The Bush Administration had forewarning that soldiers coming back from Iraq would likely face Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, because the U.S. government recognized PTSD as a medical condition in 1980, after thousands of Vietnam veterans struggled with it.
And yet, the Administration failed to plan and provide for adequate care of our troops returning to the Homeland with PTSD (Washington Post). It isn't a shock, given that a few months ago we learned of massive deficiencies at Walter Reed and other military hospitals (USA Today).
It's not just in wounded-troop treatment for which Administration officials failed to adequately plan before insisting on invading Iraq. In the year before the invasion, England's Prime Minister Tony Blair repeatedly confronted the Bush Administration about its lack of planning for handling post-invasion Iraq. Blair feared the very chaos that has come to pass.
More than 3,500 U.S. troops have died in Iraq (not counting contractors and other civilians). The U.S. taxpayers have committed more than $430 billion to this poorly planned war.
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