Epidemic Continues: Iraq Vet with PTSD Kills Self, Brother
Posted May 17, 2008 | 11:23 AM (EST)

The epidemic of suicides among veterans of the Iraq war with PTSD has become so common that I sat down to write about two news ones today and end up writing about an even more recent, and shocking, one. It involves a decorated vet who wrote about his PTSD for the Marine Corps Gazette-- and this week killed himself and his brother after a long police chase in Arizona.

Police have discovered no motive for the killings, nor why the brothers earlier in the week may have planned to commit suicide by driving into the Grand Canyon -- Thelma and Louise style.

Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs, 36, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993 and held the combat action ribbon -- and met President Bush a few weeks ago -- wrote a lengthy article in the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette detailing his efforts to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. He loved his country so much he named a daughter America, The Arizona Republic reports today.

His brother was Willard J. Twiggs, age 38.

Chimpy's economics: serf and nobility. About the only thing Bush and the GOP have succeeded at; destroying the American dream.

I guess the RNC doesn't have any money left after they all stole what the poor evil bastard 28% ers gave em for McFlippityflop. It is SOOOO FU(KING GREAT TO SEE THE GOP DIE RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES. And we can't even say "Oh the humanity" cause they had no humanity. They are empty power driven scumbags who need to be hug, one and all. I am done talking to these assholes, hang they high, and hang them fast, there are lots to go through.

CoIntelPro for Democratic Party Victory @ 5:

Prominent neoconservative site goes under.»

Eleven years ago, the neoconservative Project for a New American Century (PNAC) set out its statement of principles advocating the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, putting the country on the road to a preventative invasion of Iraq. Signatories included future Iraq war architects Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliott Abrams, as well as neoconservatives like Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan. From PNAC’s statement of foreign policy goals:

The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.

But just as the neocons are attempting to run from responsibility for the Iraq war, it appears PNAC may be abandoning its own website. Here’s the message that greets visitors to PNAC’s site:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

you are going to love it.

Whazzup, couldn't they pay the bill? More than likeky they can see the war crimes warrents written on the wall.

Like Bill Moyers says, Democracy in America Is a Series of Narrow Escapes, and We May Be Running Out of Luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y7OFLl3asg

OMG - McCain was just on SNL - it was awful. I nearly fell asleep. What the hell were they thinking?

Joshdavis @ 14:

OMG - McCain was just on SNL - it was awful. I nearly fell asleep. What the hell were they thinking?

I think he has been visiting C&L, and is in on the joke.
I 'v always had this sneaky suspicion he will endorse Obama just before november in an act of revenge against the Republicans.

CoIntelPro for Democratic Party Victory @ 5:

Prominent neoconservative site goes under.»

Eleven years ago, the neoconservative Project for a New American Century (PNAC) set out its statement of principles advocating the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, putting the country on the road to a preventative invasion of Iraq. Signatories included future Iraq war architects Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliott Abrams, as well as neoconservatives like Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan. From PNAC’s statement of foreign policy goals:

The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.

But just as the neocons are attempting to run from responsibility for the Iraq war, it appears PNAC may be abandoning its own website. Here’s the message that greets visitors to PNAC’s site:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

you are going to love it.

That IS funny! These Zionists are traitors, every one of them. And now we see they are cowards also.

ferrofluid @ 17:

SNL has come out of the closet and openly supports the Republicans now.

What the hell are you talking about? His appearance was awful.

Joshdavis @ 20:

ferrofluid @ 17:

SNL has come out of the closet and openly supports the Republicans now.

What the hell are you talking about? His appearance was awful.

SNL has come out of the closet AND THEY openly supports the Republicans now.

ferrofluid @ 21:

Joshdavis @ 20:

ferrofluid @ 17:

SNL has come out of the closet and openly supports the Republicans now.

What the hell are you talking about? His appearance was awful.

SNL has come out of the closet AND THEY openly supports the Republicans now.

I am watching SNL, and its like a young republican non comedy half hour

Gore Vidal says Hillary is insane, Obama is better than JFK because he is better educated and McCain is so stupid he came bottom of his class, and that when McCain walks, HIS HEAD RATTLES ON HIS BODY!!!!!!!!!!
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and...

Gas at close to $4.00 a gallon and the tourist season is approaching. Food prices are escalating and mortgage foreclosure are reaching the crisis stage. Are you better off now?

