CAIRO, April 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) � The Pentagon is again coming under fire for smuggling soldiers wounded in Iraq back home under the cover of night to escape the public eye, a leading British newspaper reported on Sunday, April 10.
�[A cover-up] would fit in with everything else they have done. It would be part of an effort to keep the cost of this war away from the American public,� Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Operation Truth, a group set up for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, told The Independent.
�It is not surprising, but it is depressing. It should piss people off,� he added.
Record show that flights carrying American soldiers wounded or maimed in Iraq only arrive back home from Germany at night.
The media have also been prevented from photographing wounded soldiers when they arrive at hospital, according to the British daily.
American officials argue that the night flights are only the result of flight-scheduling pressures, not an attempt to cover up war casualties.
�Night-time arrivals are beneficial to the patient as they allow for a regular night of sleep and then for doctors in Europe to make the final determination on their ability to make the long flight,� said Lyn Kurkal, a hospital spokeswoman.
It is not even clear how many Americans have been injured since the start of President Bush's so-called war on terror.
The Pentagon says that around 12,000 troops have been evacuated from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq but the actual total of injured and wounded is believed to be closer to 25,000, according to The Independent.
Kept in Dark
Many American campaigners are accusing the administration of trying to cover up the actual casualities of the Iraq war.
�The American public has very limited information about the real impact of this war,� said Ellen Taylor, a spokeswoman for Code Pink, a peace group.
The group has been protesting outside the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, where the bulk of the wounded are taken.
�I think that a lot of information about this war is being kept from the public. That is what we are protesting about.�
In 2003, US President George W. Bush issued a presidential order banning the media from photographing the coffins of American troops killed in Iraq as they arrive back home.
�The entire Bush administration has been trying to keep the cost of this away from the public�, said Nancy Lessin of Military Families Speak Out, a group comprising relatives of US troops.
�The whole issue of casualties and the toll has been very much hidden.