[We are bombarded with stories of inhuman atrocities in Syria, of children suffering and indiscriminate bombing. While this is clearly horrible the Western media turns a blind eye to the situation in Yemen. In Yemen, the backwards monarchy of Saudi Arabia carries out air-delivered butchery in hopes of crushing the Houthi rebels. The Saudi invaders and their local stooges bomb civilians, water supplies, and have severely limited food supplies to the point of humanitarian disaster. Saudi Arabia’s involvement comes in response to the Obama policy of depending on local collaborator regimes to do the imperialist dirty work of regular warfare. Obama intends to franchise American imperialism to local actors, and give them a free hand to butcher all who would oppose the US and her allie’s interests. – el Condor]
George W. Bush with Afghanistan War amputees Neil Duncan and Max Ramsey, July 24, 2006 (photo: Chris Kleponis, Pool, Getty Images)
The American toll from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be contemplated in many different ways, thanks to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
A new CRS report (pdf) has provided a human accounting not only of how many service personnel died in the two conflicts, but of the many kinds of serious, life-long injuries with which thousands returned home.
A total of 1,558 soldiers endured major limb amputations as a result of battlefield injuries. Major limb amputations include the loss of one or more limbs, the loss of one or more partial limbs, or the loss of one or more full or partial hand or foot, according to the CRS.
Considerably more military personnel suffered “severe or penetrating brain injuries”— 7,224. Another 23,319 men and women were diagnosed with “moderate” brain injuries.
When “mild” and “not classifiable” cases are factored in, nearly 288,000 total brain injury cases were reported among all military personnel deployed and not deployed.
Then there are the post-traumatic stress disorder cases. The military and the Department of Veterans Affairs are currently trying to help 118,829 individuals who made it back with this mental disorder.
The CRS report also provided a demographic breakdown of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan (so far). The Iraq campaign resulted in 4,476 American deaths. Female personnel accounted for 110 of the fatalities; the rest were men. The vast majority of Iraq war deaths were Caucasian (3,697), followed by 444 blacks, 230 Hispanics, and 78 Asians.
In Afghanistan, there have been 2,299 military deaths as of January 6, of whom 49 were female. The ethnic composition is as follows: 1,953 whites, 188 blacks, 92 Hispanics, 63 Asians, and others.
…One is forced to asked the question: Is the President just another Ivy League Asshole shredding civil liberties and due process and sending people to die in some shithole for purely political reasons?
There will be a historical record. “Change we can believe in” is not using the other guys’ mob to clean up your own tracks while continuing to feed at the trough. Human nature is human nature, and when people find out they’re being hustled, they will seek revenge, sooner or later, and it will be ugly and savage.
In a country with desperation growing everywhere, everyday — despite the “Oh, things are getting better” press releases — how could one think otherwise?... go here
… Propaganda and marketing are the dominant forces in America, along with a willingness to suspend reality to avoid whatever is complex, knotty, difficult or painful.
Is this what we’ve become, a nation so fearful of the truth that we shun it, avoid it, or paper it over at every turn? It would seem so…
[We are bombarded with stories of inhuman atrocities in Syria, of children suffering and indiscriminate bombing. While this is clearly horrible the Western media turns a blind eye to the situation in Yemen. In Yemen, the backwards monarchy of Saudi Arabia carries out air-delivered butchery in hopes of crushing the Houthi rebels. The Saudi invaders and their local stooges bomb civilians, water supplies, and have severely limited food supplies to the point of humanitarian disaster. Saudi Arabia’s involvement comes in response to the Obama policy of depending on local collaborator regimes to do the imperialist dirty work of regular warfare. Obama intends to franchise American imperialism to local actors, and give them a free hand to butcher all who would oppose the US and her allie’s interests. – el Condor]
The Grey Enigma 