The War Within: an aspect of the human cost of the war in Iraq.

We are going to go a little off topic here if that is OK but I found the material in this article so compeling and informative of topics that we have talked over on several occasions.

It is always tricky to get into politics and as Im very respectful of other peoples opinions and try to be humble with my own. And that makes me a little reluctant to mention this - and there is little in recent years as contentious as the Iraq war.

One of my interests - and something that the mainstream media fails to cover beyond the tally on the nightly news of the latest fatalities - is the really quite huge numbers of people being returned to our society from the war changed in really quite profound ways. Each one of these men or dont forget increasingly women also has a family that must come to terms with this change and a community that must adjust to having them in their midst.

Beyond the headline of the 2,181 US troops killed in Iraq are other numbers as many as 16,337 US soldiers have been wounded - and required 'medevac' - some estimates are as high as 25,805. As the technology and technique of war has changed since the Vietnam era with better body armor, and efficent prompt evacuation of casulties to well equipped casulty clearing stations many casulties who would have previously died survive - no humane person could say that was a bad thing - but many of these survivors who are then 'medevac'ed out of theatre are left with the most grevious and incredibly profound injuries such as paralysis loss of limbs or serious head trauma. And alongside the shattered body's come the shattered minds.

This is the story of The man in a photograph. He is James Blake Miller, now 21, of Pike County, Kentucky, and he is an icon, although in ways probably never imagined.

'THE WAR WITHIN'

Related links:

'MOD accused of hiding real cost of Iraq war' - The Scotsman

UPDATE / Postscript:

'100th UK Casulty reported' - Manchester Evening News