Army Specialist - Kills Self After Refusing To Be A Torturer In Iraq

[kpete]

Mystery Solved: Alyssa Killed Self Rather than Be a Torturer
by Erin in Flagstaff
Wed Nov 01, 2006



In 2003 a young soldier died in Iraq, but there was a mystery. Alyssa Peterson was a local Flagstaff girl who was one of our first war fatalities. Alyssa was also best friend to the daughter of one of my friends. We talked about what could have happened. She was shot with a service rifle. Was it murder or suicide? What happened? Well finally someone searched for an answer.

Army specialist Alyssa Peterson was an Arabic speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at the Tal-afar airbase in far northwestern Iraq near the Syrian border....Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed.

God, I hate these people. So what happened to her?

Instead she was assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards. She was sent to suicide prevention training. But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/knau/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=989178

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/1/92645/0789

[acmavm]

1. So sad. I wonder though, did she really committ suicide or did

anyone worry that she might have spilled the beans about what happened in that prison.

Good grief am I jaded or what? I suspect my government capable of the vilest crimes imaginable. Mainly because it is.

[pooja]

3. This is so true... look at what they are doing to military bloggers..

[Mabus]

You are not the only one

Talk about jaded, I sometimes wonder if some of the bodies turning up around Baghdad were put there by us after we tortured them to death.

[lazyriver]

6. I hate to think that way too but...

it seems like it would be quite difficult to shoot oneself with a rifle. It's only small consolation, but at least she died while standing up for herself and real American principles and values. She refused to be part of something evil and for that is a real hero.

[earth mom]

35. Something smells about this story...

or maybe I'm jaded too....

[spag68]

2. Everything about this war

just makes me sad. Sad that we are even there and sad that so many still believe that it is still "right".

[wryter2000]

4. K&R

I'm speechless. :cry:

[Solly Mack]

5. In tears. Please, please, America - don't allow Bush to get away with this

Please.

[TygrBright]

33. blivet & co will not get away with this...

...although we must put aside the need to SEE them get what's coming to them, revel in it, and be satisfied by justice being done.

Aside from any metaphysical concepts about karma and divine justice, etc., it takes only an examination of the case histories from America's prisons and mental hospitals to see what happens to those who commit, incite, and command others to commit evil: They lose the ability to take real pleasure in life, to love and be loved, to rejoice in the simple human interactions and the subtle perceptions of natural goodness. It is a slow killing process that leaves them dry, bitter, and unfulfilled no matter how much they get their own way. They get what they want and then discover when they have it that it is worthless.

It doesn't have the grand Miltonion satisfaction of publicly-inflicted punishment from an exterior source, but it is far more thorough, and far more devastating.

I would not want to be them. Not for all the money and power they accumulate.

You have only to look at someone like Barbara Bush to see the long-term effects. This is the process that primitive observers/philosophers could only explain through some metaphysical process like "selling one's soul to the devil." Metaphysical process or no, it is a coruscating, pervasive horror that I would not wish on anyone. But those who merit it, cannot escape it.

certainly,
Bright

[Solly Mack]

34. Justice is all I seek

I've no use for revenge for it only makes things worse.

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. K & R!

GD bu$h! :grr:

[bloom]

8. If I were her parents

I would figure that the war/BushCo killed her, regardless of what "Army investigators concluded".

[hootinholler]

9. "They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed"

Bullshit. The people still exist, and, it's illegal to destroy those records is it not?

-Hoot

[Ian_rd]

10. The real heroes die in despair while Bush plays dress-up for the cameras

[Gregorian]

11. I saw Haxan last night.

A Danish silent movie from 1922 about the horrors of the inquisitions and witch hunts.

I was struck, among other things, with how similar these events through history have been to what is happening now. And the scenes of the torture chambers could not have been much different than those that are being directed by our government today. Including the false testimonies. It was utterly frightening to see these innocent women carted away. And so ironic to think that it's happening right now. Total waste.

And the common thread I find- lack of intelligence combined with fear. Perhaps even greater than need for power.

