There is an interview with a U.S. soldier returned from Iraq, a medic, by Daniel Redwood, posted on this site. A very calm, detailed and informative look at what is happening in Iraq, one that is not Sanitized For Your Protection, from the viewpoint of a medic who has been in the thick of things. Among the more interesting points:

• The sanitization of the war. Dead and wounded being hidden from view, and active orders from the government to not count Iraqi casualties. Political sanitization too–before the 2003 Thanksgiving photo-op with Bush, soldiers were given a questionnaire asking “Do you support the president?” Only soldiers who responded with a “gung-ho, A-1, 100 percent yes” were allowed to eat the turkey meal; the other soldiers were given MREs and not allowed in the cafeteria for the Thanksgiving dinner.

  Also about how only soldiers who are saying positive things tend to get put before the media (the soldier interviewed had to remain anonymous because he is still serving, and is not supposed to speak freely in criticism against the government); about how villages and areas are cleaned up before politicians or others visit to see them, how they are not taken to certain areas.

• Soldiers not being cared for. About the flak jackets not being supplied, nor good enough footwear, canteens and backpacks; too much gear being worthless because it got supplied on the cheap, or not at all, and how they and their families have to get the gear themselves, and pay out of their own pocket. The need for V.A. Hospitals and treatment for all the wounded and traumatized who are coming back, and the administration that wants to cut billions from that program.
• The troop rotation, and how a present 80% well-trained active-duty and 20% green reserve force will be switched to a 20% active-duty and 80% reserve force (possibly 50-50), and how this is exceedingly dangerous; with the extreme heat of the summer months coming, the death toll in the coming months may rise significantly. There has been no other war in which such a high percentage of the troops in the field were less-trained reservists.
• Aftermath issues, such as a high suicide and divorce rate among returning soldiers.
• That our soldiers will be there for 10 years. (Something rarely mentioned, something Bush & Co. try to mask with the “handover of power” to Iraqis–our soldiers will continue to be there, and will continue to be killed). About how things could seriously get out of hand, how Iraqis were happy that we got rid of Saddam but want us to get out and get out now.

And a lot more stuff. Informative. Sometimes disturbing.

We’ve all been aware of the fact that Bush has wanted all negative light on the war smothered, but it is rare to hear so directly from a person involved that there is a standing order not to count Iraqi dead and wounded. The suicide and divorce rate of returning soldiers is also an issue not reported much. We really are being kept largely unaware of the real costs being paid for this war, aside from the massive financial burdens and costs in international influence and respect.

The soldiers not being cared for we’ve heard about as well, but it tends to stay under the radar of the media. I remember at the Democrats Abroad Caucus, one attendee reporting that her son did not get his flak jacket, so they had to buy one and send it to him. This is a very real and onerous shortcoming of the Bush military.

But perhaps most disturbing is the report about the percentage of reserves in the troop rotation. I had not known about that. That a majority of troops in a war zone will be reservists, that the danger and casualty rate is likely to rise, not because resistance is higher but because the administration is mishandling the war. That, combined with recruiting and reenlistment problems, and the fact that we will be there at least ten more years, is a matter that should be of great concern.

We were lied to about the reasons for invading Iraq, and now we are being lied to about the state of affairs. With an election coming up, the president is hiding the dead and wounded, muffling the opposition, and trying desperately to make Americans believe that we will not be there much longer–when exactly the opposite is true.

Thanks once more to Tim at ChariOtaku for alerting me to this.