HOW HIGH THE TOLL BEFORE THE WAR ENDS?
By Dr. Arnold Matlin
February 11, 2008
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Two articles in a recent edition of The New England Journal of Medicine should make every American think about the effects of the U.S. war in Iraq.
One says that 33 percent of 383 soldiers who had suffered simple concussions experienced post-traumatic stress disorder. Even more worrisome to me was that more than 9 percent of 1,706 soldiers who had not been injured nonetheless had PTSD.
The implications of these data are staggering. It's likely that more than 100,000 have returned from Iraq with PTSD.
A second article estimates that between 104,000 and 223,000 Iraqi civilians died between March 2003, when the United States first attacked, and March 2006. Now, two years later, that number will be much higher. (Other investigators had put the number of civilian deaths during this period at below 100,000, while others had placed it as high as 800,000. We will never know with certainty.)
After five years of war and occupation in Iraq, that country is in shambles, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead, wounded or displaced. Nearly 4,000 U.S. military personnel have been killed, over 30,000 have been wounded and many more are suffering from psychological disorders. Over $1.2 trillion has been spent on death and destruction, while life in our own country deteriorates because of government neglect.
How many more U.S. soldiers have to be maimed physically or mentally before the United States leaves Iraq? How many more Iraqi civilians will be killed before we depart? It's easy for us to laugh at George W. Bush's arrogant know-nothing pronouncements. But President Bush's war against Iraq has caused death and suffering that are literally incalculable. The traumatized and the dead here and in Iraq aren't laughing.
Matlin, a pediatrician of Linwood, Livingston County, is a founding member, Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace.
By Dr. Arnold Matlin
February 11, 2008
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Two articles in a recent edition of The New England Journal of Medicine should make every American think about the effects of the U.S. war in Iraq.
One says that 33 percent of 383 soldiers who had suffered simple concussions experienced post-traumatic stress disorder. Even more worrisome to me was that more than 9 percent of 1,706 soldiers who had not been injured nonetheless had PTSD.
The implications of these data are staggering. It's likely that more than 100,000 have returned from Iraq with PTSD.
A second article estimates that between 104,000 and 223,000 Iraqi civilians died between March 2003, when the United States first attacked, and March 2006. Now, two years later, that number will be much higher. (Other investigators had put the number of civilian deaths during this period at below 100,000, while others had placed it as high as 800,000. We will never know with certainty.)
After five years of war and occupation in Iraq, that country is in shambles, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead, wounded or displaced. Nearly 4,000 U.S. military personnel have been killed, over 30,000 have been wounded and many more are suffering from psychological disorders. Over $1.2 trillion has been spent on death and destruction, while life in our own country deteriorates because of government neglect.
How many more U.S. soldiers have to be maimed physically or mentally before the United States leaves Iraq? How many more Iraqi civilians will be killed before we depart? It's easy for us to laugh at George W. Bush's arrogant know-nothing pronouncements. But President Bush's war against Iraq has caused death and suffering that are literally incalculable. The traumatized and the dead here and in Iraq aren't laughing.
Matlin, a pediatrician of Linwood, Livingston County, is a founding member, Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace.