Indigenous Soldier Body Count

I have read and re-read War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2003, Anchor Books), by Chris Hedges. This book is a must read for all Indigenous Peoples. Much of what he writes should haunt all of us who are seduced by war's intoxication. Two passages in his book should be especially disturbing to many of our tribal communities that have been socially, politically, economically, and intellectually pushed to the margins of this (American) society and forced to find meaning through the enterprise of war:

"The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living. Only when we are in the midst of conflict does the shallowness and vapidness of much of our lives become apparent. Trivia dominates our conversations and increasingly our airwaves. An war is an enticing elixir. It gives us resolve, a cause. It allows us to be noble. And those who have the least meanilng in their lives...are all susceptible to war's appeal (pp. 3-4).

"The myth of war rarely endures for those who experience combat. War is messy, confusing, sullied by raw brutality and an elephantine fear that grabs us like a massive bouncer that comes up from behind. Soldiers in the moments before real battle weep, vomit, and write letters home, although these are done more as a precaution than from belief. All are nearly paralyzed with fright (p. 38)."

The following passage in Hedge's recent essay, The Death Mask of War, illuminates the voices of the Indigenous soldiers that have have been killed and wounded in the U.S.-led war against Iraq:

"Prophets are not those who speak of piety and duty from the pulpit - few people in pulpits have much worth listening to - but it is the battered wrecks of men and women who return from Iraq and speak the halting words we do not want to hear, words that we must listen to and heed to know ourselves. They tell us war is a soulless void. They have seen and tasted how war plunges us to barbarity, perversion, pain and unchecked orgy of death. And it is their testimonies alone that have redemptive power to save us from ourselves."

Chris Hedges, The Death Mask of War (AdBusters, July/August, Vol 15, 4)


IRAQ: U.S. Deaths By Ethnicity

The latest (June 20, 2007) overall bodycount for all U.S. soldiers is 3,525 (an additional 6 deaths are pending confirmation by the Department of Defense for a total of 3,531.

Iraq Casuality Coalition Count reports the following deaths in Iraq up to June 6, 2007:

American Indian/Alaska Native......................37 (1.06%)
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander................37 (1.06%)
Asian...................................................50 (1.43%)
African American....................................332 (9.49%)
Hispanic or Latino...................................376 (10.75%)
Multiple races, pending, or unknown................58 (1.66%)
White............................................... 2,608 (74.56%)

Total......................................................3,498


(http://www.icasualties.org/oif/ETHNICITY.aspx)

Happy Father's Day

National Public Radio reports that twenty-five percent of the soldiers returning from war in the Middle East are suffering from mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Only forty percent are seeking treatment. No breakdown by age, race, socioeconomic status was given.

One marker that may indicate how Indigenous soldiers are faring in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars comes from the Matsunaga Project which assessed the readjustment experiences of American Indian, Japanese American, and Native Hawaiian veterans of the Vietnam War. This particular study found that Native Hawaiian and American Indian Vietnam in-country veterans had relatively high levels of exposure to war zone stress and high levels of PTSD. About one in three American Indian Vietnam veterans who served in-country suffered from full or partial PTSD at the time of the study, a quarter century or more after the war. More than two in three American Indian Vietnam veterans suffered from full or partial PTSD sometime since Vietnam. PTSD prevalence for American Indians is very high, more than twice as high as for White or Japanese American Vietnam veteran's.

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/fact_shts/fs_native_vets.html?opm=1&rr=rr40&srt=d&echoor=true