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Al Jazeera (English)
    Baghdad Burning Blog (by Riverbend, an Iraqi civilian girl)
            Dahr Jamail's Blog from Baghdad
                Imad Khadduri's blog "Free Iraq" (scroll down for English version)

Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

Oops, More Unexpected Casualties
(David Hackworth, AlterNet, September 24, 2002)
Because Stormin' Norman's forces brilliantly zapped Saddam Hussein's mob in a record-breaking 100-hour ground war, actual U.S. casualties were a mere fraction of these two estimates 147 Killed In Action and 457 Wounded In Action. At least at first look. . . . But within weeks after our warriors took off their boots and hung up their rifles, dozens, then hundreds, of Gulf War vets became casualties. And as the years tick by, this figure has already grown to tens of thousands. . . . It wasn't bullets that took them down, but a casualty-producer the experts didn't count on called Gulf War Illness. So far, according to an April 2002 Veterans Affairs report, an additional 7,758 Desert Storm vets have died, while 198,716 vets have filed claims for medical and compensation benefits. Of the claims filed, 156,031 have been granted as service-connected, with more vets being designated casualties as each day passes. The 198,716 figure represents a staggering 28 percent of the 696,579 vets who fought in the Gulf War conflict! . . . For five years after the war, the Pentagon and the VA refused to admit that our troops had been exposed to chemical weapons, via the same sort of despicable delaying tactics our Vietnam vets were subjected to over their Agent Orange claims. For example, the Pentagon brass were unwilling to admit U.S. Army culpability in blowing up captured Iraqi chemical munitions that caused the biggest friendly fire incident in the history of warfare. To date, not only has no one responsible been punished, instead, in typical fashion, all those who were in charge have been either promoted or knighted. . . . President Bush shouldn't order our warriors into another Gulf fight until we know what happened 11 years ago," says Robert McMahon, president of Soldiers for the Truth. "The VA needs to tell the truth regarding the suffering of thousands of vets." . . . Before we commit to another Gulf War, our government must come clean on what happened to our Desert Storm heroes. Congress and our media must hound the president and the VA until they tell the nation what caused the enormous casualties in the first place, and what's been done to reduce the hazards facing our troops this time around

posted by LoZo 6:31 PM