Patty Murray: “we are now 5\1/2\ years into the war in Iraq. We have been at war longer now than we fought in World War II, and we are…”

“we are now 5\1/2\ years into the war in Iraq. We have been at war longer now than we fought in World War II, and we are creating hundreds of new veterans each and every year. Yet, too often, what we have seen is that this administration has failed to acknowledge the price our veterans and their families are paying in service. From the shameful conditions at Walter Reed Hospital a year ago, and VA facilities across the country, to a lack of mental health counselors, to a benefit claims backlog of months and sometimes years for our veterans, our veterans have had to struggle to get the basic care they were promised. And now, just this week, in the last few days, we got more evidence that this administration has been covering up the extent of the toll this war has taken on our troops. Internal e-mails that became public in a court hearing showed that the VA has vastly downplayed the number of suicides and suicide attempts by veterans in the last several years. Last November, an analysis by CBS News found that over 6,200 veterans had, sadly, committed suicide in 2005. That is an average of 17 a day. When they were confronted then, the VA said: Oh, no, no, no, those numbers are much lower than that. Now we find that according to internal e-mails from the VA's head of mental health, Dr. Ira Katz, 6,570 veterans actually committed suicide in 2005, an average of 18 a day.…”