US endangering Iraqi lives by sending mentally unfit soldiers

US sends mentally unfit soldiers to Iraq: report
www.chinaview.cn 2006-05-15 02:10:46

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military has been dispatching mentally unfit soldiers to Iraq, even as authorities are aware of their illness, the Hartford Courant reported Sunday.

The Connecticut-based newspaper said there are numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq.

Twenty-two U.S. troops committed suicide in Iraq last year, accounting for nearly one in five of all non-combat deaths, and itis the highest suicide rate since the war started, according to the report.

Some soldiers who committed suicide in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite clear signs of mental distress, sometimes after being prescribed antidepressants with little or no mental health counseling or monitoring, it said.

Those findings conflict with regulations adopted last year by the U.S. Army that caution against the use of antidepressants for "extended deployments."

The U.S. Army's top mental health expert, Elspeth Ritchie, admitted that some deployment practices, such as sending service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome back into combat, have been driven in part by a troop shortage. Enditem

Editor: Wang Nan

URL: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-05/15/content_4545555.htm