quote:

Troops exposed to explosions in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be checked for brain injury, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed...

Kit Malia, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist who will oversee the treatment programme, told The Guardian: "I think the issue is that we don't know whether the Americans are correct.

"But if the American figures are correct, this is massive. Absolutely massive."

Link

I heard something about this on the BBC world news. I am glad that they are looking into this.

Me too, but my immediate reaction was, "what took them so long?"

Here is a link to a speech by Horst Schmitthenner at a September demonstration in Germany:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/10/367598.shtml

After 1 million Iraqi deaths and a war cost between $1 and $2.3 trillion, the horror and scourge of war must end. This speech by a German union leader could give us courage in resisting the irrationality of war and the confusion of offense and defense. The US war of choice must not be confused with a war of necessity.

If one has no obvious injury, one doesn't automatically get a cat scan. I think that they knew that Soldiers were coming home with high rates of depression and PTSD symptoms but that the idea that an exposure to loud sounds could cause this is new.

There was a recent report saying that 28% of Canadian soldiers coming back from Afghanistan of symptoms of depression and PTSD, which they are attributing to "the rigours of war and operational stress" of being in a war zone.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/200...lth_071028/20071028/

But note that most of the Canadian soldiers who have died, have done so because of road side bombs. It is possible that those who are clear of the blast could still be affected by the noise of it, but that particular cause of symptoms doesn't seem to be looked into.


Horst Schmitthenner makes a few good points - especially about war making the world more dangerous and the need for a social safety net. One of the five biggest groups of immigrants to come into Manitoba in 2006 were from Germany and they were considered to be "economic refugees."

quote:

Me too, but my immediate reaction was, "what took them so long?"

You need to wonder? You must have meant that rhetorically.