Since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 the number of disillusioned US servicemen taking their own lives has soared, the Army Behavioural Health unit shows an 80% increase in suicides between 2004 and 2008, the rise is said to mirror the rate of 110,000 troops on anti-depressants, other figures show one third are self-medicating and mixed with alcohol makes a very dangerous mix.

Many veterans families are saying the men who come back are not the same men that went, many can’t sleep and many cry at night.

Recent telephone surveys in the Atlanta area say men join the services because of unemployment, and love upsets, having no real idea of what is involved.

Leah Bolger President of Veterans for Peace says 80% is way too much and more needs to be done with PTSD sufferers, many of the troop massacres where they crack and just shoot up people, such as the midnight attack where US troops broke into Afghani homes at night on March 11 and killed 16 people including women and 9 children was blamed on PTSD and possible drugs, only one soldier from the group has been charged over the massacre.

US Army figures show a big increase in violence, rape and sex attacks both on their own soldiers, detainees and those of the occupied population. 40% of the suicides are said to relate directly to US involvement in Iraq and relate to guilt anxiety and war related depressive disorders, yet we are told wiping Iraq from the map has been a great success.

Colin Powells chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson has claimed they now plan to bomb Iran back to the stone age, and will bomb 10,000 targets in 70 days like we did to Dresden and Tokyo, hate speeches like this do nothing for Americas image abroad and serve to increase servicemen’s guilt and suffering. Veterans For peace interviewed one man who saw operation Phantom Fury the attack on the city Fallujah, who says each time he closes his eyes he sees bodies of children lying in the street that he helped to kill, and still cry’s every day.

Already we see Palestine Libya and Iraq wiped off the map with Syria and Iran next on the list, this warmongering has damaged the USA beyond repair in countries all over the world, and even former American allies are baulking at more needless bloodshed, US bases worldwide have seen demonstrations to close the base and take your men home.

Pat Tillman who gave up a lucrative multi/million dollar football career after 9/11 to join the US army, but quickly became disillusioned by the needless atrocities he saw and it was suspected he was about to whistle-blow, so he became like many whistleblowers and journalists who get too close, a victim of freindly fire, now the army was caught lying again and again, and off the record testimonies show the army wanted hero Tillman dead, dead men don’t talk, and Tillman who it was said always put his men before himself was just one more who paid the ultimate price.

T Stokes London