Secrecy: Pervasive in this Administration?

Why?

Few of us seem to dwell on the idea of pervasive secrecy that is a hallmark of this administration. Part of that reason has to do with the fact that the media has been advised what passes muster and what does not.

As a result, the public, largely unawares, is being denied access to information that while not being categorized as government secrets, is arbitrarily judged inappropriate for public consumption. In effect, we are in effect being subjected to a very subtle form of censorship that arises from policy that is screened through a public relations lens.

Some of these “secrets” lie very close to home.

For example, do any of us know what the true numbers of wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan amount to?

Of course not!

But the number “30,000” is bandied about as if it is legitimately arrived at. So, for the most part, we tend to accept it without judgment.

Why is the actual number in question?

Because the government purposefully obscures these numbers in esoteric and arcane ways. It’s reminiscent of the Kafka book, the Castle, where the protagonist is always trying to attain his goal through conventional government channels; but, every day, he wakes up further and further from his objective.

Let me explain. When I was appointed Military Advisor to John Kerry for my region, I thought that I might shed some light on the so-called “wounded” totals being bandied about.

To my surprise and chagrin, I discovered that the Pentagon shielded these numbers by having a matrix of sub-categories for “wounded.” These might be “accidental” or “in the line of duty.”

To complicate matters even further, numbers were kept by each command separately.
I’ve heard through the grape-vine that there are even more divisions that I was not even privy to.

Moreover, to accumulate figures, it is necessary to visit with each Branch of the service in person and apply through channels. Because of the bureaucracy stand-off, I don’t know of anyone who has compiled the real totals or anyone who has a hint of what those totals might be..

Figuring that obfuscation was running rampant here, I took the casualties figures from certain returning units, tried to extrapolate them, and came up with minimums that were twice what were being cited but even those figures don’t include the real cost of this war.

For example, in a recent piece buried in Time magazine and not discussed by the legions of talking heads who can’t seem to get off the subject of Obama’s minister, the numbers are more than unsettling and more and more, I can only conclude that this obfuscation exists for a very real purpose.

Consider, that a Rand Corporation study suggests that as many as 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, more than 20% of returning veterans, are considered to be suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Moreover, another 320,000 may have suffered a post-traumatic brain injury which can lead to later mental difficulties.

Recently, the purported “cure” for those subjected to roadside bombs in the line of duty was full re-immersion, i.e. to send the victims out almost immediately again on patrol. Seemingly, inside the Army, being subjected to roadside bombing was thought of as being similar to falling off a horse; you had to get back on again immediately.

More recent investigations, that have not been widely disseminated, have resulted in the government setting up suicide “hot lines.”

To date, more than 37,000 calls have been fielded.

This is only the tip of the iceberg and America will not feel the full consequences of the potential damage done to our young men and women until we have put this uncalled for war behind us. Yet, our government cannot even support our troops to the extent of providing them with sufficient VA care or a full GI Bill as we’ve done for other returning heroes.

To our veterans, it is a promise unfulfilled that will come back to haunt us.

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon