Pfc Green diagnosed as a homicidal threat 3 mos before raping Abeer & slaughtering her family

[Sapphire Blue]

*** Edited to add: Please click on the link to read the complete article. It is damning.

Soldier diagnosed with mental problems
By RYAN LENZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- An Army private charged with the slaughter of an Iraqi family was diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military mental health team three months before the attack.

Pfc. Steven D. Green was found to have "homicidal ideations" after seeking help from an Army Combat Stress Team in Iraq on Dec. 21, 2005. Green said he was angry about the war, desperate to avenge the death of comrades and driven to kill Iraqi citizens, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.

The treatment was several small doses of Seroquel - a drug to regulate his mood - and a directive to get some sleep, according to medical records obtained by the AP. The next day, he returned to duty in the particularly violent stretch of desert in the southern Baghdad suburbs known as the "Triangle of Death."

No follow-up exams or further treatments were scheduled, records indicate. But Green had a conversation with his battalion commander one month after the examination in which he expressed hatred for all Iraqis.

Continued @ http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Iraq_Soldier_Diagnosis.html

[me b zola]

1. Damn.This just makes me sick

Green sought help, was given some pills and told to go back to work. This strengthens my belief that there was a command cover-up following the massacre. How many others have sought help like Pfc Green?

Everything about this war makes me sick.

[Sapphire Blue]

2. Did you read the rest of the article? It is damning.

[cassiepriam]

3. Isn't hating Iraqis just what Bush wants..... isn't that his goal for all of us?

Hate everyone as much as he does.

[Sapphire Blue]

6. Whatever that psycho's goal is, it's him that most of the world hates.

[kedrys]

4. Jeebus.

Sickening. Just sickening.

Give 'em pills and send 'em back out.

:scared:

[Sapphire Blue]

5. 1 in 6 diagnosed w/PTSD; few adequately treated or allowed to return home.

"Give 'em pills and send 'em back out." My God, the commanders, including (& especially) the one who likes to call himself the C-I-C, need to be put on trial.

[cassiepriam]

12. I can't even imagine how many pills and how much booze the troops are doing.

[Sapphire Blue]

7. ..

:kick:

[me b zola]

8. .

:kick:

[Judi Lynn]

9. The author was apparently compelled to pack a lot of material into this article

to create a sense of sympathy for him, detailing the extreme violence which happened around him, and referring to his unstable childhood, treatment with drugs as a child, interlaced with horrendous material about his personal behavior, then more information about the stressful conditions he had to accept, all building a case for some kind of temporary insanity plea, no doubt, due to battle stress.

I'm sure that's what the article was designed to accomplish.

They knew he was a monster. They were counting on it. Now they are going to make certain he is given a light, bearable sentence. I'm sure that's the plan. It would build bad morale if he really got flattened over his mass murder and rape and desecration of the body.

It's a loathesome pity.

[cassiepriam]

10. I think it is going to be hard to cop an insanity plea since it was premeditated

and carefully planned in advance from the other accounts I have read.

But it looks like the military was culpable in some ways, but being ADD as a kid does not mean you are going to rape and murder as an adult.

And from their standpoint if they start shipping home all the PTSD cases and all the soldiers who hate the Iraqis. sounds like all the troops would be air evackd out. Hey not a bad idea.

[Sapphire Blue]

14. That would be better left to a MHP who has examined him to decide.

IMO, being diagnosed as a homicidal threat does indicate that a soldier in combat might commit atrocities. They sent him right back out, knowing that he was a homicidal threat. That would seem to indicate culpability on the part of those who sent him back out.

PTSD needs to be adequately treated; it is not. Pfc Green and Abeer & her family are all 'collateral damage' of yet another horrific failure of this administration & its policies.

[cassiepriam]

17. I agree with you, but obviously Bush and the military don't.

Bush would say how is wanting to kill Iraqis a problem?
Give the guy a promotion.

And if they start getting rid of all the angry, suicidal and homicidal
troops, there might not be an army left.

[Sapphire Blue]

18. I disagreed w/you... and you agree w/ my disagreement? I'm confused.

My comment was "That <insanity> would be better left to a MHP who has examined him to decide." I was disagreeing with you your comment that it would be "hard to cop an insanity plea since it was premeditated..."

Those responsible for sending a soldier, diagnosed as a homicidal threat, back into battle need to be held accountable, no matter who they are or how deluded they are. Time for impeachment.

[Sapphire Blue]

13. I would call it investigative journalism.

I don't see the article as creating a 'sense of sympathy' for Pfc Green. Relevant information is presented... his background prior to enlistment, his combat experience in Iraq, his mental health while in combat.

He was diagnosed as a homicidal threat 3 months prior to the rape & killings, yet he was simply medicated, told to get some sleep, and sent back out the next day. They knew his mental condition, yet sent him right back into combat. Don't you think there is some accountability on the part of those responsible for sending him back out? Don't you think there is some accountability on the part of those who failed to follow up on his diagnosis?

Temporary insanity? That would be for a mental health professional who has examined him to decide.

I hope that all of the facts of the case come out in this case and all those responsible are held accountable.

[uppityperson]

26. They knew he was a monster, sent him back, then sent him out into civilian life.

The military is culpable.

[cassiepriam]

11. US troops hate the Iraqis, who are only defending their home land

from invaders. Something Americans would do if the situation were reversed.

[Sapphire Blue]

15. cassiepriam. you're not making this judgement against all US troops, are you?

If that's not what you meant, please clarify.

[cassiepriam]

16. The reports out of Iraq are consistent, the anger and disgust

at the Iraqi people by the US troops is a reality.
Like it or not.

[Sapphire Blue]

19. Please, again, you're not making this judgement against ALL the US troops, are you?

[WinkyDink]

20. It sounds to me that she is speaking about Iraqis' opinions, not U.S. troops.

Maybe they DO hate ALL U.S. troops. That doesn't mean that some, many, or most of our guys are deserving of that emotion.

[Ian_rd]

21. FRONT PAGE PLEASE. K&R

[uppityperson]

22. they med/said sleep, ignored 3 months, re-examined, said nuts, kicked out to civilian life.

thank you for this. Damn them all. Not just Green, but damn the whole system that let this happen.

[uppityperson]

23. damning towards the way the military works.

[Sapphire Blue]

24. Very, very damning for the military.

[Sapphire Blue]

25. ..

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

27. .

:kick: ... back to page 1.

[Heywood J]

28. That's one scary motherfucker.

Dogs, humans, it doesn't matter to him. Fire seems to be his thing. Perhaps the officers who sent him back in should share his cell. Fear like that might encourage personnel to make truthful diagnoses and treat these soldiers appropriately when behavior manifests.

[uppityperson]

29. when this story first came out, about him being released, I wondered why

hoped that we public would eventually find out more. I wondered if recruiters would be in trouble, now it looks like a bunch of people should be. They knew. They didn't get him the treatment he needed. They sent him back home.

[VelmaD]

30. So what's the excuse for the other soldiers involved?

While I am enraged that this man was given inadequate mental health treatment and then sent back into combat...he was not the only soldier involved in this atrocity.

[uppityperson]

32. no excuse. They are still in military, being judged/convicted/sentenced there

There is no excuse. This one seems to have been the instigator, and has the extra added bit of supervisors knowing he was a risk, not getting treated but getting discharged instead. So, all those directly involved with the crime are now being held, and now hopefully those higher-ups will be getting shit for it also.

[EFerrari]

31. It's not just the military but the way we respond to mental illness, period.

To be honest, I'm surprised the military does as well as it does.

My husband, who sought treatment actively, nearly killed me on more than one occasion while we were trying to find him help. I guess I'm lucky to be typing this.

And, there are so many families doing exactly the same thing at home with their bare hands.

I'm not trying to be a drama queen or anything, but, our mental health system is more myth than resource.

What will it take.