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War, War, War See other War, War, War Articles Title: Adding up human costs of Iraq and Afghanistan wars At first blush, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan appear less violent and less deadly than previous American conflicts over the last century. While 53,000 U.S. service members died in the Korean War and 405,000 in WW II, a relatively small 6,051 (and climbing) troops have been killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. But a deeper dive into the casualty counts reveals a staggering amount of loss and pain carried by a relatively small group of American troops. Last month, Brown University’s Watson Institute tried to give a fuller accounting of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan and the results should get our attention. Citing conservative estimates, researcher Catherine Lutz found the total number of casualties for allied troops and contractors to be 28,000 dead and 218,000 wounded. And if we include mental injuries, traumatic brain injury and toxic exposures, the real number of wounded is closer to half a million. Here’s how the study arrived at those numbers: *The study found that there have been 2,129 military suicides since 2001, including 287 service members who killed themselves while they were deployed. (The VA, maddeningly, does not count suicides among veterans and has not released any data regarding suicides once troops leave the service.) *As of March 31, 2,300 private contractors had been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, including an estimated 529 Americans. *The death toll among U.S. coalition allies, such as the British and French troops, is nearly 1,200. *Almost 19,000 Iraqi and Afghan soldiers and police have been killed. When it comes to war wounds, it takes more sleuthing to arrive at complete numbers. As of April, the Department of Defense reported 43,822 U.S. troops wounded in action. But that number doesn’t begin to count the number of troops who have sought help for psychological and brain injuries, the signature wounds of the current conflicts. According to the study, the Military Health System has recorded 195,000 diagnoses of traumatic brain injury, while the VA has reported that nearly 200,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Many thousands more have also sought help for severe depression. “Several features of these two wars have made emotional and cognitive impairment more common, including multiple and extended deployments with less rest between deployments,” the study argues. Of the 2.2 million service members who had been deployed to the wars as of last fall, nearly 900,000 were on tour number two or greater. The report also found that there have been more than 1,600 amputations among U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, a number that may be driven by the “widespread use of body armor protecting vital organs.” Less information is currently available about the respiratory and nervous system illnesses that some have blamed on toxic dust from burn pits. Injuries are also common among contractors, who unlike soldiers don’t get help from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rather, the study says, they depend on workers’ compensation payments paid by private insurers. The study notes that as insurers such as AIG protested about 43 percent of contractor claims as they made $600 million in profits. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: christine (#0)
(Edited)
But it's been good for Jews, Israel, the Congress, DC insiders, both political parties, the defense industry, and spawned the security state industry. Really, isn't that all that matters?
Calling Ron Paul an isolationist is like calling your neighbor a hermit because he doesn't come over and break your window - unknown
galleries.statesman.com/g...pfc-matthew-leyva-021912/
All the blood soaked ZioCons should suffer this kids fate.
...terrible price to pay - "defending our freedom" when it didn't need defending. Here's another photo - an innocent little kid (Afghan? Iraq?) who donated both his arms to ensure that freedom: http://homepage.eircom.net/~iraqchildren/aliabbas_photos.htm
"The 'uniter' has brought the entire world together - to despise and deride us." Lod
i remember that, Bub. poor innocent child.
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