Ron @ 26:

Gas at close to $4.00 a gallon and the tourist season is approaching. Food prices are escalating and mortgage foreclosure are reaching the crisis stage. Are you better off now?

duuuuhh , at least we're safe from insergints and sharia law! freedom ain't free!! yeeeee hhawwww!

Where is Chimpy today? I hope he is not still in the Middle East. There's a full moon coming.

Ron @ 29:

ferrofluid @ 27:

Ron @ 26:

Gas at close to $4.00 a gallon and the tourist season is approaching. Food prices are escalating and mortgage foreclosure are reaching the crisis stage. Are you better off now?

You just know the guilty Repugs have their (stolen) wealth offshore and plane tickets at the ready.

I just hope the war crimes tribunals will be as persistant as they were against the Nazis.

I am sure they will be, only go after the low level worthless ones at least, sentence them to 30 years plus and release them after five years, as happened in Germany.
The useful Nazis found jobs with various western orgs after WW2.

Another church shooting. Another pointless suicide and murder from PTSD.

geneHUSSEIN214 @ 31:

I guess McClatchy Newspapers, like the rest of the corporate media, are on their way down the shitter. They used to be pretty solid in their criticism of the war (especially with old pros like Joe Galloway writing for them) but once they start running pieces like this, well, the game's pretty much up.

http://tinyurl.com/6kxjde

You read a story like this folks, and you really start to wonder if you've gone completely insane. You've gotta admit, it takes a special kind of degenerate personality (in other words, an American) to prattle on about "the trials and tribulations" of finding a good donut recipe when your average Iraqi has no food, no job, no water, and has probably had god only knows how many loved ones slaughtered. Now, I know every newspaper has to run the occasional bullshit "human interest" story, but this is just fucking obscene.

Ron @ 35:

geneHUSSEIN214 @ 31:

I guess McClatchy Newspapers, like the rest of the corporate media, are on their way down the shitter. They used to be pretty solid in their criticism of the war (especially with old pros like Joe Galloway writing for them) but once they start running pieces like this, well, the game's pretty much up.

http://tinyurl.com/6kxjde

You read a story like this folks, and you really start to wonder if you've gone completely insane. You've gotta admit, it takes a special kind of degenerate personality (in other words, an American) to prattle on about "the trials and tribulations" of finding a good donut recipe when your average Iraqi has no food, no job, no water, and has probably had god only knows how many loved ones slaughtered. Now, I know every newspaper has to run the occasional bullshit "human interest" story, but this is just fucking obscene.

They will be opening up fracises in Falluja and Afghanistan.

Their Iraqi staff bought fryers and mixers from stores in downtown Baghdad , off limits to the two of them and their Filipino chef, Joseph.
Joseph went to work.

Is it me or does this sound oh so very imperial and colonial.

ferrofluid @ 37:

Their Iraqi staff bought fryers and mixers from stores in downtown Baghdad , off limits to the two of them and their Filipino chef, Joseph.
Joseph went to work.

Is it me or does this sound oh so very imperial and colonial.

For me, it conjures up images of British Colonialism in Africa where, while tribes fought each other for the pathetic little patches of land left to them, their British overlords would be sitting on the verandah: "I say old chap, I do believe it is time for tea".

Well, I was kind of peeved at gas prices this weekend, so I set out to do some online based research to find out what's really going on out there.

It turns out this whole PR bullshit by Bush and the media is a total crock. They would have us believe that the reason prices are SO high is because there isn't enough supply.

Well, that was true back in the old days, i.e. before the year 2000. You see, in 2000 Bush signed a bill that essentially took the supply and demand regulation mechanism out of the picture and put the controls in the hands of speculators. It used to be that if someone wanted to trade oil stocks on the New York stock exchange they'd have to file their paperwork in the U.S. and not only would there be a paper trail, but those people would be bound by U.S. laws, taxes etc.. After 2000 the paper trail was gone. Traders could then buy and sell oil stocks electronically anywhere and anytime in the world.

It turns out that if this "loophole" is closed, then price control is taken away from speculators and put back in the hands of OPEC and the supply/demand paradigm.
That alone can cut the prices of crude oil by 60%.

Now, add to that the tanking dollar and the credit crunch, the mortgage crisis and the war in Iraq and we've got a good 70% or so of price hikes that could have been avoided.

Again, current gas prices have nothing to do with Peak Oil Production. I'm surprised that Obama keeps repeating the meme that we need to look for alternative fuel sources, when all we need to do is overturn a few Bush-era laws, withdraw from Iraq and start encouraging foreign investment in the U.S. so the economy can bounce back.

