(Guest blogged by Logan Murphy)
As the occupation of Iraq nears the four year mark, the stress on our military is really starting to show and the human cost is getting harder and harder to hide.
Last weekend, SilentPatriot posted this segment from 60 Minutes on the GI's who petitioned Congress to stop the war and Nicole has posted extensively about Lt. Ehren Watada's refusal to report for duty in Iraq.
Little by little, we're hearing stories that have managed to go unnoticed such as the 500th American amputee, and all the problems at Walter Reed Hospital. Spiegel Online brings light to yet another inconvenient truth. Our soldiers are finding ways to get out of this unjust war and some are choosing to go AWOL at the rate of more than 5 per day.
As criticism of the Iraq war grows at home, some US soldiers abroad are rejecting Bush's mission. On military bases across Germany, many are now seeking a way out through desertion or early discharge.Though the US Department of Defense does not keep figures on such cases, a strong indication of their frequency is the number who receive "Chapter 11" discharges through Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Fort Knox, Kentucky, the main processing centers for those who go missing overseas and turn themselves in, or are arrested, back home. Between October 2002 and September 2005 , the two made an annual average of 1,546 such discharges. Last year the number grew to 1,988, or more than five per day. Read more...
