[Marxism] US military suicides

[Andy <esquincle@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

August 13, 2007
Why Isn't the Press on a Suicide Watch?
You'd never know that at least 3% of all American deaths in Iraq are  
due to self-inflicted wounds. And that doesn't include the many vets  
who have killed themselves after returning home.
By Greg Mitchell

NEW YORK (August 13, 2007) -- Would it surprise you to learn that  
according to official Pentagon figures, at least 118 U.S. military  
personnel in Iraq have committed suicide since April 2003? That number  
does not include many unconfirmed reports, or those who served in the  
war and then killed themselves at home (a sizable, if uncharted,  
number).

While troops who have died in "hostile action" -- and those gravely  
injured and rehabbing at Walter Reed and other hospitals -- have gained  
much wider media attention in recent years, the suicides (about 3% of  
our overall Iraq death toll) remain in the shadows.

full story --
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/ 
pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003625107
===========================
August 15, 2007
Army Suicides Highest in 26 Years
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:00 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the  
highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving  
in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its scheduled  
release Thursday, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active  
duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest  
since the 102 suicides in 1991.

''Iraq was the most common deployment location for both (suicides) and  
attempts,'' the report said.

The 99 suicides included 28 soldiers deployed to the two wars and 71  
who weren't. About twice as many women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan  
committed suicide as did women not sent to war, the report said.

Preliminary numbers for the first half of this year indicate the number  
of suicides could decline across the service in 2007 but increase among  
troops serving in the wars, officials said.

The increases for 2006 came as Army officials worked to set up a number  
of new and stronger programs for providing mental health care to a  
force strained by the longer-than-expected war in Iraq and the global  
counterterrorism war entering its sixth year.

full story --
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Army-Suicides.html


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