One in Five

In 2005 twenty-two US soldiers killed themselves in Iraq, making suicide the cause of one in five non-combat deaths of US soldiers last year. This is directly linked to a recruitment crunch forcing the Army to ignore little things like severe mental illness.

The dearth of young American boys willing to plunge themselves into the meat-grinder of Iraq has also led to terrifying recruitment abuses, such as the recruiter who told one teenager he'd be jailed for backing out of a meeting, and the severely autistic boy recruited for the dangerous cavalry scout job. One potential recruit trying to back out was even threatened with a firing squad.

At the same time as one general after another has retired and immediately called for secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to resign for incompetence, among the troops on the ground in Iraq, 72% say the US should exit Iraq within the year.

If the American people really want to support the troops they can bring them home rather than continue feeding them into the hungry maw of the neo-con's imperial ambitions.