-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 16, 2007 4:37:22 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: "Death Before Dishonor," But There's No One Except the
Dishonorable in Iraq
GEN. PETRAEUS AND A HIGH-PROFILE SUICIDE IN IRAQ
Colonel Ted Westhusing, a West Point scholar, put a bullet in his
head in Iraq after reporting widespread corruption and atrocities.
His suicide note -- protesting human rights abuses and military
crimes -- was addressed to his commander, Gen. David Petraeus --
now leader of the U.S. "surge" effort in Iraq. It urged Petraeus
to "Take stock of yourself .... You're not what you believe you are
and I know it."
By Greg Mitchell
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/
pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003558239
(March 14, 2007) -- The scourge of suicides among American troops
in Iraq is a serious, and seriously underreported, problem, as this
column has observed numerous times in the past three years. One of
the few high-profile cases involved a much-admired Army colonel
named Ted Westhusing.
A portrait of Westhusing written by T. Christian Miller for the Los
Angeles Times in November 2005 (which I covered at the time)
revealed that Westhusing, before putting a bullet through his head,
had been deeply disturbed by abuses carried out by American
contractors in Iraq, including allegations that they had witnessed
or even participated in the murder of Iraqis.
His widow, asked by a friend what killed this West Point scholar,
had replied simply: "Iraq."
Now, a new article reveals -- based on documents obtained under the
Freedom of Information Act -- that Westhusing's apparent suicide
note included claims that his two commanders tolerated a mission
based on "corruption, human right abuses and lies." One of those
commanders: the new leader of the "surge" campaign in Iraq, Gen.
David Petraeus.
Westhusing, 44, had been found dead in a trailer at a military base
near the Baghdad airport in June 2005, a single gunshot wound to
the head. At the time, he was the highest-ranking officer to die in
Iraq. The Army concluded that he committed suicide with his service
pistol. Westhusing was an unusual case: “one of the Army's leading
scholars of military ethics, a full professor at West Point who
volunteered to serve in Iraq to be able to better teach his
students. He had a doctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was an
extended meditation on the meaning of honor,” Miller explained in
his L.A. Times piece.
”So it was only natural that Westhusing acted when he learned of
possible corruption by U.S. contractors in Iraq. A few weeks before
he died, Westhusing received an anonymous complaint that a private
security company he oversaw had cheated the U.S. government and
committed human rights violations. Westhusing confronted the
contractor and reported the concerns to superiors, who launched an
investigation.
”In e-mails to his family, Westhusing seemed especially upset by
one conclusion he had reached: that traditional military values
such as duty, honor and country had been replaced by profit motives
in Iraq, where the U.S. had come to rely heavily on contractors for
jobs once done by the military.”
His death followed quickly. "He was sick of money-grubbing
contractors," one official recounted. Westhusing said that "he had
not come over to Iraq for this." After a three-month inquiry,
investigators declared Westhusing's death a suicide.
Now, nearly 18 months after Miller's article, The Texas Observer
this month has published a cover story by contributor Robert Bryce
titled "I Am Sullied No More." Bryce covers much of the same ground
paved by Miller but adds details on the Petraeus angle.
"When he was in Iraq, Westhusing worked for one of the most famous
generals in the U.S. military, David Petraeus," Bryce observes. "As
the head of counterterrorism and special operations under Petraeus,
Westhusing oversaw the single most important task facing the U.S.
military in Iraq then and now: training the Iraqi security forces."
Bryce refers to a "two-inch stack of documents, obtained over the
past 15 months under the Freedom of Information Act, that provides
many details of Westhusing’s suicide. The pile includes interviews
with Westhusing’s co-workers, diagrams of his sleeping quarters,
interviews with his family members, and partially redacted reports
from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command and Inspector General.
"The documents echo the story told by Westhusing’s friends.
'Something he saw [in Iraq] drove him to this,' one Army officer
who was close to Westhusing said in an interview. 'The sum of what
he saw going on drove him' to take his own life. 'It’s because he
believed in duty, honor, country that he’s dead.'"
In Iraq, Westhusing worked under two generals: Maj. Gen. Joseph
Fil, and Petraeus, then a lieutenant general. In a March 2005 e-
mail, Petraeus told Westhusing that he had “already exceeded the
very lofty expectations that all had for you.”
But Bryce continues: "By late May, Westhusing was becoming
despondent over what he was seeing. Steeped in —and totally
believing in— the West Point credo that a cadet will 'not lie,
cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do,' Westhusing found
himself surrounded by contractors who had no interest in his
ideals. He asked family members to pray for him. In a phone call
with his wife, Michelle, who was back at West Point, Westhusing
told her he planned to tell Petraeus that he was going to quit. She
pleaded with him to just finish his tour and return home."
When his body was found on June, a note was found nearby addressed
to Petraeus and Fil. According to Bryce it read:
"Thanks for telling me it was a good day until I briefed you.
[Redacted name]—You are only interested in your career and provide
no support to your staff—no msn [mission] support and you don’t
care. I cannot support a msn that leads to corruption, human right
abuses and liars. I am sullied—no more. I didn’t volunteer to
support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for
commanders only interested in themselves. I came to serve honorably
and feel dishonored. I trust no Iraqi. I cannot live this way. All
my love to my family, my wife and my precious children. I love you
and trust you only. Death before being dishonored any more.
"Trust is essential — I don’t know who trust anymore. Why serve
when you cannot accomplish the mission, when you no longer believe
in the cause, when your every effort and breath to succeed meets
with lies, lack of support, and selfishness? No more. Reevaluate
yourselves, [commanders]. You are not what you think you are, and I
know it."
Twelve days after Westhusing’s body was found, Army investigators
talked with his widow, Michelle, who told them: "The one thing I
really wish is you guys to go to everyone listed in that letter and
speak with them. I think Ted gave his life to let everyone know
what was going on. They need to get to the bottom of it, and hope
all these bad things get cleaned up.”
Bryce concludes:
"In September 2005, the Army’s inspector general concluded an
investigation into allegations raised in the anonymous letter to
Westhusing shortly before his death. It found no basis for any of
the issues raised. Although the report is redacted in places, it is
clear that the investigation was aimed at determining whether Fil
or Petraeus had ignored the corruption and human rights abuses
allegedly occurring within the training program for Iraqi security
personnel. The report, approved by the Army’s vice chief of staff,
four-star Gen. Richard Cody, concluded that 'commands and
commanders operated in an Iraqi cultural and ethical environment
often at odds with Western practices.' It said, however, that none
of the unit members 'accepted institutional corruption or human
rights abuses. Unit members, and specifically [redacted names] took
appropriate action where corruption or abuse was reported.'
"The context, placement and relative size of the redacted names
strongly suggest that they refer to Petraeus and Fil.
"Last November, Fil returned to Iraq. He is now the commanding
general of the Multinational Division in Baghdad and of the 1st
Cavalry Division. On February 12, Petraeus took command of all U.S.
forces in Iraq. He now wears four stars."
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