Administration needlessly puts troops at risk in Iraq (Tennessean editorial)

[struggle4progress]

... Most of the troops now in Iraq are on extended 15-month deployments. Generals recently warned the president and Congress of the toll that extended tours take on combat troops. Bush said last week he will shorten tours to 12 months, but that will not begin until August. So any troops that arrive in Iraq this month, for example, must remain there through July 2009.

The results of such stress are becoming evident. There is, of course, the high death count: 4,036 U.S. military dead as of April 16. More widespread is the mental and physical impact on survivors.

A study released Thursday by the RAND Corp. indicates as many as 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress from service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 have suffered brain injuries. More than 1.6 million military personnel have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001 ...

Much of the violence will cease simply because the U.S. has left the stage. The sectarian fight for supremacy will go on, with or without American involvement ...

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080418/OPINION01/804180420/1008

[indepat]

1. Such small prices to pay considering the trillion of dollars in Iraqi oil revenues four major

oil companies stand to receive, or at least that seems the administration's view and ideological position. :mad: :cry:

[Kolesar]

2. It is a "a war for political reasons" here too--to save face for bush & the republicans

I cannot see how it could have been any different leading up to the 2008 election.

Now the media is going to try to convince "us" that what we want is continuous war in the Arab land.