Brain injuries in Iraq shows 'unseen wounds of war'

(30 Jan 2020) The spotlight on brain injuries suffered by American troops in Iraq this month is an example of America's episodic attention to this invisible war wound, which has affected hundreds of thousands over the past two decades but is not yet fully understood.

  

Unlike physical wounds, such as burns or the loss of limbs, traumatic brain injuries aren’t obvious and may take time to diagnose. The full impact may not be evident for some time, as studies have shown links between TBI and mental health problems. They cannot be dismissed as mere “headaches” - the word used by President Donald Trump as he said the injuries suffered by the troops in Iraq were not necessarily serious.

The VFW called on Trump to apologize for his “misguided remarks.”

The Pentagon says 50 service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury caused by the Jan. 8 Iranian missile attack on an air base in Iraq where U.S. and coalition troops had taken cover in advance. The toll could rise still further. No one was killed in the attack, which was an Iranian effort to avenge the killing of Qassem Soleimani, its most powerful general and leader of its paramilitary Quds Force, in an American drone strike in Baghdad.

The Pentagon did not announce the first confirmed cases until more than a week after the Iranian attack; at that point it said there were 11 cases. The question of American casualties took on added importance at the time of the Iranian strike because the degree of damage was seen as influencing a U.S. decision on whether to counterattack and risk a broader war with Iran. Trump chose not to retaliate, and the Iranians then indicated their strike was sufficient for the time being.

The arc of attention to TBI began in earnest, for the U.S. military, in the early years after it invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple President Saddam Hussein. His demise gave rise to an insurgency that confounded the Americans with crude but devastatingly effective roadside bombs. Survivors often suffered not just grievous physical wounds but also concussions that, along with psychological trauma, became known as the invisible wounds of war.



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