Tragic math

John Cory has a guest post up at Hoffmania. I took the lines in the graphic above from it. He writes:

The folks who see profit and growth in the numbers of veterans of this war, the Health Care Insurers know an opportunity when they see one. In her December 2007 report Emily Berry for American Medical News gives us a tour by the numbers:

30,000 troops have been wounded in action.
39,000 have been diagnosed with PTSD.
84,000 vets suffer a mental health disorder.
229,000 veterans have sought VA care.
1.4 million troops (active duty and reserves) deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan so far.
Estimates run between $350 billion to $700 billion needed for lifetime care and benefits for veterans.

And now, making the rounds in Washington is a plan that has become known as “The Psychological Kevlar Act of 2007” which reaches out to the pharmaceutical industry to partner with the Department of Defense to use the drug Propranalol to treat symptoms of PTSD even before a soldier succumbs to full blown PTSD. An ounce of prevention after all is worth funding for experimentation, I mean research. A numb soldier is a happy soldier.

The reason I keep harping on the lying s*** ** **** that is George W. Bush is because his lies have consequences in the lives of millions. The lies that led us into Iraq have huge consequences that most of us ignore as we go through our days. Unless we have lost a family member of friend. Or someone we love comes back maimed.

Injured is such a wimpy word. I remember seeing on public transporation in France back in the late 60s the notice that we were to yield seats to the "mutilés de guerre"--those mutilated by war. Believe me, I do not have a photographic memory. That phrase, however, is obviously going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

I realize that words, the labels we attach to people, have impact. This is why we avoid using such a searing phrase. One would not say, "This is my friend Chad; he got mutilated in Iraq." It's too brutal. Yet it is also the truth of what happens day after day. Because of lies. Orchestrated lies.

Cory also notes this: "In 2005 alone, there were 6,256 veteran suicides. That’s 120 every week or an average of 17 suicides every day." [emphasis mine]

You really need to read all of Cory's article.

Then have a good cry.

Then get angry enough to do something about the war criminals in the White House.

UPDATE 1:
Speaking of lies, when Bush asserts or implies that "the surge is working" one should always bear in mind that the escalation (aka "surge) had a stated purpose when it was proposed: creating a more stable environment in which political progress could be made by the Iraqis. Violence may well be down (though far from eliminated) but political progress is not being made. Kudos to the troops but, in terms of its purpose, it's not working.

Blue Texan at Firedoglake writes:

Since the surge was announced, 937 Americans have been killed in Iraq. Last month, more Americans were killed than in June, 2003. For...what exactly? So that Iraq may at some point get around to getting some of the things on Bush's laundry list done, so that may in turn lead to some form of government that's possibly functional at some point in the future. Great.

A reduction in violence to 2003 levels was not the goal of the surge. Political reconciliation was. BushCo doesn't need our help in rewriting history. And we sure as hell shouldn't be applauding a failed policy that has taken the lives of 937 more Americans and who knows how many Iraqis just so Bush could pass the buck to the next President.

UPDATE 2:
James Carroll wrote in the Boston Globe yesterday:

YOU AND everyone you love are riding on a large bus. The bus driver, unskilled and careless, drives too fast, ignores traffic signals, and barrels off the road occasionally. Because the bus is huge, other vehicles swerve to get out of its way, with cars crashing repeatedly. But your driver just keeps going, leaving carnage in his wake. Naturally, you are terrified - but your reactions are irrelevant.

Finally, the bus itself crashes, killing many. Miraculously, you and your loved ones climb out of the wreckage. A second bus is standing by, and you gratefully scramble aboard. The engine starts up, but then the bus lurches dangerously onto the road, going too fast. Only then do you see that this new bus has the same driver, and he has learned nothing. Welcome to the United States of America. And welcome to the annual State of the Union address.

h./t to Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post for this one.


--the BB