7000 soldiers have left Iraq due to psych problems 1700 have gone AWOL

[Ksec]

suicides are skyrocketing, 2200 are gone due to injuries, there are no more divisions to send. Military is running dangerously shorthanded. Hundreds upon hundreds of US soldiers have been killed.

And Bush thinks the war is going well.

[genius]

1. And in the debate, Dean said we need to stay in there for years

I wonder how many more lives will be ruined by those years in Iraq.

[caledesi]

11. No, No, No, Dean did not say that.

Dean's plan would be to get the UN and NATO involved with Arabic troops and start incrementally bring the US troops home. So as the foreign troops come in, the US troops go home. He also said this would have to happen quickly, so in other words, the US troops would all be home, not staying in Iraq for years.

[midnight armadillo]

19. Look at Germany, Japan, Korea...

50-60 years and our troops are STILL there. If Dean brings troops home from Iraq it'd be a miracle.

I have no doubt he'll try, but I don't think he'll succeed. The Pentagon want like 3 major permanent bases in Iraq, and the pres. doesn't just make the federal government turn on a dime.

[Scott Lee]

23. POOP.

[benddem]

2. Link??

[htuttle]

3. Link to what?

These numbers aren't in dispute -- they've appeared in numerous AP reports over the last month, in addition to several reports from the US military hospitals in Germany.

What part do you doubt?

[T Bone]

4. Link yes, we need a link

I clicked into this hoping for a link that I could print and send to an idiot in my family who thinks it would be 'patriotic' to join the marines and go kick some raghead ass.

[Ksec]

5. heard it here

http://www.radiosubversion.com/ itll give you the details on it. According to a French official in a french magazine I couldnt begin to spell. La canalashan or something to that effect

[TacticalPeek]

6. If they still want in, suggest they specify Afghanistan as preferred duty.

Better chance of a shot at UBL or Omar, not to forget 911.

This link has some of the info:

Iraqometer

[goodhue]

7. yes, this is huge

but has gone unreported by maintstream media

[TNOE]

8. Plus 1/3rd of the Army is Apparently Smart Enough to Quit

Let's Face It - They are running out of guys - this is getting uglier by the minute. Draft will not be able to wait until 2005 IMO.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1071097810220&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724

Denial Of Purple Heart Raises Casualty Questions

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/7424577.htm

U.S. Soldier Killed by American Cluster Bomb

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/11/164256

[Ksec]

9. Le Canard Enchaîné

I'm really wondering if this is the name of the mag that printed this. I looked under French Mags and this is as close as I could come to the name the DJ said. Maybe some French interpreter could help us.

BTW it means Duck in chains

[blm]

10. This is an important general election issue for the right candidate.

Kerry worked on this issue with Paul wellstone. When Paul was killed, Kerry continued and started hounding the White House last February BEFORE the war and submitted this letter to DOD on March 6. He would KILL Bush in a debate on military preparedness, as could Clark, although Kerry actually drafted the legislative efforts whereas Clark implemented measures. Probably one helluva team.

__________________________________________________________

The message seems to be, ‘do your duty to country but your country won’t fulfill its duty to you if you’re lucky enough to return home.’ That’s not the America I know, and it’s not the America I want us to become. Those of us who’ve served in combat have a special understanding of the values at stake here and the importance of never breaking promises to those who may become our brothers in arms.

“Vets fighting for vets is how we’ve made most gains for veterans from recognition of Agent Orange to treatment of Post Vietnam Stress Disorder. I am very mindful that this law was inspired by the efforts of a previous generation of Gulf War veterans whose illnesses came to be known collectively as Gulf War Illness and drafted in the best interest of our men and women in uniform. We must insist it is carried out for those veterans who may follow.”

Kerry requested the investigation of DOD in a letter sent today to GAO. The text of the letter follows.

-- 30 --

March 6, 2003

Mr. David Walker Comptroller General The United States General Accounting Office 441 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20548

Dear Mr. Walker:

I write to request that the General Accounting Office examine Department of Defense (DOD) compliance with Public Law 105-85, Subtitle F, Sections 765 through 767.

On November 18, 1997, Public Law 105-85 was signed into law by President Clinton. Among its provisions are requirements that DOD develop and implement a medical tracking system for service members deployed overseas. The law requires DOD to perform medical examinations before and after operational deployments, including “an assessment of mental health and the drawing of blood samples,” to, as the law puts it, “accurately record the medical condition of members before their deployment and any changes in their medical condition during the course of their deployment.”