If the government follows all these steps we could start seeing gas prices bellow the $2/gal mark. Seriously.

P.S.: Don't look for McSham or Hillary to do anything about this. They're in the pockets of big oil, Exxon......etc.

Pelosi visits Iraq

That twofaced (Hillary and Obama) sketch/adv. on Saturday Night was kind've cool ... Two StanAwards to anyone who can tell me where they got that from ...

John Tighe @ 43:

We are so on the brink.

I recently became afraid that things might turn out like they did in the seventies. Carter came into office with a lot of hope after the psychotic Nixon reign, but he couldn't handle it and he made things worse by opening the door for Reagan, and the religious right.

I hope I am wrong.

Nixon is a saint compared to what we have now.

John Tighe @ 46:

We are so on the brink.

I recently became afraid that things might turn out like they did in the seventies. Carter came into office with a lot of hope after the psychotic Nixon reign, but he couldn't handle it and he made things worse by opening the door for Reagan, and the religious right.

I hope I am wrong.

obama isnt carter....and obama can learn from carter's mistakes

and here is the dif

nixon's foreign and domestic policies werent all that bad...sure, he set up the health care system we have now...but alot of the things he did domestically would hardly be called conservative

he also believed in diplomacy....and did listen as more voices came out against the vietnam war

nixon's prob was that he was a paranoid

he didnt have to run dirty tricks to win an election...he didnt have to bug his enemies...he didnt have to do the stuff he did to hold power...he just thought he did...it was part of his makeup...he was a crook, even when he didnt need to be

so carter coming in didnt really have to fix what nixon wrought...he just had to be honest...he just wasnt a good president

although, had reagan and then bush 1 not ripped the heart out of carter's energy plan, most of the probs we face today would have never occured

Obama is the same he just "claims" to be different. $266,097 in donations from oil company executives.

While pledging to turn down donations from lobbyists themselves, Sen. Barack Obama raised more than $1 million in the first three months of his presidential campaign from law firms and companies that have major lobbying operations in the nation’s capital.
Portraying himself as a new-style politician determined to reform Washington, Obama makes his policy clear in fundraising invitations, stating that he takes no donations from "federal lobbyists." He was returned $43,000 to lobbyists who donated to his campaign.
But the Illinois Democrat’s policy of shunning money from lobbyists registered to do business on Capitol Hill does not extend to lawyers whose partners lobby there.
Nor does the ban apply to corporations that have major lobbying operations in Washington. And the prohibition does not extend to lobbyists who ply their trade in such state capitals as Springfield, Ill.; Tallahassee, Fla.; and Sacramento, though some deal with national clients and issues.

"Clearly, the distinction is not that significant," said Stephen Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on campaign issues.
"He gets an asterisk that says he is trying to be different," Weissman said. "But overall, the same wealthy interests are funding his campaign as are funding other candidates, whether or not they are lobbyists."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBA017FZQRA

Uncle, I disagree with you when you say that Carter wasn't a good president. In fact, I predict that real history will reveal that he was one of our best presidents.

Stan "Bitter Hussein" Rosenthal @ 45:

That twofaced (Hillary and Obama) sketch/adv. on Saturday Night was kind've cool ... Two StanAwards to anyone who can tell me where they got that from ...

NBA promos.

Heh. Hiya Stanley! Good to see ya here.

It's good to be home, LL. :-)

For those that haven't gotten the answer to my trivia question, don't sweat it. "StanAwards" are worthless. ;-) I have the original (I think) that Saturday Night honored lastnight on my blog in this post -

http://tbsn.thesequencers.us/?p=182

LibertyLover @ 58:

uncle joe hussein mccarthy @ 54:

Wait. People actually read Playboy??????

Just for the articles!

CafeenMan, I think you drank 6 too many Red Bulls tonight. ;-)

CafeenMan @ 66:

lafin gas @ 63:

LibertyLover @ 58:

uncle joe hussein mccarthy @ 54:

Wait. People actually read Playboy??????

Just for the articles!

I'm kind of partial to the farm animal singles in the back.

I get it; you’re into animal husbandry!

