I recieved this article in an e-mail. Some excerpts are below.
Revealed: U.S. Soldier Killed Herself After Objecting to Interrogation Techniques
…Now we learn that one of the first female soldiers killed in Iraq died by her own hand after objecting to interrogation methods used on prisoners. …
…She was Army specialist Alyssa Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Ariz., native serving with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne. …
…According to official records, she died on Sept. 15, 2003, from a “non-hostile weapons discharge.“…
A newspaper reporter named Kevin Elston made a FOIA request after other methods of inquiry into this story proved fruitless. He actually did receive the records, and he found them to be a revelation.
“Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed. …”.
She was was then assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards, and sent to suicide prevention training. “But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle,” the documents disclose.
An Army inquiry revealed this:
“The reactions to the suicide were that she was having a difficult time separating her personal feelings from her professional duties. That was the consistent point in the testimonies, that she objected to the interrogation techniques, without describing what those techniques were.”
The documents also refer to a suicide note found on her body. Elston is now attempting to obtain a copy.
Go read it all.
This is a horrible reminder and a further indicator of how disgusting these “interrogation” “techniques” must be. The horrors she must have witnessed will have destroyed the souls of all who participated, she just couldn’t abide the life of her body without an intact soul. I mourn her loss and the loss of all those who were and are involved in such despicable abuses as must have occurred in order to push such a bright and happy person to kill herself.
Thanks for posting.
So many horrors. So many sorrows.
Thanks for this Boran. If you get more information on this please pass it on. “The decider” says the U.S. doesn’t torture, but the truth is different, isn’t it?
Ummm…I don’t really believe she killed herself over torture. If she hated torture she wouldn’t torture herseldf now would she? Most likely at the hands of a torturer she died to keep her quiet. Just my 2 cents worth.
Your comment makes me wonder, too. I wonder if her parents have seen the ‘suicide’ note?
somewhere else the other day (can’t remember where) but will ask around the Az Blogger Network to see if there’s more local info. What a tragic story all around.
If there is foul play, that makes this even more tragic, if it is even possible for this to be more tragic than it already seems. This is definitely a case for bloggers to pick up and run with, especially if they have any particular special means/connections to pursue it.
Please let us know if you find out anything new. I’m glad the reporter is pursuing FOIA requests, etc.
Just remember folks, at first they said Tilman was a hero, killed in the line of duty. It took his parents months to get the truth from these lying fuckers. HE died by friendly fire. What an odd term, friendly fire. God, I hate war, especially illegal, savage ones.
The horror gets worse every week.
This week we had this story. We had Sy Hirsch saying in Canada that the U.S. Army in Iraq has become the most murderous and savage army in American history. See, e.g., http://tailrank.com/768735/Most-violent-and-murderous-army-in-our-history
Today on NPR I heard a tape from a young GI (about age 20 I think) who is now AWOL and in hiding. He’d been sent to Iraq in an engineering unit, thinking he’d be building roads. Instead, he was assigned to be a gunner on humvees. He saw a comrade murder an innocent Iraqi in cold blood. He decided he was never going back. He called on all GIs to ignore their commanders and speak out from conscience. The army will crush him. See, e.g., http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/29/60II/main609216.shtml
How old was Pinochet when he was finally arrested for war crimes? 90? There is still hope.
HERSH. Need to proofread!
This is sad… A victim of the military torture machine. There will be a lot of those kind of victims afterward this nightmare ends (for us, at least?). The one’s that had a consience.