The values of the army have destroriated under Rumsfeld guidance till it became
the best gangs school in the world.
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Unfriendly Fire: Why Did a U.S. Soldier Kill His Fellow Troops in Iraq?
On Comrades In Iraq
Slideshow:Iraq
Play Video Video:Damage control in Iraq Reuters
Play Video Video:Mending the wounds of war Reuters
AP – FILE - In this March 13, 2009 file photo, an Iraqi Army soldier and a U.S.
Army soldiers from Delta Co., …
By MARK KUKIS / BAGHDAD Mark Kukis / Baghdad – Mon May 11, 4:05 pm ET
The initial U.S. military statement on the killings Monday at Camp Liberty in
Baghdad was predictably terse. "Five Coalition forces members were killed in a
shooting at Camp Liberty in Baghdad today at approximately 2 p.m.," the
statement read. "The names of the deceased are being withheld pending
next-of-kin notification and release by the Department of Defense.
The incident is under investigation and more information will be released when
it becomes available." At first, the Associated Press, citing unnamed Pentagon
officials, reported that the shooter was a U.S. soldier who may have been his
own final victim in a murder-suicide rampage. But a late report said that the
shooter was in military custody.
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.
Sexual assault cases in the military have risen significantly in recent years
as well. A Pentagon report released earlier this year said 165 cases of sexual
assault were reported among troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2008, up
26% from the year before.
The overall incident rate was up 8% among U.S. service members serving
worldwide, with 2,923 cases of sexual assault reported. U.S. military officials
have stressed that some of the rise in the figures may be attributable to an
increase in the reporting of incidents but acknowledged that the trend was
troubling in any case.
Suicides in the U.S. military are at record levels and rising too. Pentagon
data show that in 2008 military suicides rose for the fourth year in a row to
reach nearly a 30-year high at 128.
The actual number is almost certainly greater, since more than a dozen cases
presumed to be suicides were still under formal investigation when the report
was released in January.
(See pictures of the families of military recruiters who have committed
suicide.)
Murders in which fellow soldiers kill one another while on duty have been rare,
despite an apparent increase in violent activity within the ranks of the
military. The last such case to gain widespread attention came in 2003, when
Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar attacked fellow soldiers in Kuwait as his unit prepared
to join the Iraq invasion. Akbar was sentenced to death. The case marked the
only one of its kind to occur since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began,
until now.
View this article on Time.com
Related articles on Time.com:
A War Machine for the Whole Family
Restoring the Draft: No Panacea
That Murky Threat from China
Can the Enemy Build a Super-Soldier?
Five U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq
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