Jan
14
26% increase in suicide rate among male Iraq/Afghan veterans
Filed Under Latest News & Scandals, Veterans | Leave a Comment
Another cost of the war continues in the form of rising suicide rates among veterans. Despite massive intervention by the military and the VA, including a number of new programs and studies to prevent suicide among returning vets, the rate between 2005 -2007 has risen by 26%, to historic proportions, according to recent data released by the VA.
Our research shows that the economic value of a life lost is around $7 million — this, of course, does not count the tragedy of the loss to the individual and his or her family.
Jan
8
Another hidden cost of war — the tragic plight of infants in Fallujah.
Read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/falluja-cancer-children-birth-defects
Jan
3
Iraq operation name changed from “Multinational Force-Iraq” to “US Forces-Iraq”
Filed Under Latest News & Scandals | Leave a Comment
A ceremony was held at Camp Victory in Baghdad to mark the fact that the “coalition of the willing” is now entirely composed of US troops. Six months after the last remaining non-American coalition members (from the UK, Australia and Romania) pulled out of Iraq, the name of the operation was officially changed from “Multinational Force-Iraq” (MNF-1) to “US Forces-Iraq” (USF-1). The US currently has 110,000 troops in Iraq, which are scheduled to be reduced to 50,000 by August 2010.
Another milestone is that December 2009 was the first month since 2003 when US forces suffered no hostile fatalities (there were 3 non-combat fatalities). While we welcome this news, it is important to remember that 4371 Americans have already been killed in the unnecessary “war of choice” in Iraq to date, while more than $1 trillion dollars has been spent so far, and the final cost will reach $3 trillion. Meanwhile, nearly 4000 Iraqis have been killed in violent acts during 2009, and millions of Iraqis are still refugees, displaced in neighboring countries.
Dec
27
CNAS Paper criticizes role of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan
Filed Under Academic Papers & Journals | Leave a Comment
Contractors outnumber US troops in Afghanistan today, and for most of the Iraq war the number of contractors has vastly exceeded the number of American troops. As we have noted, these contractors perform a very wide range of functions – from repairing vehicles to cooking to interrogating the enemy. Despite our heavy reliance on this shadow army of contractors, it has received little scrutiny.
A new working paper from the respected Center for New American Security (CNAS) looks at many of the roles of U.S. contractors in theater, arguing that these contracts suffer from “insufficient oversight, inadequate integration into operational planning, and ambiguous legal status”. Read the study: