Wounded, Weary And Disappeared

[Ms. Clio]

<snip>

"In a summer dominated by the Bryant sex case, Arnold's debut in California's recall election and the killing of Saddam Hussein's sons, no hordes of television cameras await the planeloads of wounded soldiers being airlifted back to the states, unloaded at Andrews Air Force Base, and stuffed into wards at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other facilities. We see few photos of them undergoing painful and protracted physical rehabilitation, few visuals of worried families waiting for news of their sons or daughters. The men and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan have become the new disappeared.

<snip>

The numbers of soldiers wounded in action are hard to come by. Since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Pentagon has put the figure at 827. But Lieutenant-Colonel Allen DeLane, the man in charge of airlifting the wounded into Andrews Air Force Base, recently mentioned much higher numbers in an interview with National Public Radio.

"Since the war has started, I can't give you an exact number because that's classified information, but I can say to you over 4,000 have stayed here at Andrews," he said. "And that number doubles when you count the people that come here to Andrews, and then we send them to other places like Walter Reed and Bethesda..."

Some journalists also dispute the Pentagon's official count. Julian Borger of The Guardian claims "unofficial figures are in the thousands." Central Command in Qatar talked of 926 wounded, but "that too is understated," Borger maintains. And in fact, a mid-August report in The Salt Lake City Tribune claims that Central Command has acknowledged 1,007 U.S. wounded. (The Pentagon did not respond to inquiries.)"


More here: http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8736

So there may be as many as 8,000 wounded and maimed for life??? And would the American public even care if they knew about this? Not that they ever will, our "liberal" media will make sure of that.

[SoCalDem]

1. No sirree... They will be cared for until they are healthy enough

to be cut loose.. Then they will get on the disability merry-go-round.. Since they will be going to many parts of the country and going one by one, there will be no clamor..

The wounded young guy who returns to Sioux Falls, may have a parade, but once it's determined that he can no longer do his "old job", he will probably end up living in Mom & Dad's basement, and spending hours on the phone fighting with the VA about that 10% disability they gave him :(

[Clete]

2. "They volunteered. They knew what they were getting into."

These poor throw away soldiers are mostly from poor families and minorities, just trying to get ahead and look what the monsters are doing to them.

[bring_em_home_bush]

3. kick

[Pastiche423]

4. A suggestion

As a centralized point (database?), maybe http://www.bringthemhomenow.com/ could acquire the name of each troop injured.

Until the American people are able (our media isn't doing the job) to confront the reality of the numbers of troops killed and maimed in the invasion, there will not be an outrage.

As SoCalDem pointed out, the injured will be just like the Viet Nam vets, w/o healthcare, jobs and any kind of future in whistle ass's America.