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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (28194)	9/19/2003 6:39:33 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

- Disappearing the Sick and Injured in Iraq - Myth and Reality: Managing the Image of the Occupation Two recent articles suggest that the Pentagon is consistently underreporting the number of sick and wounded soldiers in the illegal occupation of Iraq. UPI's Mark Benjamin reports that the "mystery pneumonia" outbreak may be more severe than we're led to believe: "At least two more soldiers died after experiencing chest pain, including the Aug. 27 death of 43-year-old Lt. Col Anthony L. Sherman, who competed in triathlons and marathons. "The only thing they had to tell me was severe myocardial infarction," said his wife, Lisa Ann, from Pottstown, Pa. "In my heart of hearts, I believe there was more to it than just a heart attack. He was in too good of shape." All of those deaths appear on the Pentagon list of non-combat related fatalities but were not included in the pneumonia investigation. " The Observer's Jason Burke and Paul Harris reveal "that more than 6,000 American servicemen have been evacuated for medical reasons since the beginning of the war, including more than 1,500 American soldiers who have been wounded, many seriously." When combined with evidence that the Pentagon routinely fails to report combat injuries (unless they occur during an attack that also kills US troops), these reports contradict the so-called "success story" of the Iraq occupation that has been repeatedly pushed by the Bush administration. The motivation for such image management is clear: to avoid the political fallout of Vietnam-style daily "body counts"; to diminish the impact of domestic opposition to the occupation (which has begun to include anti-war vetarans' coalitions); to buttress Bush's slipping popularity and waning re-election prospects in 2004. Bush's vulnerability on the issue has prompted him to make a token visit to US soldiers wounded in Iraq, but given the recent cuts in veterans benefits approved by the Republican-controlled Congress, the issue will likely dog him until election time. Posted by Mark Huisman comments(1) / permalink