It's nice to see that you guys are pissed off. Now lets see what you do with it. Back in 1993 Canada had a Conservative goverment and the most hated PM ever. We trashed them, they were left with 2 seats in Parliment because they had taken the Canadian people for granted.
Two other things I need to mention.
If this disneyland development tries to go ahead for baghdad,(I hope it's a joke and this guy is kidding) I hope AL-Sadr and his group blow this thing back to the stone age.(paraphrasing General Curtis LeMay)I find it insulting to the Iraqi people and their culture that someone would want to impose American culture on them in this fashion.
Next thing is what I saw on another blog
Someone suggested that the US opens up trade with Cuba so you'd have access to the oil that Canadian companies are currently pumping out of the ground. The oil that Sherritt pumps for the Cubans stays in Cuba and they burn it to provide electricity for the country. They import oil from king george's buddy Chavez for their cars and trucks. In return Cuba sends them doctors. So I don't think that would work as an idea for the US.

41 Buster Says:

--->>>If you want to read more about this, this is an excellent article (by, William Pfaff):

http://www.williampfaff.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=314

Excerpt: "As a general rule, the margin required to buy an oil futures contract is 10%. Pledge ten thousand dollars and buy a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of oil. Or why be a piker?: put up $100 thousand and buy a million-dollar contract. The price goes up one dollar five minutes later and you have made a million.

These are not transactions between producers and consumers, when the classical economic rules would function. These trades, unregulated, have virtually no useful economic role. They have become a form of parasitical professional gambling that distorts the transaction between producers and buyers.

President Köhler compared the speculative bankers with alchemists, who purported to make gold from dross. It is not a bad comparison, and our contemporaries have, thus far, done better than their medieval counterparts, who often ended burned at the stake. But the time may come."

uncle joe hussein mccarthy @ 54:

i would like to take a moment to note the passing of a great american artist, will elder, who died this week from a long bout with alzheimers.

That's so sad to hear. His cellmate Harvey Kurtzman also had alzheimers.

Intriguing, the Dallas County DA Henry Wade in a reply letter dated 20/04/64 to Mr. Donald J. Tobin,
says all the evidence against Oswald was take by the FBI then handed over to the Warren Commission.
And he agrees with Mr. Tobin comment that its a "whitewash" akin to the Roberts Commission on Pearl Harbor.
and like Krushchev investigating the Hungarian (56) revolution.
And also Wade says he came to this conclusion on the 24th November 1963...

From the Jack Ruby legal archives that were released in February and on the Dallas News website,
One gigabyte of scanned archives in PDF format.
The 'whitewash' letters are in 'Group 16' file is jfk79.pdf

Edwin Hussein the appeaser @ 76:

And bush "threatened" the Saudi King:

He asked Abdullah for an injection of oil supply to help ease the pain. "High energy prices are going to cause countries like mine to accelerate our move to alternative energy," he said he told the king.

I'm sure they all had a good laugh about that afterward, behind his back.

I hate Bush as much as the next sane person, but this comment is not an insult. It's the truth. Darwin, Economics, Human Nature all state the same thing. We are propelled to change when we perceive a threat. We don't like feeling threatened. So we change ourselves to a state where the threat isn't a threat any more.

When we have alternative energy, disappearing oil won't be a threat. We don't need it. Demand WILL go down. Some people will still use it but the dumbass panic everyone is doing now which is one reason the price is jacking up will be gone.

Bush is at his best when he tells the truth. He's more comfortable and we're more comfortable. Of course I'm basing that theory on this one unique time it happened.

The results from the Mississippi special election indicate that Rev. Wright may be the GOP's next Terry Schiavo.

GOP economic policy: Tax cut, spend and rebate!

While China reels with thousands dead from a natural disaster, how many thousands of Americans will die from a disaster inflicted upon us by the Wall Street few?

Foreclosures take an emotional toll on many homeowners

HOUSING PAIN ESCALATES: Foreclosures skyrocket 65% in April

By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY
On a brisk day last fall in Prineville, Ore., Raymond and Deanna Donaca faced the unthinkable: They were losing their home to foreclosure and had days to move out.

For more than two decades, the couple had lived in their three-level house, where the elms outside blazed with yellow shades of fall and their four golden retrievers slept in the yard. The town had always been home, with a lazy river and rolling hills dotted by gnarled juniper trees.

Yet just before lunch on Oct. 23, the Donacas closed all their home's doors except the one to the garage and left their 1981 Cadillac Eldorado running. Toxic fumes filled the home. When sheriff's deputies arrived at about 1 p.m., they found the body of Raymond, 71, on the second floor along with three dead dogs. The body of Deanna, 69, was in an upstairs bedroom, close to another dead retriever.

