CAIRO,
April 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The Pentagon is again coming
under fire for smuggling soldiers wounded in Iraq back home under the
cover of night to escape the public eye, a leading British newspaper
reported on Sunday, April 10.
“[A
cover-up] would fit in with everything else they have done. It would
be part of an effort to keep the cost of this war away from the
American public,” Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Operation Truth, a
group set up for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, told The
Independent.
“It
is not surprising, but it is depressing. It should piss people off,”
he added.
Record
show that flights carrying American soldiers wounded or maimed in Iraq
only arrive back home from Germany at night.
The
media have also been prevented from photographing wounded soldiers
when they arrive at hospital, according to the British daily.
American
officials argue that the night flights are only the result of
flight-scheduling pressures, not an attempt to cover up war
casualties.
“Night-time
arrivals are beneficial to the patient as they allow for a regular
night of sleep and then for doctors in Europe to make the final
determination on their ability to make the long flight,” said Lyn
Kurkal, a hospital spokeswoman.
It
is not even clear how many Americans have been injured since the start
of President Bush's so-called war on terror.
The
Pentagon says that around 12,000 troops have been evacuated from the
battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq but the actual total of injured
and wounded is believed to be closer to 25,000, according to The
Independent.
Kept
in Dark
Many
American campaigners are accusing the administration of trying to
cover up the actual casualities of the Iraq war.
“The
American public has very limited information about the real impact of
this war,” said Ellen Taylor, a spokeswoman for Code Pink, a peace
group.
The
group has been protesting outside the Walter Reed military hospital in
Washington, where the bulk of the wounded are taken.
“I
think that a lot of information about this war is being kept from the
public. That is what we are protesting about.”
In
2003, US President George W. Bush issued a presidential order banning
the media from photographing the coffins of American troops killed in
Iraq as they arrive back home.
“The
entire Bush administration has been trying to keep the cost of this
away from the public”, said Nancy Lessin of Military Families Speak
Out, a group comprising relatives of US troops.
“The
whole issue of casualties and the toll has been very much hidden.”
