The Bad - Michael Moss at The New York Times
The Ugly - Andrew Bast at Newsweek
And the Hero - Rich Shapiro at The New York Daily News
Comments
I really don't understand how people manage to get paid to write the type of crap that Bast wrote at the Newsweek link.
<em>"It's hard to draw too many conclusions right now..."</em>
But that won't stop him from doing so.
<em>"... the stress of combat has affected so many soldiers individually that it makes it increasingly difficult for the military as a whole to deploy for wars abroad."</em>
Evidence? Any units delay their flights due to combat stress? Something else? This is quite an assertion to just throw out there without support.
<em>"But the accusations against him can't help but bring to mind the violence scarring military bases all over the country after the duration of two long, brutal wars."</em>
The accusations against him: mass murder and possible religious motivation. This conjures up thoughts of combat stress? Who swapped out my motrin with crazy pills?
<em>"Some studies report that as many as a third of returning soldiers suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder..."</em>
Find me a claim that cannot be backed up by "some studies." And while we're at it, how broadly does this unnamed "study" define PTSD? I think, technically, I have PTSD according to "some studies."
<em>"'No one comes home from war unchanged,' says the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America."</em>
Now <em>there's</em> an organization <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&ad… an agenda</a> (more about <a href="http://www.blackfive.net/main/2008/10/time-for-honest.html">their founder</a>). The only citation in the piece comes from a talking point from an organization whose founder jumped head first into the Kerry campaign almost as soon as he got off the plane from Iraq.
<em>"... it isn't much of a leap to argue that to further tax our military would do as much as anything to guarantee that the homegrown terror on display today could well repeat itself in the future."</em>
It's not??? Then please explain this simple segue.