"It is believed that the Donacas committed suicide after attempts to save their home following a foreclosure notice left them believing they had few options," the Crook County Sheriff's Office said in a report.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-05-14-mortgage-forecl...

As Bill Moyers so succinctly put in his new book "Moyers on Democracy";

. . . the philosophy popularized in the last quarter century that "freedom" simply means freedom to choose among competing brands of consumer goods, that taxes are an unfair theft from the pockets of the successful to reward the incompetent, and that the market will meet all human needs while government itself becomes the enabler of privilege -- the philosophy of an earlier social Darwinism and laissez-faire capitalism dressed in new togs -- is as subversive as Benedict Arnold's betrayal of the Revolution he had once served.

More excerpts at DKos that should be read by all:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/18/01418/4079/968/517712

uncle joe hussein mccarthy @ 54:

i would like to take a moment to note the passing of a great american artist, will elder, who died this week from a long bout with alzheimers.

if you grew up on mad magazine, or snuck into your dads playboys to read little annie fannie, then you know of who i speak.

an absolutely brilliant satirist, there wasnt anything or anyone he would not poke fun at.

baruch dayan emes meshugana villy...i know right now you are probably cracking everyone up in heaven.

Will Elder wasn't just one of the funniest people of the 20th century. His work actually made you feel good to be alive. Kurtzman & Elder at the top of their game was simply one of the best things to happen to the world. No hyperbole.

Ruthless People @ 82:

Atilla the Hungry @ 79:

The results from the Mississippi special election indicate that Rev. Wright may be the GOP's next Terry Schiavo.

GOP governance over the past decade is the GOP's next Terri Schiavo.

I think both are scoring points.

Ron @ 27:

Gas at close to $4.00 a gallon and the tourist season is approaching. Food prices are escalating and mortgage foreclosure are reaching the crisis stage. Are you better off now?

It's a great republican economy. Especially for those 30,000 or so Bush family cronies who took every penny of the half-assed 4 year economic expansion under Chimpy. Now that they have stolen ALL the money, they just need to eliminate taxes, and we will have a full blown republican utopia on our hands.

Gretchen @ 84:

The bigger shock was the conversation after church. Many people in our fellowship who have been life-long Repubs admitted to voting for Bush twice, then went on to state they were ASHAMED at ever aligning themselves with that party or calling themselves part of the religious right. They said they felt that they had used and controlled (yes). People were very vocal about their regrets for ever supporting Bush, their fears of a McCain win and their disgust over the rampant law-breaking happening. One 65 year old man who has never voted for a non-repub candidate said he cannot believe he is living in an America that now condones torture and uses fear of terrorism as a way to control the masses. He and several others said they believe we are now living in a fascist state and the US has only a sham democracy. All believed our media is a propeganda machine and we no longer get real or accurate political or world news. They all were quite clear - they will never be single-party voters again and, for the time being, will not vote for a republican candidate at any level of government.

I'm hearing this more and more. To seriously upset lifelong straight-ticket voters you have to do something truly beyond the pale. The torture issue seems to have achieved this, as well as a host of other blatantly anti-American moves instigated by the Republicans in the face of almost no opposition from the Democrats.

The people long ago lost control of the two-headed beast known as the two party system. As bad as corruption of government is, it can be fixed. What is almost impossible to fix is the corruption of the people. It is the death-knell of any republic. For the first time in years I sense a coming back from the brink - but this is no cause for complacency. It should encourage everyone to speak out ever more loudly.

Keep church and state separate. Regulate the corporations. If they threaten to leave the country, good riddance! They've already outsourced most of the labor.

There is a man on a white horse - and his name is 'critical thinking'.

And Daniel is my favorite OT book.

Does everyone understand, concerning the so-called economic stimulus rebate, that if you are paying back taxes you will not get your rebate? The IRS takes it and applies it towards your balance with them. So, in effect, the government just wrote itself a huge check paid for by digging the debt hole a bit deeper. How much sense does that make?

I bring this up because I have yet to see anyone in the blogosphere or the MSM mention this fact.

truthseeker @ 93:

Does everyone understand, concerning the so-called economic stimulus rebate, that if you are paying back taxes you will not get your rebate? The IRS takes it and applies it towards your balance with them. So, in effect, the government just wrote itself a huge check paid for by digging the debt hole a bit deeper. How much sense does that make?

I bring this up because I have yet to see anyone in the blogosphere or the MSM mention this fact.

