Consequence of artificial wars

I read about the trial of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales [“Methodical killer, or unhinged soldier?” page one, Nov. 14] and contemplated the apparently endless stream of soldiers like him and soldiers with PTSD (ignored) and soldiers who kill themselves or their spouses.

It became obvious that as long as we continue to send our young people into obscurely motivated, artificial wars comprehensible only to the politicians who think them up, and expect these people to suffer 24/7 misery, physical and mental mayhem, and violent death in the service of some cause they don’t understand, we’re going to find increasing numbers of damaged goods (and they seem to be considered by our leaders to be just that) among the survivors who come home, no longer useful and inconveniently expensive to heal.

— John Medlin, Seattle