Obama's new strategy will leave Iraq to be responsible

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

By August 31, 2010 the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will end.

Today at a Press Conference held at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, President Obama addressed his new strategy to end the war in Iraq.

President Obama said that his new strategy would end the war by working on transitioning Iraqis to full responsibility. “To achieve that goal, we will work to promote an Iraqi government that is just, representative, and accountable, and that provides neither support nor safe-haven to terrorists...America’s men and women in uniform, so many of you, fought block by block, province by province, year after year, to give the Iraqis this chance to choose a better future. Now, we must ask the Iraqi people to seize it.”

The first part of Obama’s strategy is to responsibly remove our combat brigades from Iraq. “As we carry out this drawdown, my highest priority will be the safety and security of our troops and civilians in Iraq.” Obama said that once the U.S. has removed combat brigades the next mission is to change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government and its security forces. “As I have long said, we will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping, and advising Iraqi security forces as they remain non sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq.”

The second part of the strategy is to sustain diplomacy between U.S. and Iraq but Obama stated that since Iraq is a sovereign country, America cannot, and should not, take their place. “Diplomacy and assistance is also required to help the millions of displaced Iraqis. These men, women and children are a living consequence of this war and a challenge to stability in the region, and they must become a part of Iraq’s reconciliation and recovery.”

The third part of the strategy would be to help establish productive and normalized relationships with the Middle East region. “Going forward, the United States will pursue principled and sustained engagement with all of the nations in the region, and that will include Iran and Syria.”

Obama also spoke about working on the United States’ relationship with Iraq as well. “Our nations have known difficult times together. But ours is a bond forged by shared bloodshed, and countless friendships among our people. We Americans have offered our most precious resource, our young men and women, to work with you to rebuild what was destroyed by despotism...The United States pursues no claim on your territory or your resources...Going forward we can build a lasting relationship founded upon mutual interests and mutual respect as Iraq takes its rightful place in the community of nations.”

Obama went on to honor U.S. soldiers for their sacrifice and talked about implementing a 21st century GI Bill, and identifying and treating wounds of the war like post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury that many soldiers endure after. “Your sacrifice should challenge all of us, every single American, to ask what we can do to be better citizens.”

Afghan Journal: Psychology in the field

Talk Radio News Service Embedded Correspondent Richard Miller interviews Captain Shanda Smith, a staff psychiatrist with the Combat Stress Unit out of Bagram Air Force Base, about the psychological stress sustained in combat and post traumatic stress disorder. (15:04)

Senate Committee review on Veteran's Disability Compensation

At the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs review of Veteran's Disability Compensation: Expert Work on PTSD and Other Issues, the purpose of the hearing was to hear recommendations on how the VA Disability system can be improved, since the current system is outdated, burdensome, and fails to address many issues.

Ranking Member Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) said that under his bill, the Veterans Mental Health Treatment First Act, there would be a wellness stipend while the veterans were waiting for treatment, and all the veteran would have to do is hold off on the rating claims. This emphasizes wellness as opposed to claiming disability. The current system, he said, does not keep pace with society and understanding disabilities. The rating schedules have not been updated in six decades, and promoting rehabilitation is a main goal, since there are young men and women returning from war that cannot return to work. Returning to the workforce, Burr said, should be the main goal of the VA, and this may require a large upfront cost.

Dr. Joyce McMahon, PhD, Managing Director, Center for Health Research and Policy, said survey results suggest that the relationship between compensation and medical treatment for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) showed through a series of indirect questions virtually no evidence for veterans to avoid treatment from fear of losing their benefits. In respect to evaluating the quality of life for veterans, they also did surveys of veterans and found that the degree of disability was in decline. With primary mental disabilities, they found there to be low physical quality of life as well.

Dr. Dean G. Kilpatrick, PhD, Director, National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, said testimony showed that doctors were limited in their ability to take a lengthy exam of persons diagnosed with PTSD, and therefore were not able to have a thorough evaluation. Currently, Kilpatrick said, the same sets of criteria are used to evaluate all sorts of mental disorders, and that means that the criteria are crude and outdated. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) used by mental health professionals needs to be utilized.

The research team concluded that it is not appropriate to have an "across the board" evaluation of veterans with PTSD but should be done on a case by case basis. The evaluations should be timely, and there is no justification to single out and stigmatize veterans with PTSD by reevaluating them every two to three years. One of the disadvantages to reevaluation is cost, and if it was decided to do regular reevaluations, it should not be done until the resources are available to do a more thorough evaluation.

In response to a question, Kilpatrick said there is lore out there that veterans that get compensation have no incentive to seek treatment because there is no reason to get better. Research showed, he said, that some veterans may seek treatment because at a higher level of disability, they get better options for treatment.