Iraq

Iraq vets reporting high rates of stress

The Army's first study of the mental health of troops who fought in Iraq found that about one in eight reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.

The survey also showed that less than half of those with problems sought help, mostly out of fear of being stigmatized or hurting their careers.

The survey of Army and Marine combat units was conducted a few months after their return from Iraq or Afghanistan last year. Most studies of past wars' effects on mental health were done years later, making it difficult to compare the latest results with those from the Vietnam or Persian Gulf wars, said Dr. Charles W. Hoge, one of the researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Of particular concern, he said, is that troops with problems are not seeking care.

The study is published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

Once called shell shock or combat fatigue, posttraumatic stress disorder can develop after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, feelings of detachment, irritability, trouble concentrating and sleeplessness.

Dr. Matthew J. Friedman, executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, said it is remarkable to have the study's results while there are still troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he said he believes the estimates are conservative.

"I'm not an alarmist, but I think this is a serious problem. It may be worse just because of the nature of the war," he said, citing extended tours of duty and the change of mission from liberation to occupation.

WASHINGTON - It could be a long weekend for thousands of former soldiers.

The Army says it will begin notifying more than 5,600 of those soldiers next week that they are being involuntarily recalled to active duty and could be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan as early as this fall.

"There's going to be soldiers who, yes, will be shocked," said Col. Debra A. Cook, commander of the Army's Human Resources Command and the final arbiter of petitions for exemption.

Most of the former soldiers recently left the Army as truck drivers, mechanics, supply clerks, administrative clerks or combat engineers. All will be kept on active duty for at least 18 months but not longer than two years. The first formal notifications are due to arrive in mailboxes on Tuesday. The callup will be done in three increments from July to December.

WASHINGTON - The first in a series of audits of the Coalition Provisional Authority that governed Iraq for months after the U.S.-led invasion found lax oversight that cost millions of dollars and may have affected reconstruction.

Among the findings in the three audits, released this week, were that the CPA did not have an accurate count of civilian personnel assigned to its operations in Baghdad and that it failed to exercise oversight of housing and work arrangements at a hotel in Kuwait under a contract with a Halliburton Co. subsidiary.

BAGHDAD - Once again the American flag flies beside the U.S. Embassy in Iraq - just not too high.

In a brief, highly secure ceremony Wednesday beneath a searing sun, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, presided over the embassy's official reopening, 13 years after it closed on the eve of the Gulf War.

And in Washington, in a show of independence even from American liberators, two Iraqi diplomats raised the country's traditional Arab red, white and black flag Wednesday over their reopened embassy - rather than a new flag that the U.S. occupying authority had chosen.

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