Note that they do not break down the number of deaths per war, but make it sound like these are all deaths related to Iraq and Afghanistan, when they clearly are not. AFP can't get its facts straight, either. They identify Reickhoff as a Marine, which should be an seen by any Marine as an absolute insult. Reickhoff is a former Army officer, author of "Chasing Ghosts," and an outspoken critic of the war and Democratic political operative who snuggled up close to Kerry in 2004. I had the distinct displeasure of seeing him on "Bloggers At War" on the History Channel a couple of days ago, and it turns out that he was a bleeding heart in the field, one of these officers who gets too close to his troops for their own good. Makes me all the more convinced that his departure from the military wasn't all his own idea Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America told the network. You know, I really get suspicious of people who say that the war affected them so much, and then do nothing but make appearances, get on TV, set up organizations and create as high a platform of visibility for themselves as possible, all the while cashing in. Yeah, real torn up. Those REALLY affected by the war don't talk much and certainly don't schmooze in front of any camera that gets within 50 ft of them. I have absolutely no use for Reickhoff and regret having bought his book before I knew more about him. Really irks me now that my library is selling it for a $1. Shoulda waited--if I would have purchased it for even that much! By the way, this main story is from CBS, and we all know that their ratings are in the basement and their attempts to get Bush, going back to Rather's lies. They just don't get it that this kind of stuff will not enhance their reputation any. It is one thing to screw up and learn from it but when you keep doing the same thing, over and over, don't expect sympathy when you can't make any headway. First lesson to learn: when you are in the bottom of a deep hole, the first step in getting out is to stop digging deeper. Ron http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071115/wl_afp/usiraqmilitarysuicide_0711142013 36;_ylt=Agmzv7iRZwOoS0TZne43qICQOrgF US network uncovers 'suicide epidemic' among US veterans
2 hours, 15 minutes ago NEW YORK (ASP) - The US military is experiencing a "suicide epidemic" with veterans killing themselves at the rate of 120 a week, according to an investigation by US television network CBS. At least 6,256 US veterans committed suicide in 2005 -- an average of 17 a day -- the network reported, with veterans overall more than twice as likely to take their own lives as the rest of the general population. While the suicide rate among the general population was 8.9 per 100,000, the level among veterans was between 18.7 and 20.8 per 100,000. That figure rose to 22.9 to 31.9 suicides per 100,000 among veterans aged 20 to 24 -- almost four times the non-veteran average for the age group. "Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems," CBS quoted veterans' rights advocate Paul Sullivan as saying. CBS quoted the father of a 23-year-old soldier who shot himself in 2005 as saying the military did not want the true scale of the problem to be known. "Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total," Mike Bowman said. "They don't want the true numbers of casualties to really be known." There are 25 million veterans in the United States, 1.6 million of whom served in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to CBS. "Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged," Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America told the network. CBS said it was the first time that a nationwide count of veteran suicides had been conducted. The tally was reached by collating suicide data from individual states for both veterans and the general population from 1995. The Department of Veterans Affairs spends some three billion dollars a year on mental health services, according to CBS. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
