I was watching a program late last night it was on Channel 4 (uk) called Dispatches. It was entitled AMERICA'S SECRET SHAME
http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/A/americas_secret_shame/index.html It was very sad, but also a eye opener in some areas as well, on how the US government catagorise their wounded, how there is little or no real substantive press coverage considering there are hundreds of thousands of your own people over there in Iraq and Afghanistan, with thousands been killed and over 30,000 seriously wounded. > Tuesday 22 November, 11.10pm > > President Bush's decision to declare war on Iraq has now cost the lives of > more than 2,000 American troops and injured another 30,000. With such > substantial loss of life and appalling numbers of injured, reporter Deborah > Davies investigates how the Bush administration has attempted to suppress the > scale of the casualties and so minimise this public relations disaster. > > In Minneapolis, Deborah visits veterans of the war as they recuperate in > hospital. She discovers that the defining feature of the Iraq war is that > troops suffer multiple injuries, often including brain damage and > amputations; combined injuries that soldiers would never have survived in the > past. > > Almost half the troops serving in Iraq are not full time soldiers. One > National Guardsman tells Dispatches how he lost the movement in one side, one > eye and a third of his skull in a roadside blast. He dreams of a return to > his old life, but his injuries have been devastating â€_ he is still > wheelchairâ€_bound and his young daughter is so terrified of his appearance > that she mutilated her doll to match her father's injuries. > > Another feature of the war is that many female soldiers have been injured. > One who lost a leg when her convoy was blown up, is now retraining to become > a prosthetics technician. She'll be in demand, with several hundred Iraq > veterans needing artificial limbs > > Deborah also travels to smallâ€_town Ohio and follows two families as they > prepare for the emotional homecoming of the local reservist Marine unit which > suffered heavy losses in Iraq. In one company of 140 men, 23 have been killed > and a further 50 injured making it the unit's highest casualties since World > War II. As one family prepares excitedly to welcome home their son, another > family has faced the harrowing ordeal of their son's body being delivered to > them in three separate boxes, as more of his body parts were recovered and > identified. But even for the family of the surviving marine, their joy is > tempered with concern for his emotional wellbeing â€_ up to 80 per cent of > Iraq veterans are suffering from severe postâ€_traumatic stress symptoms and > levels of drug and alcohol abuse are soaring. > > But despite such pain and suffering endured by military families, Deborah > discovers that the Commanderâ€_inâ€_Chief, George Bush has not attended a > single funeral or memorial for the dead . The government also tried to ban > photos of flagâ€_draped coffins being flown back into America from Iraq. > > Scanning the papers during a twoâ€_week journey around America, Dispatches > finds an extraordinary lack of national coverage in the American media. While > local papers herald the return of their sons and mourn the heroic dead, > national papers largely confine their coverage to brief updates of the latest > death toll. > > The latest polls in the US now put support for the war at less than 50%. > President Bush's personal ratings are also at an all time low. As the > casualty levels continue to rise Dispatches asks how far the true cost of the > Iraq invasion is now turning public opinion against the war. -- ___________________________________ The pen is mightier than the sword! Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-73) Just look what happened in the US in 2000 Bush wins with the Pen of a Judge! Alex Gogan (1968- gulp!) -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.10/188 - Release Date: 29/11/2005 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
