[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6755]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, those who support our occupation of Iraq 
often justify it by saying that there will be a terrible humanitarian 
crisis if our troops leave. They must have missed the memo about the 
humanitarian crisis that already exists in Iraq. And they must be blind 
to the humanitarian crisis that goes on every day right here in America 
because of the occupation.
  Last week, the Rand Corporation issued a shocking report which 
measured the crisis at home. The report found that 300,000 troops who 
have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic 
stress disorder or major depression; that's about 20 percent of all the 
troops who have been deployed. The numbers are truly staggering, but 
when you add all the family members who are affected, you realize that 
we will never be able to calculate the full human toll of the Iraq 
invasion.
  Mr. Speaker, the study was the first complete analysis of PTSD and 
depression problems. It should have been conducted by our government, 
our government, which, by the way, has the greatest responsibility for 
the care of our veterans, but it wasn't. It was conducted by the Rand 
Corporation, a private, nonprofit organization. The codirector of the 
report said one of the reasons that RAND did the study was because the 
Pentagon didn't, and they wanted to have the numbers. It is outrageous 
that our own Department of Defense didn't know how many of our veterans 
were suffering from PTSD and from major depression. How did our 
government expect to address this health crises if it didn't know the 
full extent of it?
  This is another example, Mr. Speaker, of the administration failing 
our troops. But it's hardly the only example. Over 125,000 veterans of 
the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are on disability for hearing loss 
and other hearing problems. One of the chief reasons is the Pentagon's 
failure to fully anticipate the problem of road-side bombs. The blasts 
from these bombs cause violent changes in air pressure that can rupture 
the eardrum and break bones inside the ear.
  And most tragically, we are learning that the government may be 
trying to cover up the problem of suicide among veterans. In a trial 
that opened yesterday, two organizations are suing the Department of 
Veterans Affairs for failing to provide adequate care to prevent 
suicides among veterans. An e-mail written by the head of the Mental 
Health Services for the VA was shown at that very trial. The e-mail 
referred to approximately 1,000 veterans under the VA's care who 
attempt suicide every month. And the memo said, ``Shhhh! Is this 
something we should carefully address ourselves in some order of press 
release before someone stumbles on it?'' This is incredible. The 
Veterans Administration is trying to figure out whether to hide the 
truth from the American people about the extent of the suicide problem 
among our veterans. What a disgrace.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a solemn duty to care for our veterans, to honor 
them for their sacrifice, and the best way to honor those who have been 
injured is to make certain that more aren't injured. That means we must 
responsibly redeploy our troops out of Iraq. And it means we must get 
on with the task of helping the people of Iraq to rebuild their lives 
and their country, and healing the wounds of our veterans right here at 
home. The administration will not do it. It is up to Congress to do it.
  We owe it to our veterans, to the American people, to the Iraqi 
people. And Mr. Speaker, we owe it to ourselves.

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