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Unfit for War

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"Barbaric" is the word out of Iraq today. As in barbaric torture of two captured US soldiers, their unrecognizable bodies apparently recovered Monday night south of Baghdad, at the end of a road so booby-trapped with bombs it took twelve hours for a recovery team to work its way to the brutalized bodies.

This is hard for all Americans to hear. Hardest for soldiers in the field, where death and mayhem are daily companions. Most can take it. Some cannot.

A new report says a recruit-strapped US military is sending mentally unfit troops into the fray. Suicidal soldiers who are a danger to themselves, and to their fighting comrades.

Hear about the hell of war, the troubled minds of soldiers, and the conflict in Iraq.

Guests:

Scott Peterson, Reporter for the Christian Science Monitor

Matthew Kauffman, staff writer for the Hartford Courant and co-writer of an investigative series called "Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight"

Steven Robinson, Gulf War veteran and Director of Government Relations at Veterans for America in Washington D.C.

Ret. Command Sergeant Major Mike Lopez.

This program aired on June 21, 2006.

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