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| Iraq |
| US soldier kills five fellow troops on rampage |
| 2009-05-11 |
| A US soldier in Iraq today shot dead five of his fellow troops after apparently going on the rampage at an American base in Baghdad. The killings, which were disclosed by Pentagon sources, all occurred at the American “Camp Liberty” near Baghdad International Airport this afternoon. Military officials in Washington were unable to give any further immediate details and the circumstances surrounding the deaths are still under investigation. The death toll was the highest for US personnel in a single attack since April 10, when a suicide truck driver killed five American soldiers with a blast near a police headquarters in the northern city of Mosul. The killings will be a severe blow to US forces, which have suffered the death of more than 4,200 American service personnel in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. They will also heighten concern about the psychological impact of the conflict on troops and follow a number of killings within the US by Iraq veterans, who have suffered mental problems as a result of their experiences in Iraq. An official said the killings occurred in a “stress centre” at the US base. The soldier also died in the incident, although sources said it was unclear if someone else shot him or if he killed himself. Three others were wounded in the incident. The US military issued a news release saying only that five coalition soldiers were killed Monday in a shooting at Camp Liberty, but declined to give any further details. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #11 (The following blether is from TIME online, nattering on about how unstable our combat troops are.) In the coming days and weeks, undoubtedly, a chilling tale will trickle out of the Pentagon and Camp Liberty as more details are revealed. But sadly this latest tragedy is unlikely to shock anyone familiar with recent years of statistics showing a steady rise in violent crimes within the U.S. military. Soldiers and Marines who frequently venture onto the streets of Iraq have a derisive term for fellow service members and military contractors who never leave the confines of military installations - known as Forward Operating Bases, or FOBs. Those who stay "in the wire" are often referred to with snickers as Fobbits, a play on Hobbits from Lord of the Rings. Still, anyone living at a U.S. military installation full-time has good reason to fear more than incoming rockets or mortars. (See pictures from the Surge.) A 2007 FBI report on gang activity in the U.S. military found that members of nearly every major street gang were present in the ranks of the U.S. armed forces. Service members associated with Bloods, Crips, Black Disciples, Gangster Disciples, Hells Angels, Latin Kings, The 18th Street Gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Mexican Mafia, Nortenos, Surenos, Vice Lords and various white supremacist groups were documented serving at U.S. military installations at home and abroad. The report said the Army had the highest count of gang members in its ranks, partly because it is the largest branch and partly because of relatively lax recruitment requirements. |
| Posted by: mom 2009-05-11 23:37 |
| #10 No, more like a panic response of being separated from his unit, by people he barely knew, "who just don't understand". If this was the case, he probably committed suicide after. Don't look too deeply for reason here--this is likely one version of a nervous breakdown. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-05-11 22:12 |
| #9 So, he thought the REMFs didn't know what they were talking about so he just blew them away? French meth, retlyn, opiates, alcohol were contributing factors in Nam. bless the soldiers and their families because death comes in many ways. |
| Posted by: bman 2009-05-11 18:31 |
| #8 Some of this is predictable, and some is out of the blue. My guess is that this soldier had been told that he was out of the game and being shipped home for PTSD, and he was too close to the problem to see how stressed out he had become. Instead, he had an almost panic response, blaming the stress center staff for railroading him. Traditionally, when PTSD soldiers were sent back from the front, initially all their symptoms disappeared for a while, and then they would be hit with a severe, even dangerous depression. It was vital that they had tight monitoring and high security detainment at that point, even though it was a hospital. The immediate treatment was a snarling head nurse who would make them behave like soldiers again. It was an act, but an effective one, giving their brains a chance to heal. Until they had individually been given an all clear, they wouldn't be permitted crayons. They could go off in any direction. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-05-11 14:47 |
| #7 I told you so... |
| Posted by: John Murtha 2009-05-11 13:31 |
| #6 The killings will be a severe blow to US forces As Chuck said, hardly the case. But an excellent whiff of the crap that polluted the "coverage" of Iraq for years and years (does it still? haven't read a full "story" for years now) and follow a number of killings within the US by Iraq veterans Wrong. Implication, that is, that the violent criminality of returning vets has been significantly above the national average for that size of a group of people. This has been falsely claimed, again and again, in NYT front-page "stories", etc etc. Suicides, other problems. As I tell the tiny number of people I know with the effective intelligence to have a clue, it's not just the selection distortion, or the idiotic editorializing that suffuses almost all "reporting," or the dubious sourcing, it's the false framework that is key to the damage done by the collapse of a professional press. The false framework of "excess" stress and consequent excess violent or psych problems is an old favorite. Let's not forget how widespread this particular mythical construct is - the loathsome disgraceful waste of flesh known as Murtha referenced this b.s. when first making his odious slanders of Marines in Haditha. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2009-05-11 13:20 |
| #5 It's not unexpected for this kind of thing to happen. Disheartening, painful, yes - unexpected, no. My dad told me stories of incidents like this happening in WWII in Europe. I know of two or three incidents in Vietnam. Some people just snap under pressure. It seems to me the military is doing more to try to prevent such incidents these days than they ever did before, but you just can't catch them all, every time. All we can do is pray for those that died, for the injured, and for those others affected by this incident. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-05-11 12:32 |
| #4 Tragic. :( May God watch over all involved. |
| Posted by: Anon4021 2009-05-11 12:16 |
| #3 Murderer was taken alive, it is now reported. Military has not yet released where the shooting happened. Hardly a "severe blow". |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2009-05-11 12:14 |
| #2 WASHINGTON – Pentagon officials say five Americans are dead after a U.S. soldier opened fire at a U.S. base in Baghdad. They say the attacker is in custody. The officials say the shootings happened on Camp Liberty at a stress clinic, where troops can go for help with the stresses of combat or stress from personal issues. One senior military official in Washington says it's unclear whether those killed are workers at the clinic or were there for counseling. He says officials also are unsure whether all the dead are members of the military. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-05-11 12:08 |
| #1 good lord please bless these men |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-05-11 11:36 |