Update: Iraq
Despite Virtual Impossibility, Odierno Claims August Iraq Drawdown on Track
The Obama Administration has promised that by August of this year, there will be only 50,000 “non-combat” troops left in Iraq. Since making that promise 15 months ago, only a handful of troops have left, and 94,000 US troops are still there, still engaging in combat missions.The Wounded Platoon
After Iraq’s December election became a January election and finally a March 7 election, it was clear the August deadline would not be met. Privately officials have conceded that the drawdown is being “reconsidered,” in as much as it is virtually impossible now.
But what the Obama Administration talks about privately and its official public stance are often two different things, evidenced today by the claim from US commander in Iraq Gen. Ray Odierno that the drawdown is “on track” and that he is fully committed to meeting the deadline.
The idea that the Obama Administration is even capable of removing 44,000 troops in the next 15 weeks is patently absurd, as he hasn’t managed to remove that many troops in his first 16 months, and the security situation has gotten dramatically worse in that time.
Wounded Platoon reveals a military mental health system overwhelmed with soldiers suffering psychological injuries from the surge -- at Fort Carson the rate of PTSD diagnosis has risen 4,000 percent since 2002 -- and the widespread use of prescription psychiatric drugs both at home and in combat.
"Everybody was on Ambien, everybody. It was hard to find somebody that wasn't taking Ambien," says the 3rd Platoon's medic, Ryan "Doc" Krebbs. "It helps you sleep, and it also f***s you up. It gets you pretty high." After returning home, Krebbs was also prescribed the antipsychotic medication Seroquel, on which he would purposefully overdose in a suicide attempt. "I thought that my time in this place was over, and I'd already done what I was supposed to do, and I didn't want to live anymore." Click here for link to PBS film THE WOUNDED PLATOON.