[kpete]

13. I saw that too

reminded me of this regime - I was terrified through most of it...

Beautiful film in the visual sense though - 1922 - amazing!

[tk2kewl]

12. Man. I'm not a believer, but I hope for Alyssa's sake there is a place called Heaven.

:cry: RIP O8)

[wherewingstakedream]

38. Amen and Amen!

If anyone should be there she should!This story breaks my heart. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Land Shark]

14. a profoundly sad story

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

15. kick

[sarahlee]

16. Alyssa Killed Self Rather than Be a Torturer?

10/31/06 (2006-10-31) Army specialist Alyssa Peterson was an Arabic speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at the Tal-afar airbase in far northwestern Iraq near the Syrian border. According to the Army's investigation into her death, obtained by a KNAU reporter through the Freedom of Information Act, Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed.

Instead she was assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards. She was sent to suicide prevention training. But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/knau/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=989178


Not sure that I trust the report, given these circumstances:

1. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to.

2. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed.

This was pre Abu Ghraib photos, so more was at stake.

We may never know for sure if it was suicide or "friendly fire" (like Tillman), but we can still morn her death and honor her bravery in refusing to do the wrong thing.

[Tanuki]

17. My guess is that someone thought she "knew too much"

and they couldn't count on her to keep her mouth shut about it because she was a decent person with a sense of right and wrong. I don't think this was a suicide.

[valerief]

27. Yeah, she got permanently disappeared. nt

[Supersedeas]

18. This should be HUGE news to Journalists with Integrity--betting on barely a mention

if it is mentioned at all.

[sarahlee]

23. I agree that it is important and am

really thankful that Arizona Public Radio didn't forget her and followed up with the FOIA.

I have sent the story to Keith Olbermann and I guess I hope that others will join in making sure that some of the more friendly national media folks see it.

I think I will try Jack Cafferty since he is pretty disgusted with the war and torturing.

[Bozita]

19. Your post is the first I've heard of this ... Hello MSM, ... HELLLLLO!

Thanks.

[Hissyspit]

22. There are some others on the Greatest Page, so you might want to

check them out.

[sarahlee]

24. Thanks I will do that n/t

[sarahlee]

26. same story I see - so I will ask mods to combine

[Bozita]

28. I just read the E&P thread -- Thanks for the tip

[grizmaster]

20. K&R

[Hissyspit]

21. There are other stories like this, so, yes, it is right to be skeptical.

Olbermann mentioned some of them last night and I know personally of a similar suspicious situation involving a dead military member.

[Judi Lynn]

25. It's a miracle this story ever got out, isn't it? Very, very, very sad.

Her parents raised a noble human. Her refusal to assist torture makes her life a victory for hope, in a world which has seen very few reasons to dare to hope.

If only far, far more people will hear about her moral courage, maybe others will be stirred to think beyond themselves and their own immediate interests to the larger picture.

[Straight Shooter]

29. 27 years old, when her life should have been filled with hope.

http://classifieds.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/iraq/casualties/032503dnintiraqcasualties2003september.19c83f025.html



"Spc. Alyssa R. Peterson
Age: 27
Hometown: Flagstaff, Ariz.
Unit: Army's C Company, 311th Military Intelligence Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
Circumstances: Died Sept. 15 in Telafar, Iraq, from a non-combat weapons discharge."

===============

Non-combat weapons discharge? What a nice euphemism for suicide.

[Disturbed]

30. "They say all records of those techniques have now

been destroyed." Her death is a sad event. Now will the Military investigate itself yet...again? My guess is that this will be another event that will be shoved down the memory hole and two days from now never be heard of again.

[Bombtrack]

31. the chick from Who's the Boss?

mmmm, hey is that Terry Bradshaw ?

[mhatrw]

32. Maybe. Or maybe even far worse. n/t

[Land Shark]

36. kick for an important and wrenching story

[philly_bob]

37. Posthumous medal? Re-Investigation? Memorial? /nt