News Analysis: June 25, 2009

With two wars still ongoing, one for more than seven years and counting, the stress and strain on our troops is deadly and well-known to anyone paying attention. So dire is the situation that Army leaders are struggling just to understand the record-level of suicides in their ranks. The toll is hazardous and heavy on our troops’ kids, too. We still have untreated combat veterans from earlier wars in desperate need of help. Recognizing there is a serious problem at hand, and a stigma still associated with its treatment, is an important step on the road to recovery.

Deployments of our troops continue, continue, continue.

US officials are downplaying the possibility of keeping troops in Iraqi cities beyond the June 30 withdrawal date, despite violence that has renewed tensions across Baghdad and beyond. US troops are preparing for a surge — in violence. Meanwhile, the US and its NATO partners in Afghanistan must make a “cultural shift” to win the raging war there, says the new US commander in Afghanistan.

A year-long ban on burn pits?

The wife of Vice President Joe Biden is heading to Europe to meet with our military families. Jill Biden will visit them at installations in Germany and France and spend the Fourth of July with them.

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