Last night I heard a powerful message from Adele Kubein of Corvallis,Oregon, a military mom and an active member of
Military Families Speak Out. Her daughter served at the beginning of the assault on the people of Iraq and is suffering from permanently disabling injuries.
As a National Guard member for a time, at first, her daughter was given a weapon, but no ammunition as they traveled through hostile country. There was precious little supply support for their unit and the average weight loss per member was 30 pounds. There was no plan for managing the health issues for National guard members in the event of injury or death. She helped build roads composed of unidentified materials and depleted uranium waste.
The lack of support for returning guardsmen and women was non-existent and treatment for injuries of National Guard personnel is limited to 90 days regardless of the extent of injury. Ms. Kubein's daughter last Thanksgiving could not get past the memories of cleaning a friend's body parts out of one of their unit's humvees.
There's more...
Ms. Kubein returned Wednesday from Crawford, TX, where she spoke with many gold star family members, and soldiers and marines who have recently returned from Iraq. The Iraqi situation continues to be dangerous and dismal. Essentially there is no reliable garbage collection, the sewer systems are mostly non-operational, the local hospitals have few or no supplies. The streets are safe only for rich men who can afford private security protection. Women are unsafe on the streets, subject to Islam law and former professional women cannot practice their professions. Children are dying secondary to malnutrition, disease, and injuries sustained in a combat zone.
Media personnel DO cover the successes achieved by Herculean efforts of our military. They are giving it their all but the job is huge because of the horrific damage. The Garden of Eden is now rubble and we have bombed much of their prime agricultural land into non-productivity. We have destroyed major historical, cultural and religious sites beyond repair. This costs US citizens 6 billion dollars a month. She likened it to having to rebuild California.
Ms. Kubein stated the legacy of this Iraqi conflict will be bankruptcy of the US, a loss of stature and respect in the world community, and the most lasting price will be paid by those (and the families of those) who fight so bravely and serve so honorably despite overwhelming odds, returning with physical and psychological damage.
You could feel the collective grief and despair in the room when she recounted a telephone conversation with her daughter when her daughter said, "Mom, I can't come home. I shot a boy today and watched him die."
One of my best friends here is an Iraqi I vet. He lives with an increasingly debilitating neurological disorder. The VA has found him 100% disabled with a service-connected injury. He is an amazing person, and an inveterate Bush supporter. I am awed by his positive attitude and acceptance of his limitations, but when he gets tired he tells me about the things he wishes he could do with his 16 year old son and worries about the burdens his family bears on his behalf, and whether his son may end up serving in Iraq II.
The United States currently pays more than $2 billion in disability claims per year for 159,000 veterans of the 1991 gulf war, even though that conflict lasted only five weeks, with 148 dead and 467 wounded. Even assuming that the 525,000 American troops who have so far served in Iraq and Afghanistan will require treatment only on the same scale as their predecessors from the gulf war, these payments are likely to run at $7 billion a year for the next 45 years.
from
The Trillion Dollar War
I know the administration is calling those of us who are not falling into their march step unpatriotic, saying we do not support the troops. Putting aside any accusations of lies and deceptions, this is simply about getting straight answers to simple questions. Why are we in Iraq and why is the cost in terms of lives and dollars so much greater than we were told? It is reasonable to demand accountability from those executives putting our citizens at risk and spending of huge amounts of our public funds.
We also need to bolster our fellow citizens who have moved from supporting the invasion of Iraq to disfavoring the occupation. It shows that information is power and that as a nation we are reasonably doubting our leaders' decisions. Costs are simply outpacing progress. Any business manager looking at that kind of bottom line would come to the same conclusion and change policy and procedures.
Military Families Speak Out advocates "Bring them home now," knowing that if the country as one body stood up and demanded this it would still take another 2 years to wrap up the operations, bureaucracy and paperwork.
This is not about left or right or center. This is not about Cindy Sheehan, her family or her politics. It's about honor, smart management, truth, and accountability. It's about stopping the carnage.