[absolootezer0]

first i've seen about this. thought i would pass it on. Doesn't seem to be an awful lot of info tho.

[AppyPappy]

I seems like an odd reason to kill yourself.

[Froufrou]

"Peterson's body was returned to Flagstaff in late September 2003, where she was buried with military honors at Citizen's Cemetery."

2003???!!! And they're bringing it up NOW? That can't be for any good reason.

[processing please hold]

She was subsequently assigned to monitoring Iraqi guards at the base gate and was sent to suicide prevention training,

Not to make light of it, but...

[blues_guitarist]

"Spc. Peterson had been assigned to C Company, 311th Military Intelligence Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), which is based in Fort Campbell, Ky. She was in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedon, functioning as an Arabic-speaking intelligence specialist."

I've always felt that this is an Achilles heel, having our people trained by moslims to "speak the language" is having an affect on their effectiveness, and ultimately, their sanity.

[uglybiker]

KNAU's the local leftist/PBS station in Flagstaff.

Flag being a college town they're guaranteed to find a receptive audience.

[livius]

She was subsequently assigned to monitoring Iraqi guards at the base gate and was sent to suicide prevention training

I would say that if they assigned her to "suicide prevention training," there was a bigger problem going on there. Pity the training didn't work. Young people who kill themselves probably always subconsciously think they're going to be like Tom Sawyer, watching how people wept at his own funeral. And then they'll turn out to be alive again after all. But it doesn't work that way.

[Doogle]

...sadly there seems to be other issues here


Doogle

[dead]

Spc. Peterson's mother, Bobbi Peterson, reached at her home in northern Arizona...said neither she nor her husband Richard has received any official documents that contained information outlined in the KNAU report. Until she and Richard have had an opportunity to read the documents, she said she is unable to comment.

Scumbags like this typist didn't even give her a chance to read the report, let alone reflect on it.

An effing vulture, hoping to pick Sheehan meat off this soldier's carcass.

[RobRoy]

Looks like a november surprise to me.

[CholeraJoe]

Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle,

A 5.56 to the head at point-blank? There goes your open-casket funeral.

In all seriousness, I am terribly sorry that this young soldier found no alternative to suicide. There is always an alternative. Call the Suicide Prevention Hotline. If there is a substance abuse problem, call the AA Hotline.

[opinionator]

Sounds like one of those "two bullets to the back of the head" suicides. She was probably going to rat someone out.

[Zack Nguyen]

The KNAU report also stated that Army spokespeople for Peterson's unit refused to describe the interrogation techniques and that all records of the techniques have been destroyed.

Destroyed records? Isn't this unusual?

[pabianice]

Gee. News just in time for the election. Call me cynical.

[Walkingfeather]

Who ordered the code red?

[Publius6961]

There is no reason to believe that the percentage of neurotics and mentally disturbed individuals in the military is any different than in the general population...

[Cicero]

Sad. But whether she had legitimate moral objections to the treatment of the prisoners (which I doubt) or simply was emotionally unstable, YOU DON"T COMMIT SUICIDE unless there is something badly wrong. By that act, she puts her own moral judgment and mental capacity completely in doubt.

Even if she thought she was going to be punished for disobeying orders and refusing her assigned duties, no normal person would choose suicide. But the story seems to suggest that she was given another assignment after she protested.

At best, this seems to be someone who didn't belong in the military in the first place.

[Alia]

Male suicide rates in Oakland and San Francisco California are very, very high, nationwide.

[Rakkasan1]

...as fictionalized on Law & Order last night.