On the news last night, it was reported that at least 17, but maybe as many as 24, soldiers have taken their own lives in Iraq.
I was confused. How do you "ballpark" suicides?
I ran across this story on the TruthOut site (it was originally published by the Associated Press):
http://truthout.org/docs_03/112403D.shtml
An excerpt:
At Least 17 U.S. Troops Have Committed Suicide in Iraq; Army Seeks Answers
By Randall Richard
The Associated Press
Saturday 22 November 2003
Rebecca Suell wants answers, and not the ones the U.S. Army is giving her.
Why does the Army keep calling the last letter her husband sent to her, the one he mailed from Iraq on June 15, a suicide note? Can taking a bottle of Tylenol really kill you? And how did he get his hands on a bottle of Tylenol in the middle of the desert anyway?
The questions may differ, but experts say the desperate search for answers - and the denial - are usually the same.
Since April, the military says, at least 17 Americans - 15 Army soldiers and two Marines - have taken their own lives in Iraq. The true number is almost certainly higher. At least two dozen non-combat deaths, some of them possible suicides, are under investigation according to an AP review of Army casualty reports.