20,000 Brain Injuries Left Off Pentagon's Iraq Wounded List

USA Today :

At least 20,000 U.S. troops who were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries, according to military and veterans records compiled by USA TODAY.

The data, provided by the Army, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as many troops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by the Pentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in the Pentagon's official tally of wounded, which stands at 30,327.

Read the whole story: USA Today

Comments

[WARisEVIL]

Bush commenting with a smirk said ''They don't get benefits because they had a 'pre-existing condition' of being braindead and believing me HaHaHa

[levibatgirl]

Come on moderators at huffpo.
Get rid of little the twerp's tantrums.

[chronic]

The Republican Crime Syndicate don't believe brains are significant.


Look who thier leaders are!!!

[HumeSkeptic]

Where is the "God bless the troops" and "Support our troops crowd"?

Would we see them outraged over this, or would they continue to be on the side of the criminals and fascists occupying our White House?

[Troubledwawa]

Kudos to Gregg Zoroya for an excellent job!

From the article: "VA hospitals, where Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been screened for combat brain injuries since April. The VA found about 20% of 61,285 surveyed — or 11,804 veterans — with signs of brain injury, spokeswoman Alison Aikele says. VA doctors say more evaluation is necessary before a true diagnosis of brain injury can be confirmed in all these cases, Aikele says.

Soldiers and Marines whose wounds were discovered after they left Iraq are not added to the official casualty list, says Army Col. Robert Labutta, a neurologist and brain injury consultant for the Pentagon.

"We are working to do a better job of reflecting accurate data in the official casualty table," Labutta says. "
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5 years at war and the Bush administration didn't know about this? - Just like they didn't know about Walter Reed?

In any data gathering, one should want to know that the sum of the individual parts equals the total. This is very easy to do using an Excel spreadsheet. One would end up with two final numbers.

If they match, you're data is more accurate. If not, well...

[mimsnpips]

These disgusting pieces of shit in DC just keep throwing human bodies at this worthless war for oil.
I recently read there are "triple amputees" being treated at Walter Reed.

A triple amputee-one limb left and who knows what shape it is in.

Unimaginable. Yet very real.
Somehow still the brain injuries are even worse and harder for a human being to deal with.

And the chimp smirks on.

[IntelligentDesign]

Message to ownsthepodium:

I usually don't waste my time with the likes of you, but today I'll make an exception - you are a sad excuse for a human being - fear filled, hateful and stupid is no way to go through life son - I hope that you do not have children, and if you do, I hope they can see how deranged you are and will find it in their hearts to be not follow in your goosesteps.

[fireW]

Gee, how startling. WeaselCo lying about the lives destroyed by their psychotic warmongering and "family values". All hail Emperor Chimpie the Shitbag.

Vote Republican - it's easier than thinking . . .

[HumeSkeptic]

There is only one thing consistent about this Administration: deception.

Since before the beginning of this fraud called "Iraq war", we have been told nothing but lies, and these criminals have been consistent in their deception.

Have oil companies and defense contractors now benefited enough so that this fraud can be brought to an end?

How many more American and Iraqi lives need to be destroyed in the pursuit of increased profits?

And what has been the gain for American citizens who have funded this fraud? The number of terrorists has gone up.

[VogonsCryptolect]

This article seems a bit fishy and certainly incomplete.
What exactly are they defining as brain injuries in these "mild to moderate" cases?
Are they the kind of thing you recover from like concussions seen in sports injuries or are they something more serious?
That this sort of injury is not seen until they get home seems quite plausible since the screening done here is going to be a lot more in depth.
It also seems quite normal, (not to say desirable)that a bureaucratic monster like the Pentagon has a screwy way of classifying secondary injuries.

That said, the article says nothing about whether or not they are receiving treatment, whether these injuries have a permanent effect or prolonged recovery or if these injuries can be detected closer to the battlefield and if that detection would allow for some more immediate treatment that would mitigate long term effects etc.

Very incomplete but it makes a strong headline....

[cruisepuppy7452a]

I am going on record here. I have repeatedly notified several congressmen, senators, members of the media as to the cover ups from this administration. Not one, of our so called leaders gave a damn. They told me, sorry, unless we get it from the white house, we can't and won't do squat. Ok, Hillary, Obamma, Biden, McKaskill, Kennedy, not one gave a rats' ass about the cover up that killed 300 at Camp Falcon, more that killed others, alco coverd up. I got an email from an insider in the white house who said she had key info that would have caused impeachment if she gave up her facts on this. The woman would not give her name, but was scared to death of being found out. I reported, passed on her email to me to the media, same senators and got nothing back. Both sides are covering this up. Its a slap in the face to our soldiers, thier families, our country, to lie about these deaths, injuries, not count them among the wounded or killed. When did we stop caring about them? When did we decide that Friggin Black Friday should get more media attention? That isn't news. Cover ups about our military who are dying, getting horribly maimed, injured, indighted for following orders from the top command, that is news. Nothing. Since when did media sell out doing thier jobs, for protecting the white house? I am an american who is mad as hell at our congress and senate, have pushed for impeachment from Bush and cheney, rumsfeld, et all. I got a sorry, no can do, its an election year coming up. Oh really? Tell that to the guys who died, were maimed, were excluded from the dead and injured list. Tell them, they don't matter. I am disgusted to be part of this farce. Come election time, I am voting my heart, telling the soldiers, I care, not voting in a dem or republican. Paybacks are a bitch aren't they?

[hydenorhare]

I've been away for a few days.

How did Arianna handle the NYT front page story about about the progress in Iraq and specifically in Baghdad?

That must have been very painful for the NYT.

Did Arianna happen to mention it at all?

How about you guys? You aware of it?

[JustBiteMe]

ownsabuttplug has found all the death in Iraq that bush has been hiding from us. Tell us again how well the surge is working.

[WARisEVIL]

Isn't it ironic the first post was also entered by a brain damaged person???

[kellygrrrl]

and how many dead Iraqis have been left off the official count of casualties of this charade???

I can't even call it a "war" anymore. It is nothing more than a hostile occupation and robbery.