http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml
Nov. 13, 2007
Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans
A CBS News Investigation Uncovers A Suicide Rate For Veterans
Twice That Of Other Americans

See also this related article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3498625.shtml
NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2007
Veteran Suicide: Methodology
How The CBS News Investigative Unit Got The Statistics And The Story

See also this related article:

Mike Whitney's article is also located here...

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m38313&hd=&size=1&l=e
November 17, 2007
Pentagon Cover Up
15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?
by Mike Whitney

The Pentagon has been concealing the true number of American casualties in the Iraq War. The real number exceeds 15,000 and CBS News can prove it.

CBS's Investigative Unit wanted to do a report on the number of suicides in the military and "submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense". After 4 months they received a document which showed--that between 1995 and 2007-- there were 2,200 suicides among "active duty" soldiers.

Baloney.

The Pentagon was covering up the real magnitude of the "suicide epidemic". Following an exhaustive investigation of veterans' suicide data collected from 45 states; CBS discovered that in 2005 alone "there were at least 6,256 among those who served in the armed forces. That's 120 each and every week in just one year."

That is not a typo. Active and retired military personnel, mostly young veterans between the ages of 20 to 24, are returning from combat and killing themselves in record numbers. We can assume that "multiple-tours of duty" in a war-zone have precipitated a mental health crisis of which the public is entirely unaware and which the Pentagon is in total denial.

If we add the 6,256 suicide victims from 2005 to the "official" 3,865 reported combat casualties; we get a sum of 10,121. Even a low-ball estimate of similar 2004 and 2006 suicide figures, would mean that the total number of US casualties from the Iraq war now exceed 15,000.

That's right; 15,000 dead US servicemen and women in a war that --as yet--has no legal or moral justification.

CBS interviewed Dr. Ira Katz, the head of mental health at the Department of Veteran Affairs. Katz attempted to minimize the surge in veteran suicides saying, "There is no epidemic of suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem."

Maybe Katz is right. Maybe there is no epidemic. Maybe it's perfectly normal for young men and women to return from combat, sink into inconsolable depression, and kill themselves at greater rates than they were dying on the battlefield. Maybe it's normal for the Pentagon to abandon them as soon as soon they return from their mission so they can blow their brains out or hang themselves with a garden hose in their basement. Maybe it's normal for politicians to keep funding wholesale slaughter while they brush aside the casualties they have produced by their callousness and lack of courage. Maybe it is normal for the president to persist with the same, bland lies that perpetuate the occupation and continue to kill scores of young soldiers who put themselves in harm's-way for their country.

It's not normal; it's is a pandemic---an outbreak of despair which is the natural corollary of living in constant fear; of seeing one's friends being dismembered by roadside bombs or children being blasted to bits at military checkpoints or finding battered bodies dumped on the side of a riverbed like a bag of garbage.

The rash of suicides is the logical upshot of the U.S. war on Iraq. Returning soldiers are traumatized by their experience and now they are killing themselves in droves. Maybe we should have thought about that before we invaded.

Check it out the video at: CBS News "Suicide Epidemic among Veterans"

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com

:: Article nr. 38313 sent on 18-nov-2007 00:50 ECT

www.uruknet.info?p=38313

###

Facts About US Veteran Suicides: (See the 11/13/07 CBS Report)

Fact 1. Suicide rate for non-veterans all ages is 8.9 per 100,000.

(Note: Suicide rate for non-veterans aged 20 to 24 is 8.3 per 100,000.)

Fact 2. Suicide rate for all veterans is between 18.7 and 20.8 per 100,000
The total avg suicide rate is: 19.75 per 100,000 (avg = 19.75 = (18.7+20.8) / 2 )

(Note: Suicide rate for veterans aged 20 to 24 is between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000
The avg suicide rate for veterans (20 to 24) is: 27.4 per 100,000 (avg = 27.4 = (22.9+31.9) / 2 ) )

Fact 3. Veteran deaths in Iraq as of 3/1/05: 1,499 US troops dead (icasualties.org/oif/)
Veteran deaths in Iraq as of 11/15/07: 3,871 US troops dead (icasualties.org/oif/)
This is an increase in the death toll of 2,372 US troops dead over this 32.5 month period.
2,372 / 1,499 = 1.582
This is a 158.2% increase in US troops dead over 32.5 months.
This is a 58.4% increase per year in US troops dead. (58.412 = 12 x (158.2% / 32.5 months))

Fact 4. The number of veteran suicides in 45 of the 50 states in 2005 was:
6,256 suicides (see the top of page #2 in the local copy of the CBS Report PDF file, 91 KB)

Note: 5 states are missing, so this number is under-reported.


