Update [2008-3-7 9:35:41 by Steven D]: Elizabeth’s court martial case has subsequently been dropped by the Army. That it was ever brought however is still a travesty of justice.
This one was spoken by Col. George Brandt, a psychiatrist at Walter Reed hospital, and it requires a little background. Dr. Brandt’s quote, which you will read shortly, is from testimony he gave at the preliminary hearing of First Lt. Elisabeth Whiteside, who was charged with the following crime by an Army prosecutor: attempted suicide and endangering the life of another soldier in Iraq.
Yes, you read that right: her crime was attempting suicide by self inflicted gunshot wound while serving in Iraq. If convicted, she faces life in a military prison. While being treated at Walter Reed after her first suicide attempt, she was diagnosed by the psychiatrists there as suffering from a severe mental disorder likely triggered by the stress of her duty in Iraq. Her superiors however, disagreed with that diagnosis. They thought she was using her condition as an “excuse” to escape military service. In short, apparently they believe that her attempt to kill herself was not genuine, that it was part of some scheme to dishonor her country and constituted criminal conduct on her part. They didn’t trust her doctors’ diagnosis of mental illness, or they simply didn’t care, although these psychiatrists were also serving military officers. They wanted to make an example of Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside.
So they brought her up on criminal charges. After learning of the charges, Elizabeth attempted suicide a second time at Walter Reed Hospital, this time by taking an overdose of medication. Once again her life was saved. Nonetheless, the Army did not drop the criminal charges against her. I suppose, this second attempt on her life was also considered merely a “stunt” in the minds of those who sought retribution against her, though to be honest I cannot truly fathom what they must have been thinking.
Last week, (a As reported by the Washington Post today in December last year at the preliminary hearing of her case, in a small conference room at Walter Reed, the prosecutor, Major Stefan Wolfe (and remember that name because it should live on in infamy) warned Whiteside’s attorney “of the risk of using a “psychobabble” defense” at trial. Major Wolfe then cross-examined Col. Brandt, Walter Reed senior psychiatrist and Elizabeth Whiteside’s physician, demanding that Brandt justify his diagnosis of her mental disorder.
This is what Col. Brandt had to say in response:
“I’m not here to play legal games,” Col. George Brandt responded angrily, according to a recording of the hearing. “I am here out of the genuine concern for a human being that’s breaking and that is broken. She has a severe and significant illness. Let’s treat her as a human being, for Christ’s sake!”
For Christ’s sake. I don’t know if the prosecutor, Major Wolfe, or Elisabeth’s military superiors who insisted on bringing these charges of criminal conduct because she was so mentally deranged she tried to end her life with a bullet, consider themselves to be Christians, but I imagine that at least some of them profess the tenets of that faith in one form or another. Yet, I doubt they gave a second thought to Jesus’ teachings when they decided to go down this path which dishonors Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, dishonors the military and dishonors our country.
Their very actions in continuing this case are proof that they did not consider her a human being. She was merely a bad penny they wanted to see go away. A threat to military discipline and order. You see, originally they offered her the chance to resign in lieu of a court martial, but fearing that a less than honorable discharge would not be easy to explain, and having been advised by her attorneys that such a resignation would risk losing her medical benefits, she refused. So they continued to prosecute her for her alleged “crime” that could end in a life sentence.
You see what that means? The military really just wanted to punish her for attempting suicide. Forcing her to accept a less than honorable discharge and causing her to lose her medical and other veteran’s benefits was more than enough for them. If they truly were serious about her case, if they really believed she had committed a crime, they wouldn’t have offered her what was, in effect, a plea bargain where she would have never served a day in prison.
Once that purely punitive offer was rejected, however, they didn’t assess this case as any humane, reasonable person would do. No, she had turned down them down, so now they decided to go the full nine yards. You don’t want to resign bitch?* Fine by us. We’ll take you to trial and ruin your life and the lives of your family even more than we have already done.
I once worked as a counselor at a suicide prevention hotline. I also had two close friends in college attempt suicide, one who literally called me on the phone after he ingested what could have been a lethal dose of phenobarbital had emergency personnel not arrived in time to take him to the hospital.
Fortunately both my friends survived, and are alive today, thanks to the intervention of mental health professionals. Not everyone is so lucky. People who come to the decision to end their lives are individuals who are suffering great pain. It isn’t a game to them. The depression, the anxiety, the despair that causes people to consider death a better alternative than life is real, it’s severe, and it does not deserve either our moral or legal condemnation. It isn’t, or shouldn’t, be considered a crime. Suicide is a symptom of either a psychological or or organic brain disorder that, with proper medical care, can be treated. Certainly one would expect a soldier who has provided her country with seven years of “exemplary service” would receive the same consideration that you or I would should we ever suffer in such distress that we attempt suicide.
I can’t imagine the living hell that Elisabeth Whiteside must have endured in Iraq which led her to make that fateful decision to take her own life with her very own military issued weapon and military issued ammunition. But neither can I fathom the heartlessness, the utter depravity, of the decision by a few military officers to prosecute her for that act, against the advice of her physicians and against all reasonable norms in our society. They have taken the hell that is Eliszabeth’s life to new depths of anguish by their actions.
As I write this the Washington Post report states that no decision has yet been made as to whether Elizabeth’s case will proceed to trial:
The commander of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe Jr., who has jurisdiction over the case, “must determine whether there is sufficient evidence to support the charges against Lieutenant Whiteside and recommend how to dispose of the charges,” said his spokesman.
Let us sincerely hope that Major General Rowe shows more compassion for the terrible fate of Elizabeth than the Army has demonstrated so far. Col. Brandt is correct: she is a broken, wounded human being and not a criminal. She deserves our compassion and our care, not the onerous burden of being prosecuted as a criminal. Unlike George W. Bush, she, as an officer in the Army reserves, was sent into a war zone at the direction of her Commander-in-Chief. He was not prosecuted for going AWOL and for not completing his military service commitment. She should not be prosecuted for the psychological and emotional disorder that is the wound she suffered while serving in Iraq.
* The use of the word “bitch” was to make a point about how these military officers who brought these charges are treating Lt. Whiteside’s situation. It is not intended, nor should it be interpreted, as a misogynistic reference to her gender by me.
