Stressed out US soldier shoots fellow troops in Iraq

Stressed out US soldier shoots fellow troops in Iraq

rawstory.com

“A U.S. service member opened fire on fellow members of the military, killing four and wounding several others, at the main U.S. base in Baghdad,” NBC News reports that officials have told them.

NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reported the assailant took his own life after the violent outburst. The attacker was described as a “stressed out” U.S. soldier.

The military said in a statement that the shooting occurred about 2 p.m. Monday at Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport.

DEVELOPING…

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.msnbc.msn.com
www.cnn.com

The U.S. military issued a news release saying only that five coalition soldiers were killed Monday in a shooting at Camp Liberty.

The military news release did not give the soldiers' nationalities or provide further details.

What in the...??

Stressed out? Why turn the gun on fellow soldiers? Man this is horrible. As if those guys don't have enough to worry about getting shot at from the "insurgents," now they have to worry about their fellow soldiers losing it and shooting them too?

Let's hope more details surface on this, but apparently so far the military is being pretty tight-lipped...

Army Times:
www.armytimes.com...

Official: Soldier kills 5 comrades in Iraq

By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday May 11, 2009 10:34:06 EDT

WASHINGTON — A Pentagon official says a U.S. soldier killed five fellow troops at American base in Baghdad.

The five were killed in a shooting Monday afternoon, Baghdad time, at Camp Liberty near Baghdad International.

A senior military official in Washington says he has no other details on what happened. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the circumstances surrounding the deaths are under investigation.

The toll was the highest for U.S. personnel in a single incident 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.

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on Mon May 11th 2009 by TrueAmerican]

I'm surprised this didn't happen earlier. There's no excuse for it, but slowly bleeding out a military over the course of a decade will lead to such tragic consequences.

reply to post by sweatmonicaIdo


More details of this will likely come down the pike after the investigation. What was he thinking? Was he upset at these particular soldiers he shot and wounded for something they did? Could he have read some things and then realized how criminal it was to be in Iraq in the first place and taken it out on his fellow soldiers?

And a question I almost don't want to know the answer to:

Could he have been reading ATS?

Most probably the man could not walk away from the military.

Who knows why this happened, but why are they even telling us this story, wouldn't it be bad for enrolment for the military?

Originally posted by andy1033
Most probably the man could not walk away from the military.

Who knows why this happened, but why are they even telling us this story, wouldn't it be bad for enrolment for the military?

Chances are they wouldn't but it was leaked out.

More thinking about how many people are weary of taking another tour over there as opposed to enlisting.

Originally posted by Darthorious
.... but it was leaked out.

I don't believe that is correct. The military itself released the story, although lacking detail, as I pointed out in the OP, because it is on the Army Times website...

What is interesting is at first they said the gunman was alive, then dead, then alive etc. The last report is saying dead.

link: www.huffingtonpost.com...

***UPDATE*** According to Fox News, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs Monday relayed President Obama's response to the tragedy. Obama expressed shock and sadness and is promising to fully investigate what exactly transpired at Camp Liberty, so as to prevent such incidents in the future.
***UPDATE*** AP has another update. The shooting was at a 'stress clinic':

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.


***UPDATE*** ABC News reports that the U.S. soldier who attacked fellow troops on a U.S, base in Iraq has killed five of them and is now in custody. Initial reports suggested that he had turned the gun on himself after his rampage.

***UPDATE*** AP now reports that the U.S. soldier who went on a rampage against his fellow troops in Iraq may have survived the incident:


Pentagon officials say five U.S. soldiers are dead after an American soldier opened fire at a U.S. base in Baghdad.


The officials say the shootings happened Monday at Camp Liberty near Baghdad's airport.

One senior military official in Washington said it was not yet clear whether the shooter was among the dead. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the circumstances surrounding the deaths are under investigation.

Initial reports indicated the Army soldier shot several others, then turned the gun on himself. But it was unclear whether he, too, had died.


***UPDATE*** CNN reports that 3 other U.S. soldiers were wounded during the friendly fire incident that has left 5 U.S. troops dead. An American soldier killed 4 of his fellow troops before killing himself.

According to the Washington Post, it is the single greatest loss of life in a single incident involving U.S. soldiers since a truck bomb last month took the lives of 5 American soldiers.

