-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: May 4, 2007 3:05:31 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Support Our Troops, Who Think Torture Is As American As
Apple Pie
Pentagon studies
ethical dilemmas faced in Iraq
CNN, May 4, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/04/iraq.main/
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In its first study of the ethics of U.S. troops
on the Iraq battlefield, the Pentagon has found that more than a
third would support using torture to get information from insurgents.
An even greater proportion, 41 percent of soldiers and 44 percent
of Marines, said torture should be allowed if it would help save
the life of a comrade.
And fewer than half of the U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq would
report a comrade for unethical behavior, according to the results
of the survey by the Defense Department's Mental Health Advisory Team.
The survey of more than 1,300 soldiers and nearly 450 Marines was
conducted last year. It was the fourth in a series of surveys on
troops' mental health but the first to include Marines and the
first to look at ethics in Iraq. (Read the report)
While fewer than half of the troops agreed that "all noncombatants
should be treated with dignity and respect," a quarter of those
surveyed said, "I would risk my own safety to save a noncombatant
in danger."
When mistreatment of noncombatants was reported, the most common
behavior was cursing or verbal insults (28 percent of soldiers and
30 percent of Marines). Physical abuse was reported by 4 percent of
soldiers and 7 percent of Marines.
The survey found the death of a team member led to an increase in
ethics violations.
The survey also found one-third of soldiers and Marines in high
levels of combat in Iraq report anxiety, depression and acute stress.
Soldiers who deployed more than six months or multiple times were
more likely to screen positive for a mental health issue, the
survey found.
"Effective small unit leadership" -- or when officers closest to
the troops did a good job -- promoted better mental health,
according to the survey.
Results concerning combat stress in the latest survey were similar
to those from a more extensive study of veterans who sought care
from the Department of Veterans Affairs after returning from combat
in Iraq or Afghanistan. (Full story)
In that study, published in the March 12 issue of Archives of
Internal Medicine and carried out by researchers at the University
of California, San Francisco, and the San Francisco Veterans
Affairs Medical Center, 31 percent of more than 100,000 veterans
studied were diagnosed with mental or psychological problems.
Post-traumatic stress disorder was the most common condition
reported, affecting 13 percent of all Iraq or Afghanistan veterans
who sought VA services, according to the study.
That's slightly less than the 15.2 percent tallied for veterans of
the Vietnam War, but far above the 3.5 percent reported in the
general population.
U.S. military: Top al Qaeda in Iraq figures killed
The U.S. military said Friday it had confirmed the identities of
two more senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders killed this week during an
operation near Taji, Iraq.
The military identified the men as Sabah Hilal al-Shihawi, the
religious adviser to Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri, and Abu Ammar
al-Masri, a foreign fighter facilitator.
Both terrorists were identified by associates at the site,
according to the military.
On Thursday, the military said al-Jubouri was killed in the same
raid in which al-Shihawi and al-Masri died. Al-Jubouri was the
senior minister of information for al Qaeda in Iraq. (Full story)
Other developments
Insurgents killed five U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter in
separate attacks Thursday and Friday, the U.S. military said. Since
the start of the war, 3,354 U.S. troops have been killed; seven
civilian contractors of the Defense Department also have died.
Sixteen unidentified bodies were found Friday in Baghdad, the Iraqi
Interior Ministry said. Slain bodies are dumped across the Iraqi
capital every day, although fewer have been found since a new
security crackdown began in February.
U.S.-led coalition raids Friday in Baghdad's Sadr City led to the
arrests of 16 "suspected terrorists," part of a cell thought to
have links to Iran, the U.S. military said.
Five Iraqi police were killed and two others were wounded when a
roadside bomb targeting their patrol detonated Friday in western
Baghdad's Amel neighborhood, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
A car bomb killed three civilians and wounded three dozen in a
attack Thursday in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq,
the U.S. military said Friday.
Iraqi security forces detained a former military officer from
Saddam Hussein's regime and an associate Thursday in Tikrit,
Hussein's ancestral homeland, the U.S. military said. The two are
suspected of being involved in "corrupt activities" in the
Salaheddin province city, the military said. Two suspected
insurgents were captured with them, the military said.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/04/iraq.main
See what's free at AOL.com.
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