‘Anything Not to Go Back’

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read about someone so desperate that they would jump off their roof with tools strapped on their back.....

What a toll this war has taken on this nation. It's unbelievable that we have sunk so low in eight short years and have lost so much.

My heart goes out to all US soldiers and their families.

Perhaps you should visit Iraq and see for yourself if there is a job to be done

To Yourcountry: There is no job to 'get done' in Iraq. 9/11 was never about Iraq in the first place. It may have been about Afghanistan, but Afghanistran is now getting bad again. We got distracted in Iraq from Afghanistan, so now it's getting cranked up again with the Taliban harrassing women that want to be free to walk around without burkas and get a job and blowing up girls that try to go to school. We never got the job done there and now we've veered off into a sinkhole in Iraq.

Also forgot to note, I support the troops by wanting all of them home in one piece, not scared mentally and especially not in body bags and home soon than later... Our country is going bankrupt by borrowing billions upon billions for the Iraq war. Our dollar is almost worthless and we are paying for this by paying more for oil and now food. This is the first war of this magnitude that our government did not use the war tax... Afghanistan was one month and still far less than Iraq is occupying it and nato is there. The previous Iraq war was one month long and most of our allies helped pay for it and there was 500k troops then occupying a fraction of the country. Now we are printing and borrowing our way to oblivion and this is exacting how Osama Bin Ladin wanted to beat us... by spending us to death, that is how the USSR eventually fell because Afghanistan caused there currency to fail and there was no longer a way to pay for it. What a crappy situation we are in good going.

Like Obama, I thought the war was a bad decision from the very beginning. What had Iraq done to us that was so wrong. I thought we were supposed to to fighting the terrorists from 9/11 that were training in Afghanistan. As others have said before, I'd like to see the U.S. take care of more of its own problems at home, and we have many. We don't have the manpower or the resources to be fighting all these skirmishes all over the world. I think the current administration has put our country in serious peril by fighting an unnecessary war and depleting our military manpower and equipment. Economists talk about having guns or butter. We're getting to where we're gonna have neither. Our military is crumbling. Our roads and bridges are falling down. Our food prices are soaring. Family structure is crumbling. I've never seen so many Americans killing their wives and children. Mothers killing themselves and their children. People are losing their homes and children can't afford to attend college. Great!

One tour is more than enough to serve, anymore than that for a person too burden for the rest of there life is too much. Let the rich old men and there kids go to the battlefield if it was so right to go war in the first place. I do not believe in preemptive war, war should be the last resort and only if you were attacked first... Iraq did not attack us on 911, so I am still baffled on all the changed reasoning since 2003 on why we went there... who would be surprised when our troops do these things to avoid going back. I don't blame them. By the way, I support the troops, but I am against bad civilian leadership that sends them to war such as Iraq... and to see the "Troops" used as political shields when our leadership made terrible mistakes is embarrassing to me to watch.

Who cares how many it is? If it's just one, it's too many. One tour of duty should be enough. I wish we could make these old, grey-headed men each serve a tour of their own.

...and what in the heck will talking to them (physicians, military officials) do, soldier will still be sent to Iraq repeatedly. I just hope that our leaders who started this unnecessary war can never sleep a peaceful night again. The old gray-headed men that started this should have nightmares forever of the young men whose lives and families they're damaged.

Okay, explain this to me. How can someone support the troops that in a realistic veiwpoint volunteer to fight in Iraq, but oppose the war? After 5 years I still do not understand that logic. This is what I dislikes about the United States Citizens, we are fair weather fans, everthing is great as long as our team is winninig, but when things get tough we jump on the nearest finger pointing band wagon to place blame. Of course, Bin Laden knows this and is relying on this to draw out this war, he is not a stupid person. He knows that public will not stand for a drawn out war , for example the Veitnam War. So, for those that 'want out' fine,play into Bin Ladens game plan. Just don't blame America for another attack. oh,another thing, I do not represent the military in any fashion in this comment, these are my own views on the state of the people in this nation.

