15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?

Maybe it's perfectly normal for young men and women to return from combat, sink into inconsolable depression, and kill themselves at greater rates than they were dying on the battlefield.

The Pentagon has been concealing the true number of American casualties in the Iraq War. The real number exceeds 15,000 and CBS News can prove it.

CBS's Investigative Unit wanted to do a report on the number of suicides in the military and "submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense". After 4 months they received a document which showed--that between 1995 and 2007-- there were 2,200 suicides among "active duty" soldiers.

Baloney.

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."

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.

www.counterpunch.org...


While I dont exactly follow the tune that military suicides once home, should count to the official figure.
Im a big believer that the TRUE number of deaths has been covered up.
'technically' not covered up, because the rules and regulations are so fine, that you have to die a certain way, at a certain place to make the official 3800+ list.

BUT,

One line rang true in this article which makes me wonder if its worth continuing this illegial war

Maybe it's perfectly normal for young men and women to return from combat, sink into inconsolable depression, and kill themselves at greater rates than they were dying on the battlefield.



Will these men get an official place in the war cemetry?

[edit on 19-11-2007 by Agit8dChop]

Great point. However, I think that the true number that people should be concerned with is the number of disabled vets returning. These IED's are taking a huge toll on our troops. PTSD is going to be an epidemic that our country is going to have to deal with for a long time. Right now the VA seems to be turning it's back on these troops, but the country won't be able to turn a blind eye forever. It can't be easy for a Vet to return home after what he has seen or done, or with some severe disability. It makes perfect sense that the suicide rate is so high.

Our medical advances are keeping more troops alive, but they are returning severely disabled. I also fear what type of "Gulf War Syndrome" is going to come from this war. We had Agent Orange in Vietnam and Gulf War Syndrome from Desert Storm. I seriously doubt that these troops are going to be immune from the same type problems. Reports are already coming in about the damage to our troops from all of the Depleted Uranium that we are using. So, even the troops that are coming back healthy now could soon be disabled.