Angry about American ISIL Deaths? 1 Vet Commits Suicide Every Hour. Get Angry about That!

[grahamhgreen]

Last edited Tue Nov 18, 2014, 01:04 AM - Edit history (1)

http://m.democracynow.org/stories/14771

Perpetual war perpetrates war, duh.

[UTUSN]

1. Perfectly said. n/t

[rhett o rick]

2. And a pox on the houses of those responsible, George Bush, Dick Cheney and H. Clinton. nm

[roguevalley]

20. i am angry about both. its doable

[Egnever]

3. Yea screw all the other folks they are killing as well.

We should only care about ourselves.

Amiright?

[grahamhgreen]

5. You think we can end this war? When? What's the metric for success? How many troops &

how much will it cost?

It's a 1400 year old war. Sunni vs Shia. You can't stop it with more violence.

You stop it by setting an example of how to live together even though you may have differences.

[sabrina 1]

11. Every killing that results from our Wars in the ME, is a tragedy. What do they want US to do about

it? WE WERE THE ONES who begged them not to go there precisely because we knew this would happen. They created ISIS or whatever they are calling them now. They brutally killed over a million Iraqis, did they think there not be any blowback from that? The installed a brutal puppet government, under Maliki, we warned them, when he sold his own people down the river by signing over their oil, then had peaceful protesters shot and tortured (see Chelsea Manning). We were told to STFU.

NOW they want us to do what, get angry enough, react emotionally so they can DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN??

I hate manipulators, especially the emotional manipulators. I guess they're wondering why people are no longer reacting the all the horror we've seen since Cheney/Bush and their collaborators in Congress, brutally invaded a sovereign nation based on LIES.

My reaction to these horrors as it always was, GET OUT OF other people's business, stop stealing their resources and killing their people, THAT is why these groups exist, period.

[Logical]

4. We should be mad about ALL suicides! Teenagers and LGBT have a terrible suicide rate. nt

[KMOD]

6. can I be upset about both?

[oldandhappy]

7. absolutely

We get so excited about some things and ignore others. I was having fun actually during the initial ebola flare up by saying one person died in Texas, can we seal the border, and oh by the way, 30,000 people died last year because of guns.

We have a big homeless vets thing here each summer -- thousands show up for dental care and hair cuts and housing information and health care referrals.

Vets committing suicide seems a huge sign of hopelessness. If I had seen/experienced what these folk have endured, I would want to get the images and screams out of my head and sometimes suicide is the only way. I have talked to vets who have had excellent care thru the VA, and then I see the hordes turning up each summer for the event here and I know many are living under the radar. We are a big military town and we will have to do more locally. I have no hope for national resources to be expanded.

[Savannahmann]

8. I can certainly sympathize.

I'd encourage the vets who are suffering from various psychological ailments to seek help. Counseling, suicide hotlines, friends, family, support groups, and all of the other things that are available. We could use more in the psychological assistance field, but there are paths to help.

One important thing should be noted though. While it is absolutely tragic, and absolutely a failure of society. Nobody pulled the trigger for them. No one pointed at them and said, kill them. No one held a trial by bureaucrat and decided to find them guilty and sentence them to death. No one tapped the button and executed them by remote control.

International law prohibits the assassination of people. American law prohibits it in regards to American Citizens. American citizens can not be deprived of life, freedom, or property except under due process of law. That was never intended to be some guy wearing a tie nodding his head and going. Take the bugger.

Now there are laws prohibiting suicide, and even the people who support euthanasia agree that a psychiatric finding of sanity is needed. But again, nobody made the decision for them. Nobody decided they had lived long enough.

Comparing the two, and claiming we should be more angry about one, than the other is a little disingenuous. If I know a friend is thinking of Suicide, I can take action. If I suspect I can do something. If I don't know the guy/woman, and I don't know what they're up to, there is nothing I personally can do. I can encourage people to seek help. There are a number of sites on the web eager to help.

Veterans Help Line. http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/

Suicide prevention site. http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

There are way more than I can hope to link to.

I can encourage people to call, to text, to chat with someone. I can't stop them from doing something desperate. I may be able to stop the targeted assassinations that are a violation of international law, and an abomination to what America should be.

[grahamhgreen]

12. Thanks for your thoughtful post. It's also important to remember, that we are all in on this

together. We sent them. We share the burden.

[840high]

9. I'm angry about both.

[pinboy3niner]

10. I am always mindful of that, having lost vet friends--including my best friend--to suicide

And it was only after 20 years that I learned my first radioman in Vietnam had killed himself shortly after he got back.

You can get back, but getting home can take a lot longer. And many don't survive that struggle. R.I.P.

[Odin2005]

13. We can only get angry about one thing at a time?

[bobthedrummer]

14. .

[Iggo]

15. I'm angry about both. Is that okay?

[grahamhgreen]

16. Hell yes. I say we deal with the issue that's killing the most, first.

[cali]

17. Sorry, I find this a ridiculous comparison.

[grahamhgreen]

18. Why? More troops in Iraq will mean more suicides. In the end it's a net loss of far more American

lives.

And we will not win.

Much of ISIS is the disaffected Iraqi Sunni troops, trying to take back their country. The wacko contingent is relatively small.

The war has raged for 1400 years. Taking billions from food stamps and spending it on bombs will not end it, in my view.

[Puddy]

19. ISIS can go to hell.