Unfit to fight in Iraq?
Report: US troops diagnosed with mental illness sent to combat areas. Also, FBI looking at soldiers with gang ties.
According to a recently published investigative report, US troops diagnosed as unstable are increasingly being kept in combat positions by using a combination of potent antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, but with minimal counseling or monitoring of their conditions.
The
investigation by
The Hartford Courant also found that despite a Congressional order which stipulates that the military assess the mental health of all troops being deployed, only one in 300 troops sees a mental health professional before leaving for Iraq.
These practices, which have received little public scrutiny and in some cases violate the military's own policies, have helped to fuel an increase in the suicide rate among troops serving in Iraq, which reached an all-time high in 2005 when 22 soldiers killed themselves - accounting for nearly one in five of all Army non-combat deaths.
The Courant's investigation found that at least 11 service members who committed suicide in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite exhibiting signs of significant psychological distress. In at least seven of the cases, superiors were aware of the problems, military investigative records and interviews with families indicate.
The paper also found that troops who had been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after their return from Iraq are being sent back into combat, because of troop shortages in Iraq. And in the second part of the
four-day series, the investigation discovered that several of the troops who killed themselves did so "within three months of being deemed
mentally fit and sent into combat."
In 2003, after the high suicide rate alarmed military officials, the military initiated a series of measures that they hoped would address the problem. But the Courant's investigation found that since 2003, and despite its promise to improve healthcare, "the military has increasingly sent, kept and recycled troubled troops into combat." As a result the current suicide rate is even higher than the 2003 rate which raised such alarm.
The Courant interviewed more than 100 military families and personnel and cited records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act for its stories.
The military's top mental health expert, Col. Elspeth Ritchie, acknowledged to the Courant that the shortage of US troops means that many soldiers diagnosed with PTSD are being recycled back into front-line positions.
"The challenge for us ... is that the Army has a mission to fight. And, as you know, recruiting has been a challenge," she said. "And so we have to weigh the needs of the Army, the needs of the mission, with the soldiers' personal needs."
Col. Ritchie also told the Courant that while the military works hard to prevent suicides, it's hard because every soldier has a weapon. Military commanders have the final say over whether a soldier is kept in a combat area.
According to the statistics given to the Courant by the military, the suicide rate in Iraq is about 20 per 100,000. By comparison, the adjusted
suicide rate in New York State in 2002 was 5.4. The suicide rate for the US per 100,000 people in 2002 was
14.6 for males and 3.4 for women, a combined rate of around 10 people per 100,000.
MSNBC says that suicide rates overall in the Army in 2005 reached
their highest levels since 1993. The overall suicide rate of the US Army has fluctuated from a high of 15.8 per 100,000 in 1985, to a low of 9.1 in 2001.
In the MSNBC story, military spokesman Col. Joseph Curtin said that while the military was not alarmed by the "slight increase," it takes suicide precaution very seriously.
"We have increased the number of combat stress teams, increased suicide prevention and training, and we are working very aggressively to change the culture so that soldiers feel comfortable coming forward with their personal problems in a culture where historically admitting mental health issues was frowned upon," Curtin said.
The news about the military placing unstable soldiers back into combat comes two weeks after the
Chicago Tribune reported that the FBI announced that it was investigating
connections between US soldiers and gangs in the Chicago area.
Of particular concern are reports that the Folk Nation, consisting of more than a dozen gangs in the Chicago area, is placing young members in the military in an effort to gather information about weapons and tactics, said FBI Special Agent Andrea Simmons, who is based in El Paso, Texas.
"Our understanding is that they find members without a criminal history so that they can join, and once they get out, they will have a new set of skills that they can apply to criminal enterprises," Simmons said. "This could be a concern for any law enforcement agency that has to deal with gangs on a daily basis."
The
Chicago Sun-Times reported May 1 that logos of the
Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings and Vice Lords, three of Chicago's most violent gangs, had been showing up in Iraq.
Military and civilian police investigators familiar with three major Army bases in the United States – Fort Lewis, Fort Hood and Fort Bragg – said they have been focusing recently on soldiers with gang affiliations. These bases ship out many of the soldiers fighting in Iraq.
"I have identified 320 soldiers as gang members from April 2002 to present," said Scott Barfield, a Defense Department gang detective at Fort Lewis in Washington State. "I think that's the tip of the iceberg."
Mr. Barfield alleges that military recruiters are being told "less than five tattoos is not an issue." More than five, an applicant has to sign a form saying that he is not a member of a gang. Barfield blames the problem on a military that's trying to make up for recruiting shortfalls.
Military spokesmen in Iraq say that the problem is not rampant, nor even significant, and that the graffiti around Baghdad was done by soldiers who only thought it looked cool. But the military does say in the past year they have opened 10 investigations in which signs of gang activity had been found. The military also said that being in a gang doesn't automatically disqualify a potential soldier because he or she might be looking to move away from that lifestyle to a more stable one in the military.
Also...
•
The great catastrophe (Guardian)
•
Condoleezza Rice at Boston College? I quit (Boston Globe)
•
Cheney pushed US to widen eavesdropping (New York Times)
•
Fired officer believed CIA lied to Congress (Washington Post)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Tom Regan
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