Troops suffer shell shock in Iraq war

As the fifth year of the occupation of Iraq rages on, the consequences of the war are becoming increasingly clear. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed by U.S. military bombing, raids and killings. Many have died in U.S.-run prison torture chambers, at the hands of U.S.-directed death squads, during house-to-house searches and by summary executions.  

The death toll among U.S. troops is quickly approaching 3,400. Including the number of private soldiers and

contractors, the number is closer to 4,000. The official death toll, however, does not fully represent the war’s sinister consequences on Iraqis or the U.S. troops used as cannon fodder by the imperialist warmakers.  

According to the April 8 Washington Post, about 1,800 U.S. troops are now suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) caused by penetrating combat wounds.  
 
But that may tell only a small part of the story. A large number of the hundreds of thousands of troops who have served in Iraq may be afflicted with seemingly undetectable brain injuries that could impact on their mental faculties and emotional state for the rest of their lives.

As many as one third of all U.S. soldiers who have served for four months or longer in Iraq and Afghanistan may suffer from disabling neurological disorders without any outward signs according to the groundbreaking report in the Washington Post. This amounts to hundreds of thousands of young, working-class men and women at risk. 

A common weapon used by Iraqi resistance fighters is the improvised explosive device—IED. Iraqis fighting to rid their country of colonial occupation lack the resources of the massively funded U.S. military apparatus. They have adapted their military tactics to provide a low-cost but increasingly lethal method of inflicting damage on U.S. forces. IEDs are one of the frequently employed means of resistance. 

When an IED detonates, it can maim or kill the intended target. The force of these explosions also can result in TBIs without any sign of external trauma.  

The war on Iraq has brought back one of the worst afflictions of World War I trench warfare: shell shock. 

Invisible wounds  

The Iraqi resistance lacks B-52 bombers with its 2,000 pound bombs. They don’t have the agile Apache attack helicopter or the slow and low flying A-10 Warthog attack plane that sprays insurgents with cannon fire and machine guns that fire 5,000 rounds per minute. But the IED has become a feared counter-measure. It is the use of a low-tech innovation competing with most modern high-tech death machine.

For thousands of returning wounded GIs, their very proximity to an IED explosion can be just the beginning of a life-time of debilitating brain injuries. The U.S. military is treating more head injuries than chest or abdominal wounds. It is not equipped to do so. 

Veterans’ and returning soldiers’ care facilities are understaffed and underfunded. This reality is illustrated by the terrible conditions at Walter Reed Hospital and Veterans Administration institutions across the country.

The Bush administration and Congress cough up hundreds of billions each year to fund imperialist wars and other adventures, but refuse to fund adequate health treatment for returning soldiers. 
 
That’s because there is little profit to be made in health treatment for soldiers and veterans. It is easier to use them to fight wars and discard them, letting them fend for themselves when they are no longer useful to the military.

This has been the case for decades, but more is at stake for soldiers returning from Iraq. IED blast-related brain injuries are different from other severe head traumas. The Washington Post noted that the complexity of treating returning U.S. troops with “closed-head” injuries is “taxing an already overburdened military health-care system.”

According to P. Steven Macedo, a neurologist and former doctor at the Veterans Administration, “TBIs from Iraq are different.”

Doctors are not accustomed to treating wounds caused by IEDs and similar weapons. The Washington Post described why IEDs pose a new neurological danger to U.S. troops. “The detonation of any powerful explosive generates a blast wave of high pressure that spreads out at 1,600 feet per second from the point of explosion and travels hundreds of yards. The lethal blast wave is a two-part assault that rattles the brain against the skull. The initial shock wave of very high pressure is followed closely by the ‘secondary wind’: a huge volume of displaced air flooding back into the area. … No helmet or armor can defend against such a massive wave front.

“Blast waves causing TBIs can leave a 19-year-old private who could easily run a six-minute mile unable to stand or even think.”

TBIs can result in blindness, deafness, memory loss, paralysis, hallucinations, impotence, stuttering, uncontrollable twitching, and the inability to taste, smell or urinate.

Another difference with those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan is the likelihood of survival. In past wars, these injuries would have resulted in more fatalities. More soldiers are surviving with severe wounds largely because of the technological advancements made in body armor, and advanced medical training.  
 
In Iraq and Afghanistan, the ratio of wounded service members to fatalities is 16 to 1. During the Vietnam War, according to the Veterans Administration, the ratio was 2.6 wounded to every 1 dead.  
 
U.S. soldiers in Iraq are surviving what would have killed a soldier in Vietnam only to come to a system that is inadequate to treat them.

The only way to end the suffering of the Iraqi people and U.S. soldiers is to end the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan immediately.