dubya's war. Dubya's shame.The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government's top psychiatric researcher said.
Community mental health centers, hobbled by financial limits, haven't provided enough scientifically sound care, especially in rural areas, said Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He briefed reporters today at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in Washington.
May 5, 2008
Shameful, just shameful.
From Bloomberg:
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And don't forget every member of Congress who voted in favor of war and those who have continued to fund it.
Oh, and the blood-thirsty cowards on the right who would never sign up themselves but love when others do and get sent to fight without proper training, equipment, or medical/psychological care upon their return.
Plenty of blame to go around. Although, as you point out, most of it lays with commander codpiece.
Imagine how much help they might have gotten had the purchase price of every one of those stupid yellow "support the troops" magnets gone to their care...
Piltdown Man
John k. says: I see the dumb assed lefties are at it again. Now they can't stand the yellow support the troops magnets that people put on cars. The left needs to take responsibility for these suicide cases among our troops. They use every chance, whether on this blog, in the NY Times or from the floor of the Senate to degrade them and demean their sacrifice. Instead of showing support with a simple magnet the left wants the troops to feel that no one is behind them. Then their agenda of failure will permeate throughout and the left will feel happy. They left cares so much about the troops they block access to recruiting stations. The left needs to look real hard at itself. All the troops ask for is support from back home, not constant criticism by people who do not have the courage of their convictions. Shame on the left for this dismal failure. Shame on the left for this suicide rate. And shame on the left for once again criticizing something that supports our troops. Pitiful.
"All the troops ask for is support from back home"
No. The troops ask for support in the form of being sent back home. If all they wanted was stupid ass ribbons, Obama and Paul wouldn't have received the most military donations. Again.
This is just nauseating. Your idea of "supporting the troops" is too walk away...to allow 4,000 Americans to die in vain, and to have that be the prelude to a tragedy of historical proportions.
What good did this attitude get us in Vietnam? We lost 58,000 soldiers only to decide "it wasn't worth it," even as the Vietnamese regime in Hanoi and the Khmer Rouge were getting ready to turn the jungles of southeast Asia into a killing field. But why should we care? After all, "peace prevailed" after we got the hell out of there, right?
Yes, those nuts who danced in the streets back then certainly supported the troops by giving America a legacy of failure, a legacy that would be used as fodder for modern day leftists and the non-interventionist right to this day.
Now THAT can be described as shameful. Despicable, horrendous, and unforgivable certainly work well too.
Here's an idea...forget about politics...it is disgusting how the situation in Iraq has become a TV ad...an opportunity to get votes by declaring "Bush lied people died".
Enough already.
C.H.
So your idea is to make sure the needless killing and maiming continues just so that it would not be "in vain."
Nice.
It would be shameful to have 4000 soldiers die in vain. We need to have twice that many die in vain.
'twas the conservatives and the chickenhawks and the Republicans who caused 4000 soldiers to die in vain. And they seem to be driven to cause as many more senseless deaths as they can arrange before they are stripped of their power.
Why are you not posting from Iraq, C.H., if you believe the deaths to be worthwhile and the cause to be essential?
Regardless of whether you are a chickenhawk or for some legitimate reason unable to serve . . . unless you are ready to apologize for your support of the invasion and attempted occupation of Iraq, I don't see much you are able to add to the conversation.
If you are going to root for even more pointless death and misery in a misguided effort to prop up your thoroughly discredited right-wing ideology, at least have the decency to do so quietly.
A supporters of Bush Jr. ripping others for an "agenda of failure."
Even by John K's standards, that's some breathtaking lack of self-awareness.
John K. says: Where does the left get this notion that "all the troops want is to come home?" From the fact that the left looks at the military as 2nd clas citizens who cannot survive without their help. So liberals, take a close look at this suicide rate and then take a close look at your actions towards these troops, (Gen Betrayus) and ask yourself how much you have contributed to this suicide rate by your behavior. Shameful.
That's right.
It's MOVEON's fault the troops are under such pressure. It couldn't be the war, the IEDs, the amount of time dubya's kept them in harm's way, the lack of armor, the electricuting showers, the poisoned water to bathe with, the extended tours of duty.
No. It's an ad placed in the New York Times.
THAT'S what's leading to the suicide rate.
Un-frickin-believable.
What is the origin of the yellow ribbon magnet? That Tony Orlando song? The one where the released prisoner wonders whether he will be *welcomed home*? So perhaps we can assume that the creators of the yellow ribbon magnet had some notion that the troops would feel supported in seeing their neighbors and loved ones praying for their *safe return home*.
Now, some troops, I don’t know what percentage, have been re-enlisting, even several times, for tours of duty in Iraq. And apparently the military is meeting its enlistment goals, although we could mention how it lowered its standards for education and criminal records. People with lower education and/or criminal records can look forward to lower earnings in the private sector, making the military a rational job choice. But we know that few members of Congress and that the President have not sent or allowed their children to join up and do their duty. John McCain and Jim Webb are notable exceptions.
I believe the “Betrayus” ad was designed to criticize Congress-persons for not taking a more critical stance with the general. It had nothing to do with the average soldiers, the rank and file, so to speak. I might point out that Jim Webb and others are sponsoring a bill to increase education benefits for veterans, correcting the current erosion of education benefits for soldiers.
The Iraq war is complicated, and both the left and the right have taken some fanciful stances. Its unlikely that the US will be able to leave abruptly, because to do so would cause Iraq to descend into civil war and cause a major oil price shock (which the oil companies would use to raise the price of gas maybe two dollars). At the same time, it is hard to see how victory in Iraq is possible, since we enable the various groups to fight each other while we try to hold the country together. If a stable situation does come about, it will not affect the global terrorism situation, since whatever foreign terrorists are in Iraq will simply go elsewhere and foment dissent and rebellion.
I'm not a ribbon kind of guy by any means, because it just seems like a hollow gesture to me. That's just me, though.
But does anybody find the yellow and black ribbons that apparently are meant to show a person's support for the Steelers a little, uh, inappropriate? Personally, I find it a bit repulsive, but wonder what others think.
Fillippelli, I prefer the magnetic yellow ribbons that say, "Support makers of magnetic yellow ribbons." ;)
John K. says: Yah you left wingers really help the moral of a troop who is contemplating suicide by blocking access to recruiting stations. You really show them they matter in the world. So a simple gesture of a yellow "I support the Troops" ribbon is important. However small. But the left does not support the troops. The troops are only to be used to bash the President over the head. Not only Gen Betrayus but all the other demeaning things you liberals do. How about supporting them and showing some concern. The suicide rate will decline. After all, you liberals demand we show concern for a crack headed ho.
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