See this CBS Report, 11/13/07:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml
Nov. 13, 2007
Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans
A CBS News Investigation Uncovers A Suicide Rate For Veterans
Twice That Of Other Americans

[ local copy, 91 KB ]

See also this related CBS Article, 11/13/07,
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3498625.shtml
NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2007
Veteran Suicide: Methodology
How The CBS News Investigative Unit Got The Statistics And The Story

[ local copy, 96 KB ]

Assumptions:

Assumption 1. Assume there were no vet suicides in 2003 due to the US War on Iraq and Afghanistan since the US invasion happened that year (plus I have no statistics).

Assumption 2. Assume that 2004 and 2006 and 2007 have the number of veteran suicides due to WAR such that this creates a linear line increasing over time at the same rate as the number
of reported US troops dead, using the 3,435 veteran suicide count in 2005 (Calc #2)
as the main point for plotting this linear line.

Assumption 3. Assume that the rate of increase of vet suicides per year is the same as the rate of increase of vet deaths in Iraq per year.

(But it's probably larger because as time goes on, more and more troops will have
completed their multiply extended stop-loss tours in Iraq and will be discharged and
return to the US suffering from severe PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and depression.
Using Fact #3, 58.4% increase each year in the number of US troops dead.

Assumption #3: 58.4% increase each year in the number of veteran suicides.

Assumption 4. Assume that by subtracting the rate of suicides in the general population from
the rate of veteran suicides, we arrive at the rate of veteran suicides due to WAR.

Calculations:

Calc 1. Calculate the suicide for veterans (all ages) due to WAR:
By subtracting the suicide rate for non-veterans from the rate for veterans,
we can use that as an estimate of the suicide rate for vets based on WAR.
See Assumption #4.

10.85 = 19.75 (Fact #2) - 8.9 (Fact #1)
10.85 / 19.75 = 0.54936 = 54.9% of vet suicides that are due to WAR
(to remove civilian suicide rate)

Multiply 0.549 times the veteran suicide count to get the suicide count due to WAR.

Calc 2. Calculate the no. of vet suicides due to WAR for 2005 using Fact #4 (6,256) and Calc #1.

3,435 = 0.549 (Calc #1) * 6,256 (Fact #4: 6,256 vet suicides in 2005, see CBS Report)

Calc 3. Back calculate the number of veteran suicides in 2004 due to WAR
using Calc #2 and Assumption #2 and Fact #4.

6,256 vet suicides in 2005 (Fact #4)
3,435 vet suicides in 2005 due to WAR (3435 = 6,256 x 0.549) (Calc #2)
0.584 = percentage increase each year (Assumption #3)

CALC = no. of veteran suicides in 2004 due to WAR

Solve these 2 equations for 'CALC'.

eq #1: CALC + INC = 3435
eq #2: INC = CALC * 0.584

Repleace 'INC' in eq #1 with eq #2 right hand side.
CALC + CALC*0.584 = 3435
CALC * 1.584 = 3435
CALC = 3435 / 1.584
CALC = 2168.560606 suicides in 2004 due to WAR ===> 2168 suicides for 2004
CALC = 2168 (no. of vet suicides in 2004 due to WAR)

Calc 4. Calculate the yearly increase in veteran suicides due to WAR
based on Assumption #3: 58.4% increase every year from 2004 count.

INC = CALC * 0.584

2168 x 0.584 = 1266.112

1266 suicides are added each year to the suicides for each year due to WAR.

Click here for the conclusions, which are located at the very top of this page.