***UPDATE*** CNN has just sent out a breaking news alert reporting that senior defense officials have told the network that a US soldier killed 4 of his fellow troops before killing himself. Check back for more information.

McClatchy is reporting that a shooting at a U.S. base in Baghdad has left 5 soldiers dead. The shooting occurred at Camp Liberty, a base near the Baghdad airport.

In an update from Rawstory, same link as in OP:

Attacks by US soldiers on their colleagues are not uncommon in Iraq, and the last such report was on September 14 when US sergeant Joseph Bozicevich shot dead two of his superiors at a base south of Baghdad.

Bozicevich, 39, killed staff sergeant Darris Dawson 24, and sergeant Wesley Durbin 26, because he could not bear being berated by them, according to reports.

If attacks on each other are not uncommon, then how can these guys trust the soldier next to them? Man! Talk about looking over your shoulder! Jeez!

STOP LOSS.

MULTIPLE TOURS.

AN ENEMY WHO LOOKS LIKE A CIVILIAN.


This is our generation's Viet-Nam. They are doing nothing more than creating a whole generation of mentally sick young Americans. Thanks Bush & Co.

Although this is a shocking thing to happen and my heart goes out to all the families (including the shooters) I can't say that it surprises me......

Our guys 'n' gals have now been over there fighting what, I believe to be a pointless war, for longer than those that fought in the second world war...

those of us not in the forces can only imagine what must happen to the mind of someone who is forced to go out and fight when they may not agree with or even believe in what their superiors are telling them.....

At least in the second world war they knew they were fighting for a just cause....

Our soldiers shouldn't kill each other, but they definitely should stop following orders. And I didn't know the main base in Iraq is called Camp "Liberty." What a joke.

reply to post by TrueAmerican
Those are very interesting flip-flops on the 'official' story. So, apparently the gunman is dead now?

Maybe it was better for the military that he was dead, otherwise he would appear on Court TV raging about why he killed his comrades

I wonder if a colonel or something went in the room containing the gunman, pulled out his sidearm, and splattered the gunman's brains all over the wall?

"END OF STORY!"

that soldier was obviously overdue for mental help. it is readily available and if something like this happened then the soldier was having problems and not recieving help from his peers and seniors. It makes me angry to know that the programs are available but soldiers like this one are afraid of the stigma involved in seeking help....when in fact the entire unit is better off with that soldier seeking help and this is case in point.

reply to post by BrainPower


I think that is a huge part of the problem.

The culture in the military is not to seek medical or mental help. At least it was while I was in.

It's a powder keg in the mind of a soldier in combat. He/She has all of this stress built up and horrific scenes/sensations associated with it, and a culture which is built on pushing/encouraging soldiers to be perfect.

It all boils down to unreasonable goals in an unreasonable situation.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


thats not really the mindset anymore...soldiers are encouraged to seek help if they think they have problems and if its seen in others and they dont want to seek help, their supervisor will be notified. not seeking help is more dangerous than not being the perfect soldier. its just sad it took the army this long to realize it, ya know?

reply to post by star in a jar


Well, considering the chaos that must have been, it's not difficult to see how initial reports could change about the gunman. As of now, it is still unclear whether he is dead or alive and in custody, although it's looking like the latter. Fricken horrible anyway you slice it.

Im not suprised at all.
When you deal with death and killing on a constant, its not that hard to imagine how something like this could have takin place.
Some people are good at fishing, some are good at building, and some are good at killing. Although, when you take a fisherman and make him a killer, there may be a chance that he is not really ept to handle the situation as well as the next guy. Not everyone can do what these guys do, and sometimes we throw people into the fight without making sure that they have the ability and the control to handle certain situations.
Whoever this person was, its only obvious that he had major problems, and if his Platoon Sgt or any of his other colleagues didnt notice this, then they arent running a tight of a unit as they should be. This guy should have got help a long time ago.
With that said, he is the one who pulled the trigger, so he will be the one getting the trigger pulled on him. Being freaked out and stressed out does not justify the killing of your own.
Its too bad too, cause this should have never happened.

3 words.

Bring them home.

I'm actually surprised to find this topic on here. I just found out myself last night and from what i heard, the story wasnt supposed to be released to the public yet.