February 16, 2007
by Zen Garcia

The question to ask is this: "How many soldiers have been permanently injured from these wars on terror?"

The Pentagon separates combat related and non-combat related injury and death so as to hide the truth from the American people. Private military contractors are not included in the official tally of combat related deaths which as of February 10th is 3,377. The official tally however, does not include "non-combat" related injuries, or injuries not the result of enemy fire. The 'official' count of injured in Iraq according to the Pentagon had been 47,000 soldiers in January of 2007. That figure was revised to 32,000 just this month as the Pentagon decided not to include troops who suffered what it considers minor injuries or mental illness in the official tally. The Pentagon is now being accused of under counting the number of troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some claim the real numbers could be twice what they counted or more.

Bullets, RPG's, and mortar rounds discriminate less about casualty and being killed than our government's definition of being wounded in action. The Pentagon will only recognize a soldier's sacrifice for our country under the strictest mandate and interpretations of what it means to acquire a combat related injury. Take the case of Joel Gomez for instance, Gomez, was riding in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle hunting insurgents on a dirt road when the ground gave way and they ended up rolling down the mountain. They landed upside-down in the Tigris River. Both of his buddies were killed and Gomez became a quadriplegic unable to move. Though he was in a military situation, doing a mission that was combat related the Pentagon defined him as 'non-combat injured'and his buddies as 'non-combat related' deceased.

Another example: Chris Schneider, a young Kansas father, part of a Reserve unit providing security for a supply convoy traveling 100 miles through hostile territory, was injured when another convoy of heavy equipment transporters slammed into his truck throwing him 50 feet through the air until he landed on the road. The second transport in that convoy locked up brakes, sliding 50 feet until it came to rest on his pelvis wedging his lower leg into the axle. Schneider now uses an artificial leg and walks with a limp. According to 60 minutes which did an interview with him, he too is not counted on the Pentagon's casualty count.

Though it doesn't make sense to the soldiers that have returned from Iraq, 62 year old civilian Gene Bolles has a good idea. Dr. Bolles has spent two years at the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where he specializes in brain and spinal injuries. As a neurosurgeon with 32 years of practice, he admits he has never seen trauma to this degree. He says, "What you see on TV and what you see in reality, is like night and day.

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The embedding of the journalists made the war out to be like a football game. The true effects of war are not reported at all. In fact, the Bush administration has forbidden journalists from taking pictures of wounded or dead soldiers or even the hundreds of caskets that have been flown in from war. Many have said that the administration does not want what happened during Vietnam to happen today, that being loss of popular support for the war. Especially in wake of no weapons of mass destruction, no connection to Al-Qaeda, no imminent threat, and the UN stance of the war against Iraq being illegal."

In 2004 60 Minutes asked the Department of Defense for an interview on non-combatant injury totals. The DOD declined but sent a letter alleging "More than 15,000 troops with so-called 'non-battle' injuries and diseases have been evacuated from Iraq." Dr. Bolles countered with claim, "I've seen figures that are now upwards of 30,000. I know that at least 20,000 have been air-evacuated into the Landstuhl system." The current numbers as of February of 2005 according to the Department of Veterans Affairs - 85,000 out of the 360,000 discharged veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), nearly one in four have already visited the VA for physical injuries or mental health counseling. 'This number far exceeds the 12,000 wounded reported by the Department of Defense.' America better get ready for a whole population of soldiers that will need life long support and long term care to manage quality of life. I ask you for their sake, the sake of the families of these soldiers who fight and fought for our country because they believe and believed in America and the freedoms we once represented to the world.

Call your Representatives and your Senators and tell them to support Veteran's benefits before appropriating any further funds for the wars especially now at a time when so many return with pressing need for that support. We must set-up the support network which will provide them that support without they and their families ever having to struggle fighting the system to get what they justly deserve. Our nation owes them a debt of gratitude and must absolutely and without delay own up to the responsibility of taking care of their needs. It's not their fault they were sent off to fight what they thought was a just war. Now that they have become injured during the process of engagement, our nation must and without question, honor their service by providing all they need for reintegration back into American society. "A people united can never be defeated, a people silenced, can never be heard."

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Zen Garcia [send him email] is an activist and writer in Athens, GA.  Find more of his writings at www.endeavorfreedom.org/ and http://independentfreepress.org