Where have all the soldiers gone?

"The wounding of prominent ABC journalist Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt on Sunday underscored the great dangers confronted daily by journalists trying to keep the world informed about Iraq." So begins an article from INSI, Brussels.

No doubt that Iraq is the most deadly place on Earth for journalists these days. What has happened to Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt is tragic. But Iraq is also a very bad place for American GI's, too, not to mention Iraqis. But unfortunately, unless GIs get killed in action and graduate to "statistic status", i.e., a number that becomes another one that gets reported in the daily death toll, they are forgotten.

Those "only suffering" wounds from a IED, ambush, suicide bomber, etc. that result in head traumas, blindness, amputation, etc. go unaccounted for. They become invisible. But as with Woodruff and Vogt, many of our troops weekly suffer similar wounds, are evacuated to Germany and never heard of again. They simply vanish, precisely as the Bush administration would prefer it.

That's where my real interest in this story is piqued, because in Woodruff and Vogt we will witness the progress and processes which many, many Americans experience after they've "vanished".