1/3 of Female Troops Victimized

According to a story by the AP, a soldier who filed for conscientious objector status, Robert Zabala, "...said he was troubled during boot camp in 2003 when a fellow recruit committed suicide and a superior used profanities to belittle the recruit. Zabala said he was "abhorred by the blood lust (the superior) seemed to possess," according to a 2006 court petition for conscientious-objector status."

"Another boot camp instructor showed recruits a "motivational clip" showing Iraqi corpses, explosions, gun fights and rockets set to a heavy metal song that included the lyrics, "Let the bodies hit the floor," the petition said. Zabala said he cried, while other recruits nodded their heads in time with the beat."

This is the inhumanity - the perpetrator mentality - that is cultivated to fight the war in Iraq. God help us - and these guys - when they all come home with no one to kill. Killing is probably the ultimate high for those who "enjoy" it.

Certainly the high alert under which they all live is the ultimate stimulus for the human nervous system and withdrawal symptoms from that "stimulus" - not to mention post traumatic stress syndrome - will make it difficult for all who fought in Iraq to adjust to peace.

As for women soldiers, add this on to their psychological burden: nearly 1/3 of females troops have been victims of rape or attempted rape by male American troops. Some have died of dehydration rather than risk venturing out of their barracks for water at night.

Rape of female troops is the ugliest elephant in the room that no one bothers to mention.

This debacle has gone on too long and has decimated too many lives. Just bring the troops home.

Now.