Well you know, It's hard to deside whether you are for the troops or not. when i say I support the troops, what i mean, is i wish that they come back home alive and see their families again. But I dont support the war that the troops are fightning. It the first year it seemd like there were 2 good reasons to go to Iraq one was to blow up those nuclear site that were supposedly containing lots of sadams nuclear weapon site, and the other was to find Bin Laden and kill him and his middle man. I think a lot troops signed up to go shoot all those mean terrorists, and may in the prosses they did, but it still didnt do much good. Bin Laden is still sitting somewhere in the cave having a laugh, seeing how America is going down the hill, seems like terrorism is doing their job without being in united states, economy is going down the hill, and there is nothing better coming in the future, except the coming of Jesus. Ofcourse for some interesting reason no major nuclear sites have been discovered. Iraqis are still blowing up each other, and killing their own people with terrorist attacs. Seems like Americans are there to babysit a country that dont care dont even care for their own. And if in the past 5 years Iraqi goverment cant protect their own, then how are they gonna do that now. With the way things are going, this war is gonna be going on for another 10-20 years. This country is doomed pretty much. All the troops that signed up, im sure everyone had a good reason to go when they sighned up, but im sure that many are sitting somewhere in a ditch and thinking to them selves,"what the heck am i fightnig for", some fell for the college money, im sure of that. and some for many other reasons, but in the end it sucks, and Im sure that majority of troops wanne go home, see their wifes, husbands, children, parents and have a happy and productive life, and not die in some far away strange country. since when did it become wrong to imagine this country living without war, and have peace, seems like its where it got to, that people almost feel guilty for saying that this war should be over and done with.

A very poor article Tony Dokoupil, almost up there with Dan Rather . You take one 20-year-old Bronx soldier, and liken him as the rest of the U.S. military. The military phychologists indicates some soldiers who will do almost anything not to go back". How many is SOME Mr. Dokoupil: five, twelve, thirty?

Michael R. McCool
USMC (Former)
Topeks, Kansas

A very poor article Tony Dokoupil, almost up there with Dan Rather . You take one 20-year-old Bronx soldier, and liken him as the rest of the U.S. military. The military phychologists indicates some soldiers who will do almost anything not to go back". How many is SOME Mr. Dokoupil: five, twelve, thirty?

Michael R. McCool
USMC (Former)
Topeks, Kansas

wooow newsweek! you cite three or four incidents and get some quotes from "top" psychologists about the "rising trend" of it all and then give it a convincing title to insinuate that its apparently gonna be a epidemic and zap boom bam! crazy quotes about bush and his crazy war! can i be a journalist too? please?!? please?!? what a crap article. no substance.

The article and the comments underscore that it is not just a bad war, all wars are bad, but it's a war for which we were not prepared. Okay, we all knwo that.
Also, I have nothing but praise and respect for our soldiers. But I don't think the Bush administration is doing all they can or should. I've got this gut feeling that they have no intention of our country leaving Iraq. I think the plan is to reduce the violence, pull out maybe half the troops, and stay. It just looks that way considering the military bases, the Green Zone compound and the lack of urgency. Why don't we set a deadine for withdrawal, if for no other reason than to put a fire under the Iraqi leaders. If they make progress, we can always move the dealine. I mean every dealine I've ever heard of has been moved. Also, with regard to Bush's lack of urgency, I think Iran and certain leaders (no names here) who are keeping the unrest alive, should be gone after. I don't care if it's diplomatically incorrect or how it looks to the rest of the world. Go after them. Our men and women are beng killed and maimed. I do agree we need to establish security in Iraq. I don't want to see innocent Iraqi's killed. The children... that's not America. But can you imagine a general like Patton or McArthur not being relentless. Would Patton have tolerated Iran arming insurgents? I think not. He would have found a way to let Iran know that borders can be crossed in both directions. Okay, enough. Someone fire back.

As far a soldiers doing harm to themselves to keep from going back, it's hard to even draw a conslusion. You can't know what is going on in each of their minds. I'm sure it happened in Vietnam and W.W II, etc. I do know that not everyone is cut out for the type of physical and mental strain of serving in Iraq. That said, I'll refrain from futher comment because I really don't know the answer.

20% of soldiers on anti-depressants, 1/3 suffer PTSD.

A 6 year national nightmare for the troops and the 24 million people of Iraq

George Bush - - Are You Listening???!!!

As far as I'm concerned, whatever they do to get out of this ridiculous war is justifiable. Their government and their self-serving, narcissistic Commander in Chief has repeatedly lied to them and failed them in almost every conceivable way. I have nothing but respect for anyone who wants to get out and stay out of this shameful debacle. This country has to learn to keep its nose out of places that it doesn't belong. We are not the world's police.

"we are winning and should stay until the job is done."

How will we know when "we" win? Will it be when Iraq is no longer the Hell on Earth that George W. Bush created? In that case we may have to wait until Hell freezes over.