Unreported Milestone: "1 million veterans injured from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan."

[WilliamPitt]

PFC Josh Stein, 22, a double amputee rehab patient, lost his legs to an explosion in Iraq in 2006. (Getty)

VA Stops Releasing Data On Injured Vets As Total Reaches Grim Milestone
By Jamie Reno
International Business Times

November 01 2013

The United States has likely reached a grim but historic milestone in the war on terror: 1 million veterans injured from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. But you haven't heard this reported anywhere else. Why? Because the government is no longer sharing this information with the public.

All that can be said with any certainty is that as of last December more than 900,000 service men and women had been treated at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics since returning from warzones in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the monthly rate of new patients to these facilities as of the end of 2012 was around 10,000. Beyond that, the picture gets murky. In March, VA abruptly stopped releasing statistics on non-fatal war casualties to the public. However, experts say that there is no reason to suspect the monthly rate of new patients has changed.

VA ceased to disclose this data despite President Obama’s second-term campaign pledge that his administration would be open and transparent. Absent information about the number of soldiers that have sought government medical help and about the types of injuries they had, policymakers, Capitol Hill and health care professionals may be hamstrung in making decisions about funding for crucial veterans' health programs and the treatments and diagnostic tools that should be researched and targeted. The reliability of future military strategies could be in jeopardy as well.

VA's actions are "a gross injustice to veterans and the taxpaying public," says Anthony Hardie, a Gulf War veteran and veterans' advocate who has testified before the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Hardie suggests that Congress should tackle the problem, perhaps even legislatively, noting that withholding the data "reflects a VA pattern of abuse and lack of transparency."

The rest: http://www.ibtimes.com/va-stops-releasing-data-injured-vets-total-reaches-grim-milestone-exclusive-1449584

The article tags President Obama, because of course it does...but I think a special thanks to George W. Bush is in order as we encompass the awful reality of one million Americans scarred by his wars.

As for the civilians? Meh. Remember, "We don't do body counts."

[Laelth]

1. k&r for those who have honorably served our country.

We should take better care of them.

-Laelth

[niyad]

2. k and r for this depressing, but unsurprising, story.

[spanone]

3. and the republicans scream 'benghazi'

[rgbecker]

4. I was justing listening to some rightwinger talking about how

the VA, unable to keep up with their work in caring for the vets, is an example of how the government "can't do healthcare."

[libdem4life]

8. Is this one of the compassionate Rs who voted against the VA Jobs Bills? Likely so.

[Crowman1979]

10. We can't spend more on the VA, yet we can dump billions for weapons that don't work or have no...

...use in today's world?!?!

[Sunlei]

5. last I remember reading the cost of care was about 54 billion a year

Now we know much more about head injury and exposure to toxic chemicals. So we owe all our Vets with 'silent' injury care also.

Really wish we were a country with decent healthcare for all, administration costs and 'for profits' ripping out their cuts- add billions.

[gopiscrap]

6. and for what? that is the tragedy of this

wrecking lives for presidential ego and corporate greed! Thanks a lot fucking war criminals bush and cheney!

[Victor_c3]

11. and everyone else who made the politically expedient vote for war on Iraq in 2003 n/t

[gopiscrap]

15. exactly

[ctsnowman]

7. Remeber folks

the VA is an entitlement program. So when they talk about cutting entitlements...

[Victor_c3]

12. [sarcasm] but but but the veterans earned it! The poor never actually earned theirs!! [/sarcasm]

Never mind the working poor that perform many of the vital jobs that the economy and our society depend on. Those people are poor because they are lazy and they just want free stuff from the government

(I hope that my sarcasm is loud and clear)

[JCMach1]

9. Many of whom would have died during the Vietnam era

with the medicine available then... the costs of our wars will continue to mount over the years...

[Victor_c3]

13. When I was in the Army, I wrote a paper about that

In Vietnam, if you survived long enough for a helicopter to get you, you had a 90% chance of living. In Iraq, if you made it until a helicopter got you, you had a 98% chance to living.

[JCMach1]

19. Big difference definitely... also, th IED's have created many more brain injuries

After all is said, these will be the costliest wars in US history.

[valerief]

14. But filthy rich people got richer and that's all that matters in this world apparently. nt

[indepat]

16. Such small prices willingly paid by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Rice, Powell et al

by this cabal to kick ass and dispense shock and awe at an estimated cost in treasure of $6 trillion, but the 'effin' 'pukes plan to gut entitlements to pay for this vast criminality.

[Enthusiast]

17. "They'll greet us as liberators."

"The war will pay for itself."

[WilliamPitt]

18. "VA Denies Holding Back Missing Information On War On Terror Veteran Casualties"

http://www.ibtimes.com/va-denies-holding-back-missing-information-war-terror-veteran-casualties-1452418

[cthulu2016]

20. Are veterans only treated for warzone wounds at VA facilities?

All that can be said with any certainty is that as of last December more than 900,000 service men and women had been treated at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics since returning from warzones in Iraq and Afghanistan

It does not say treated for injuries received in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[RobertEarl]

21. Kick

This is important. Damned warmongers need treatment. Or we will just do all this over and over again and again.