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Internal emails from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) turned over to a federal district court in San Francisco this week reveal that the agency's mental health unit saw a staggering 1,000 suicide attempts every month among veterans receiving government care last year. emails also indicated that among all US veterans, the VA was aware of a suicide rate of 6,570 per year, or 18 suicides every day on average.
This figure--which corresponds to the suicide estimate CBS News arrived at independently last fall and which VA officials vehemently contested--further underscores the social costs of the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. The emails also reveal the attitudes and policies of Bush administration and military officials regarding the suffering of veterans and the public's right to know.
Our veterans are killing themselves at a greater rate than they are killing insurgents in Iraq. 18 veterans commit suicide every day. Is it possible that we could lose more soldiers from suicide than from the actual conflict itself?
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