Special Forces Suicides Raise Questions

[NVMojo]

Well, Dick fucking Cheney is making a profit with Halliburton in Iraq so who cares if human beings are dying because of it????

DENVER (AP) - Chief Warrant Officer William Howell was a 15-year Army Special Forces veteran who had seen combat duty all over the world. Sgt. 1st Class Andre McDaniel was a military accountant. Spc. Jeremy Wilson repaired electronics.

They had little in common, other than having served in Iraq with the 10th Special Forces Group based at Fort Carson, Colo. They did not know each other, and they had vastly different duties.

Each, however, committed suicide shortly after returning home, all within about a 17-month period.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2005/oct/11/101106988.html

[NVMojo]

1. kick for Dick Cheney and Halliburton, maybe they can donate here!

[Bushknew]

2. Drugs

Laura Howell said she blamed Lariam, an Army-issued anti-malaria drug, for her husband's suicide. The drug's manufacturer, Roche Pharmaceuticals, says side effects can include anxiety, paranoia, depression, hallucinations and psychotic behavior.

Pogany, the soldier unhinged by the sight of a mangled corpse, also believes the drug played a role in his case.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. I blame knowing too much

the first batch of suicides right at the start of the Afghan War were all special ops soldiers from Fort Bragg. That is the unit that claims to have cornered bin Laden in the Tora Bora Mountains.

[KittyWampus]

3. Lariam, A New Anti-Malarial Drug Has Been Used On Special Forces

Lariam is new and linked to permanent changes in the brain.

Special force troops by definition do not snap. These guys are in special forces BECAUSE they are stable. Since getting Lariam, rather than the old, just as effective drug, a NUMBER of special force troops have snapped.

[Bushknew]

5. What's the name of the old drug and ...

How long has Lariam been used?

[mom cat]

7. Bush poisoned his own troops? Sounds like the actions of another

scoundrel who is on trial in Baghdad.

[KittyWampus]

12. Lariam is VERY new and I don't recall the old vaccine's name but it'd been

used without much consequence.

[FLSurfer]

15. Not to disregard your post. I know Larium is a dangerous

drug. But VERY new may be misleading. It has been around since the 80's.
I remember the name Chloroquinine or some such word for malaria prevention back in the old days.
Newer than Larium is Malarone. Much less side affects.
My only experience with these is that surfers commonly eat anti malaria drugs on trips to the tropics.
I used Larium in the Mid 90's on a trip to Panama and had a heck of an upset stomach for the entire trip.

[Peace Patriot]

4. My deepest condolences to those they have left behind! I am so sorry

for our failure as citizens to prevent this. I am so sorry for what these men must have gone through. And I am absolutely certain that, if the will of the people had been done, these deaths--and the many others--would not have happened.

Americans opposed this unjust war--and its policies of torture, indefinite detention and the slaughter of innocent civilian populations--from the beginning. 58% of the American people opposed this war BEFORE the invasion. Feb. '03. Across the board in all polls.

Yet our leaders did it anyway, in spite of overwhelming opposition. I think these leaders are illegitimate. I don't think there is any way that the American people "re-elected" them. And I think they are murderers--of these men, and of many others. And I hope that they will be held accountable, that justice will prevail, and that we, the people, will get our country back, and will act to insure that nothing else like this ever happens again.

And we have to start by getting back our right to vote--and throwing these election theft machines, manufactured and sold to the states by partisan pro-Bush companies, and run on SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code--into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

If we do nothing else to honor the dead from this war, let us do this! Let us restore our right to vote, and never let it happen again!

[Boomer]

8. Suicide rate comparison is dodgy

>> The Army says its overall suicide rate in 2003 was 12.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers, while the rate in the general U.S. population was 10.5 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... An Army surgeon general's report said the suicide rate among soldiers sent to Iraq and Kuwait in 2004 was 8.5 per 100,000. <<

The "general population" includes all mentally unbalanced individuals, angst-ridden hormonal teens, and the elderly facing debilitating or fatal illnesses.

A more valid comparison of suicide rates would be for healthy young adult men and women. I'm willing to be that the suicide rate for that group would be considerably less than the general population, and thus much less than the suicide rate for soldiers.

[KittyWampus]

10. Special Forces, by definition do NOT commit suicide. It's unheard of.

it simply doesn't fit their psychological profile.

[Bushknew]

13. Exactly, Peace Corps volunteers are coming forward saying ...

that over the past 12 years they suffered crippling paranoia, anxiety, hallucinations, memory loss, suicidal behavior and physical ailments from seizures to vision difficulty because of the drug handed out by government doctors to prevent malaria.

http://www.lariam-larium-side-effects.com/

[NVMojo]

14. I agree, cryingshame, the rate comparisons don't matter, this suicide

issue for this group is highly unusual. The drug issue makes sense but so does dealing with the horrors that the Bushco has pushed off on these people ...

[greendeerslayer]

9. Hardly Strange

Fanon wrote, "Colonial War and Mental Disorders," forty years ago.

[KittyWampus]

11. This isn't mental disorder brought on by stress. It's brain damage caused

by a anti-malarial drug.

[greendeerslayer]

16. who said anything about stress...

I'd say it has more to do with guilt.

[Delphinus]

17. Guilt?

I thought that was something Special Forces had beaten out of them. Or they were cold-hearted to begin with.