I had seen this on CNN only once, in a "Your Money" segment about a month ago. After that it was never mentioned again and I agree with you, it makes no sense. But what has the government done that made any sense in the past 7 years?

mudshark @ 94:

truthseeker @ 93:

Does everyone understand, concerning the so-called economic stimulus rebate, that if you are paying back taxes you will not get your rebate? The IRS takes it and applies it towards your balance with them. So, in effect, the government just wrote itself a huge check paid for by digging the debt hole a bit deeper. How much sense does that make?

I bring this up because I have yet to see anyone in the blogosphere or the MSM mention this fact.

Are you sure about this? I filed for 06 and 07 this year. Payed a small penalty for 06. My tax guy said my wife and I would be receiving the rebate check.

I'm positive. Read it on the IRS's website.

Q. I'm eligible for a payment but I still owe federal income tax from a prior year. Will my payment be reduced?

A. Yes. For this purpose, the stimulus payment is treated like any other tax refund. This means that part or all of your payment can be used to pay past-due federal or state income taxes or non-tax federal debt such as student loans and child support. If this occurs, you will receive a letter explaining how the stimulus payment was applied.

Let's say you owe $900 to the IRS. And you qualify for the $600 ESP rebate. The IRS will take the $600 leaving you with a $300 balance with them. In a different scenario, if you owe $400 to the IRS and qualify for the $600 ESP rebate, the IRS takes $400 of it and sends you $200 being your ESP rebate.

I'm currently paying on back taxes from '03 that are far above the $600 I should've gotten with my rebate. So the IRS will get all of mine and apply it towards my balance with them. This was one year before I got married and started filing jointly. So I spoke with my CPA about this and asked if the IRS would be able to take my wife's $600 rebate. He claims they should not be able to take it since the taxes I'm paying on are taxes against my name, one year before my wife came into the picture. But I've got a funny feeling the IRS is going to try and dick us around on this and take hers. You know how those thieves are. But my wife has no back taxes owed, so she [i]should[/i] get her $600. We'll see though.

This is great and should be required reading of all Americans. It boils down in 10 comic book style pages the economic miracle of the Bush years. Just one of his many legacies.

While I'm on my soapbox, just think
if we had sent the 82d Airborne, surrounded Bin Laden, and had his head on a pole?
if we had spent 3.5 trillion dollars of the American taxpayers' money on something useful, like energy independence? Talk about creating real wealth.

CoIntelPro for Democratic Party Victory @ 2:

Epidemic Continues: Iraq Vet with PTSD Kills Self, Brother
Posted May 17, 2008 | 11:23 AM (EST)

The epidemic of suicides among veterans of the Iraq war with PTSD has become so common that I sat down to write about two news ones today and end up writing about an even more recent, and shocking, one. It involves a decorated vet who wrote about his PTSD for the Marine Corps Gazette-- and this week killed himself and his brother after a long police chase in Arizona.

Police have discovered no motive for the killings, nor why the brothers earlier in the week may have planned to commit suicide by driving into the Grand Canyon -- Thelma and Louise style.

Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs, 36, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993 and held the combat action ribbon -- and met President Bush a few weeks ago -- wrote a lengthy article in the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette detailing his efforts to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. He loved his country so much he named a daughter America, The Arizona Republic reports today.

His brother was Willard J. Twiggs, age 38.

Travis was taking two psychiatric drugs during this time, an antidepressant and an anti-anxiety drug. These drugs are a contributing factor in the aggression, hostility, restlessness, sleeplessness, dissociation and other behaviors of stressed-and-depressed people. But of course that will never be addressed. Psych drugs are handed out like so many lollipops.

Robert59 @ 99:

This is great and should be required reading of all Americans. It boils down in 10 comic book style pages the economic miracle of the Bush years. Just one of his many legacies.

While I'm on my soapbox, just think
if we had sent the 82d Airborne, surrounded Bin Laden, and had his head on a pole?
if we had spent 3.5 trillion dollars of the American taxpayers' money on something useful, like energy independence? Talk about creating real wealth.

We could have had global fusion power in every country in the world for 3.5 trillion on R&D and setting up product plants.
just think about it, no more energy or much pollution worries, lots of people would love smallish and medium sized electric cars for local medium driving.

The government uses the casinos as a econmic barometer, they go into a casino on the strip around 9 pm and see all the money being laid down and think because people are having fun everything is hungy dory.