Unfortunately, reports in recent weeks indicate that DOD may not be performing this responsibility to the letter of the law. These reports are troubling. The requirements to develop and implement a medical tracking system were based on lessons learned from the 1991 Persian Gulf War when lack of medical surveillance, incomplete medical records, and information on the location of specific units during particular events led to uncertainty about whether or not the illnesses of many veterans were service related. Any deficiencies in DOD’s execution of the law are particularly worrisome as we face the prospect of war in Iraq again.

Given these concerns, I request that the General Accounting Office examine DOD compliance with the relevant provisions of Public Law 105-85, including the following specific issues:

1. Public Law 105-85, Subtitle F, Section 765 called for improved medical tracking for members of the armed forces deployed overseas in contingency or combat operations, and along with section 766, called for improved medical record-keeping, including documentation of immunizations and receipt of investigational drugs. What is DOD doing to fulfill these legal obligations? Are current measures adequate to meet the requirement for medical surveillance and documentation established in the law?

2. Section 767 required the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress by March 1, 1998 on plans “for collecting and maintaining information regarding the daily location of units of the Armed Forces, and to the extent practicable, individual members of such units, serving in a theater of operations during a contingency operation or combat operation.” Has DOD adopted such a plan? If so, has it been implemented at the unit level?

I would welcome discussion with the appropriate members of your staff regarding other areas of this or other laws that may be germane to this issue.

[loudnclear]

12. Now this is the kind of info that should be brought up on the radio talk

shows...BY US!! Just keep on plugging away...they can't screen all of us out.

[blm]

22. good point.

put it out there.

[Ksec]

13. after some digging

Ive came up with this article from a Japanese newspaper, not much info there. . Im still digging and Ill find the article itself , problem finding it in English.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=281131

[NewJeffCT]

14. Waiting for Brit Hume to say

Yes, 1,700 have gone AWOL, but every year in California, which is about as big as Iraq, thousands more than that call out of work when they're not really sick, and if you know Hollywood, you know many more than 7,000 people have psychological problems.

[Ksec]

15. but how many that were just OKed in a physical a year or so earlier?

That would work if these guys hadnt gone thru stringent mental and physical exams when they were signed up. Kinda blows Humes argument away .

[blm]

18. Go to post 10.

.

[ThomWV]

17. What?

Are you saying that going AWOL from the military is not much different than a well person calling sick? That is patently absurd. It is more akin to a well person trying to fake an injury and collect disability. AWOL is no light matter, not in the least. Particularly not in an all volunteer Army. Much as I feel for them these boys signed up for themselves. I don't care about lack of opportunity back home, and I don't care about family traditions, and I don't care what other lame reasons a person can give for joining (why are they always excuses?), what I care about it that they agreed to serve ..... so serve. You do your time, you like it you stay, you don't like it you chalk it up to experience and get out, but AWOL is not an option.

That's how I feel about it.

Thom (4 years in, got out)

[Malva Zebrina]

20. Sounds like common sense to me

I often think about the "support the troops" thing. I also often think that the troops, if any indication of the general population are fifty-fifty supporters of Bush who most likely voted for him.

I know it is not popular to say that they "signed up" for it,that has become, lately, an despicable , dishonorable, thing to say about our troops, but the fact is that they DID sign up for it!

--and the benefits and the salary and were paid for their home duty by the citizens of the country, as well as for their college education and all of the other benefits. Great, really!

If I had the opportunity to get all of that because otherwise I would not be able to get it, I would certainly have done it also, but, along with all of those benefits is the EXPECTATION that I would have to go to WAR and COMBAT to protect, or at the whim of an inanse president, think I am going to protect the homeland ,who afforded me all of those benefits. It is a complete slave and master situation.

I find it hard to believe the troops are all innocent little boys and girls who did not know a thing about what they were getting into. And if they did not, then I would recommend that all parents in the future, intervene and tell their kids that joining the US military comes with a definate RISK and that is that you may have to kill little children because of an insane commander in chief who went AWOL himself, and that, indeed, like any person who applies for a job and gets it, and gets paid for it, you are there because you volunteered to be there.

No one likes to see our youngsters being used this way--attacked an killed on a daily basis. It is gut wrenching to see this happen. It is equally as gut wrenching to hear of the thousands of innocent Iraqi people and their children who were also killed on the orders of an insane man who went AWOL himself

If he gets elected in the next election--I will not know what to do or think. I would try to escape to Canada to live in relative sanity.

[NewJeffCT]

24. That was sarcasm

I was being sarcastic - a few months back, Hume made light of the Iraqi casualties by saying that troop deaths there are lower than the murder rate in California... neglecting to mention that there were 130,000 troops in Iraq and 35 million or so people in California.

[slinkerwink]

16. this war stinks to high heaven

[goodhue]

21. kick n/t