How has the war affected you?

I am horrified that the men and women who have served in this war are not getting proper medical care when they return (especially for concussive head injuries), are not getting help making the mental and emotianal adjustment of returning from war, do not have resources to help with economic issues such as jobs and housing.

I am completely mystified at how the government’s cover-up of casualty figures is allowed to stand. Then, beyond American casualties, there is absolutely no reporting of the numbers of civilian Iraqi dead and wounded.

Well Marina, just imagine many people already know that the government has covered-up many things, but what if the government didn’t cover anything up and told the U.S population everything, it would be chaotic.

It has affected me quite a bit. My dad went for 6 months, luckily he was in the base the whole time and was “safe”, well compared to a lot of the troops there. It was still very hard for my family though and lots of things went on while he was over there that were hard to deal with. The war and my dad being involved also cause me to become interested in learning about it, why it was going on, and about Islam and its history. Learning about Islam has changed my views in a very big way. Before I knew anything about it I “hated” Islam for taking my dad into a warzone, but realising that the word Islam actually means peace, and then continuing on to learn in depth about the religion has opened my eyes and then when Dad came back adding extra knowledge and experiences actually with the Iraqis to my learning experience has been pretty meaningful for me. I was prejudiced, I know that, and by realising my mistake I have tried to apply this to other areas of my life too, trying to be less judgemental and such.

It’s not the first time a religion has been misunderstood, and been targeted. and besides it’s not the religion itself it’s the people who choose to see it in what way they want to. anyway, God Bless your family, your father, your mother, and all your loved ones God bless em, and my you have better times in store for you.

@wrestlemaiac The premise is supposed to be government “of the people, by the people, and” for the people. I disagree that it would be chaotic. I think open government is vital to prevent abuses of power. I also believe no one has the right to decide what I or anyone can or cannot know.

Well aren’t you a bright person, i feel enlightned, thanks :)

Great question wrestlemaniac. Welcome to fluther and thanks for contributing. Besides the economy, I really haven’t been personally affected by the war. Not many people that I know , really have been either. I did work for a company, whose owner’s son died in Afghanistan. I never met the owner or his son, but was saddened by the news.

I am 25 years old and am 100% for bringing back the draft. I think the reason why this illegal war had been allowed to go on for as long as it is has, besides the media involvement, is that it hasn’t directly affected most Americans until recently. The people that are in the military, volunteered to do so, so they knew the risk was there. I am also for a military that will protect us when we are threatened or attacked, not to carry out some rich guys war, just so they can get richer. The real war is on our freedoms right now, and even if we were directly attacked here, or lets say a serious attack in Iraq or Afghanistan, who is going to protect us here, Blackwater???

I must say though, some good has come from this illegal war for me. It really opened my eyes to what this country is supposed to be about, what it is becoming, and why it is becoming what it is. I always here people blaming one party or the other. I blame the people that, when times are “good,” pay no attention to what it is going on and what the politicians they elected are doing.

While I genuinely see where you’re coming from, chris, I do not believe the troops should be pulled out now. They probably shouldn’t have been sent in the first place, but if they pull out now all their work will be lost and things will fall into turmoil again. As much as it is great to have them home, and as much as I know how it hurts to have someone over there, I am not sure about the Australians pulling out. As far as I know the ones who came back were the ones working directly with the Iraqis, teaching them how to sustain their own country. Now that they’ve left, their work is unfinished. The British have moved in to take over their positions I think, but I’m not sure. I just think the troops should dribble out very slowly, as long as they continue to teach and support the Iraqis and then they will be able to help themselves by the time everyones out.

well yeah we have to worry about our front first before worrying about anything else, and as i said not everyone has been affected by the war.

As long as we leave this administration in, the commander in chief will make no attempt to do a damn thing differently. I truly believe he will start a war with Iran very soon. I dont think the troops should be there at all, but the first step to show the world that America is not running rampant, is to remove the administration that got us there.

I know some people are gonna say but theres only 7 months left, but that is plenty of time to do plenty more damage. We must all do our duty and remove this administration. I hope that you have all called your representatives to support Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment resolution.

7 months is plenty of time to do plenty of good too. I don’t know about Americans but that is what the Australians were trying to do.

They went in, stuffed everything up, now they’ve realised what they’ve done, thought “oh shit” and are going to high tail it back home leaving everything in a mess behind them. Is that what you think should be done?

hairypalm?

No good is going to be done because the “leaders” that make all the decision have no intentions on doing good. I really dont think we are losing this war because of our governments plan, I think we are losing because that was our governments plan. The real war is on the American People and the Iraqi and Afghani people. We are all losing. The only people winning are the people pulling all the strings.

The Iraqi people want us to leave. Most of the attacks that happen lately come from Iraqis not “terrorists.” They do not want us there. Let them do what they are going to do to each other. They’ve been doing it forever anyway. We have enough things to worry about here.

well duh, nobody wants to have their country militarily invaded, anybody would fight back, we should have even been involved in the first place, at some points i notice america has been shooting itself in the foot

I do not feel any real effect from the War only that I don’t agree with it. But I mean I still sit here in my cozy home, unharmed. No one in my family is over there, or anything like that. War has changed, people are less effected by it these days, unless you are unfortunate enough to have a loved one over there. War is never starring us directly in the face any more, not enough to where we care. WW2 we were at constant work providing for the soldiers, Vietnam we were protesting and constantly exposed to live war news, the civil war was fought on american soil, along with the Revolutionary war. All wars that directly effected us in some way. Today you don’t see people really caring about the war at all. Unless its about them bashing Bush, or some other stupid reason. 9/11 was a smack in the face that encouraged American pride and then it died out just like a fad. Americans just don’t give a damn. I am truly sorry for those of you who do have loved ones over seas. It is a damn shame that we send men and women over there to die for what in my opinion is nothing. And that we should of never had to send them there in the first place.

I think i’m in love, lol, I completely agree with you basicly like i said on other topics of discussion, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.