Some months ago, McChrystal noted ‘We’ve killed so many innocent civilians’; and, the killing of civilians has continued month after month. 

During months of agonizing closed-door ‘analysis and reflection’, we’re asked to believe neither Obama nor any General said:

“We’re entering an insurgency, fewer than a dozen of our men and women speak the language, fewer than that know anything of the culture,  we’ll be going directly into citizens’ homes, farms and villages, we’ll be heavily armed with high-tech lethal weapons, and we wont be able to tell friend from foe. What do you think the chances are that we’ll be killing innocent civilians?” 

If no one considered these things, then brain damage among the military apparently begins at the top, and the brain damage reported by our combatants is a consequence of the brain damage at the upper-most levels.

May our perpetual war machine grind to a halt (or at least a pause) before more men, women and children are harmed on all sides.

“There’s no reason for us not to try to diagnose it.”

That just does not ring true:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-03-17-tbi_N.htm

For more than two years, the Pentagon delayed screening troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because officials feared veterans would blame vague ailments on the little-understood wound caused by exposure to bomb blasts, says the military’s director of medical assessments.
Air Force Col. Kenneth Cox said in an interview that the Pentagon wanted to avoid another controversy such as the so-called Gulf War syndrome. About 10,000 veterans blamed medical conditions from cancer to eczema on their service

“Our troops and veterans deserve action to improve screening and detection of traumatic brain injuries,” Tom Rooney, R-Fla., and Michael E. McMahon, D-N.Y. said in a joint press release.

The question of brain damage extends upward in the military to very highest ranks. Consider the following.

Two months ago, General McChrystal stated, ‘We’ve killed so many innocent civilians.’ 

Before the decision was made to send more troops into Afghanistan, McChrystal and other top US military men met for weeks with President Obama. During months of agonizing closed-door ‘analysis and reflection’, we’re asked to believe neither Obama nor any General said “We’re entering an insurgency, fewer than a dozen of our men and women speak the language, fewer than that know anything of the culture,  we’ll be going directly into citizens’ homes, farms and villages, we’ll be heavily armed with high-tech lethal weapons, and we wont be able to tell friend from foe. What do you think the chances are that we will be facing continued guerilla warfare and civilian insurgency, similar to Iraq, and that our men will continue to be placed in untenable situations in a losing effort, similar to Iraq?”

That know one considered these things, that our men and women continue have their lives sacrificed for nothing, and that Congress holds hearings to determine whether the incidence of brain damage is taken seriously by the military indicates the extent to which brain damage affects no only in our military, but in our civilian leadership.

I am 70% disabled from Vietnam, combat injuries, malaria, & PTSD. I feel for the many young men & women who have TBI in addition to other devastating combat injuries, or PTSD. The military has been treated like a kleenex by the Bush-Cheney Regime. There’s no way they could have cared about the miltary (Army & Marine Corps, particularly), to have sent so many to multiple tours.
  I hope that in the future, Congress, and in particular, the people, demand that Congress declare war the next time a President says we should go off and fight the next enemy. And, contrary to others, I believe a renewed Draft, w/no deferments, would once again neutralize all but the most egregious reasons for going to war.
  The Draft may have brought it’s own fair share of unqualified men into the military, but on the other hand, the Draft ALSO brought in a number of men (hopefully, in the future, and women) into the service who were NOT activated by the gung-ho,
let’s fight, fight, fight mentality that some in the all-volunteer military have.
  Defense of one’s country should be a common form of duty that every American has. This could be combined with Universal Service. But, when the need for more men & women to be assigned to the military, that should be the driver. In this way,
we will all be forced to examine war much more closely.
    Those who have PTSD, or permanent medical or emotional issues will struggle with them the rest of their lives. The politicians and their supporters who call for war when they know they’ll never serve, should understand that those days are over.
    Failure to enact such legislation will lead us down the same roads all other “empires” have gone. I’ve gone from seeing the last remnants of the Spanish-American War veterans, as well as WW I vets, @ VA hospitals, to seeing veterans from Panama; Grenada; the Gulf War; and now, the Iraq & Afghanisan Wars as well. There’s something very depressing to see such a new, mangled wave of American youth walking into VA hospitals & clinics from “the most recent war.”
    America needs to take a hard look @ what it does when it sends men & women to fight.