More Casualties from the War In Iraq

by Colin Taylor [courtesy of Blog for America]

It's becoming more and more clear that the war in Iraq is taking a much heavier toll on the soldiers than was previously thought. The New York Times reported that there have been 121 cases of Iraq /Afghanistan veterans commiting homicide after there return from the war, a third of the cases involving family members- including a two year old child. The stories of normal men and women committing terrible acts of violence are horrible to read, and proves to us once more that our country is not properly taking care of its warriors. The Armed Forces are failing in their responsibility to ensure that our brave veterans are ready for reintegration into society:

"Few of these 121 war veterans received more than a cursory mental health screening at the end of their deployments, according to interviews with the veterans, lawyers, relatives and prosecutors. Many displayed symptoms of combat trauma after their return, those interviews show, but they were not evaluated for or received a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder until after they were arrested for homicides."

This failure is inexcusable. The Armed Forces need to step up and deal with this issue, and not simply ignore it - "“The Marine way...was to suck it up.” Well, "sucking it up" has led to the deaths of 121 innocent civilians. It's time to change their policy, and give veterans the treatment they deserve.