Stress of Army officer found hanged in Iraq

[Barrett808]

Stress of Army officer found hanged in Iraq
By Michael Evans

THE head of the Army’s Special Investigations Branch in Iraq, involved in a huge workload, was found hanging by a bootlace in his barracks room, an inquest was told.

Captain Kenneth Masters, 40, who commanded 61 Section of the Royal Military Police’s Special Investigation Branch, had become “stressed and frustrated”, the inquest at Swindon was told yesterday.

He had been involved in investigations into allegations of abusive treatment of Iraqi detainees by British soldiers.

The body of Captain Masters, who had sought medical help, was found at the base at Basra airport in October.

Warrant Officer Philip Floyd told the court: “He was very conscientious. He had a sense of frustration in that the procedures we had to conduct in the inquiries were hindered by forces outside of our control.” He did not explain what he meant by that phrase but the Royal Military Police had to investigate every incident where British troops had opened fire and civilians had been wounded or killed.

(more)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2246567,00.html

[babylonsister]

1. Why is my first thought skepticism at how he died? Disclaimer:

I haven't read the article.

[TomInTib]

3. So read it, 'sister.

Unfortunately, this is not all that rare an occurence in that type of situation.

There is no room for a humanist in interrogation.

I know this first-hand.

[babylonsister]

4. My knowledge of how Pat Tillman died, Haditha, etc., has made

me skeptical.
Hell, this whole gummint scares the hell out of me, and makes me believe not a thing that they profess.

And I still haven't read it, but I will now.

[babylonsister]

5. I read it. Now I want to know if he received the medical help he

sought, and why, when this happened in October, we're only hearing about it now.

[TomInTib]

7. Actually, I read about it back then.

It is just now going through the review process at home.

Sad story and all too typical.

[mirandapriestly]

13. Me too.nt

[Breeze54]

2. That's sad. There have been a lot of

suicides by soldiers in Iraq and after they get home.

Snip-->

Captain Masters seemed to think he had disappointed others, the warrant officer said.
When a soldier was found drunk on duty he took personal charge of the inquiry.

“He took it very personally and worried that it would lead to disciplinary action.
He became more and more indecisive but I never picked up anything from members of the
section that was disparaging.”

In the officers’ mess the day before he died he was withdrawn.
“He said he had been having a difficult time and that he had some personal circumstances
but didn’t elaborate,” Warrant Officer Floyd said.

The inquest continues. <--snip

[Tellurian]

6. He was propbaly threatened if he told the truth..

He got caught between the rock and the hard place
and couldn't take it anymore.

[jobycom]

8. The military sells itself as a great, moral endeavor to help people

And when they attract someone who genuinely wants to do that, they have no place for him. I don't think he had to be threatened--I think it's possible that he was just so overwhelmed with the proof that the military goals were so different than what he believed they were that he couldn't function. He wanted to help people--soldiers and Iraqis, both. He believed the stuff that BushCo said about liberation. But every day he saw proof that the soldiers he wanted to help were killing the Iraqis he wanted to help, and he couldn't do anything. Impotence turns to a feeling of guilt--he believed he was killing these people and driving his soldiers to murder because he couldn't stop it from happening. His life was consumed by tragedy, and rather than make fun of it, like the Marines who wrote offensive songs, he caved in.

It's the Bartleby the Scrivener syndrome.

[Tellurian]

9. I'd go along with your premise if her were a Pvt..

Unfortunately, He was the head of the Army’s Special Investigations Branch in Iraq, and a 40 yr old captain at that.He was no stranger to military policy. Although you give a plausible explanation, given a man with his credentials and position; the natural most logical bent for him would have been to clear the air and spill. He was considered a liability to the cause. Suicide was not his only option but a plausible explanation of why he is no longer alive to tell what he knew.

[jobycom]

10. A private wouldn't have the access to the facts that he had.

This war is unlike past US military atrocities because of the long occupation. He could have kept his hopes of helping people through the other encounters he's likely to have served in. But not through this one. The military doesn't much care about someone spilling the beans. People have been spilling the beans since the beginning of the invasion. The media refuses to report, the people don't hear, and the person is shuffled away to another location. He's not even court martialed because that would gain publicity. No threats necessary. They face whistle-blowers all the time.

[Tellurian]

12. Right, a Pvt would have lived it and reported his findings to his Captain.

Then in your mind's eye, Vietnam was just a delusional apparition.
An unpublicized dress rehearsal for Iraq. The people do hear.
Cindy Sheehan is an American hero for not caving into pressure
from the Pentagon, even risking imprisonment for the death of her son
and her stand against the war.

On the contrary journalist do (attempt to) report. To date,
there have been over 250 journalists killed, kidnapped or maimed
because of the government's fear of whistle blowing.

It's an indisputable fact, Whistle blowers go to whistle blower heaven.
They are either dispatched from their positions as was the 911 fbi operative
who spoke out about the foreknowledge of the Twin Tower attacks or they are
permanently neutralized, as was this Captain.

[dailykoff]

16. Whenever the military waxes psychological

you know they're covering up some crime.

[tomreedtoon]

11. Not a good title for this thread.

It says "Stress of Army officer found hanged in Iraq." He's dead. He has no more stress.

The stress belongs to his family, if he has any, and to the other soldiers around them.

Maybe that's why the Bushies don't care how many people die in this war. The more dead, the less stress.

[saigon68]

14. That way it won't bother "THEIR BEAUTIFUL MINDS"

[dailykoff]

15. I think a certain stress called KBR got to him.

Contractors hate it when somebody notices they're lawless thugs.

[SpiralHawk]

17. Dead men tell no tales

And there are many who want to squash the truth.

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Another life wasted

for BushCo's oil war.

[0007]

19. Black mailing a person into suicide is the in thing these days, eh?

David Kay ( about efforts to find weapons of mass destruction) and Cliff Baxter (complained mightily to then-CEO Jeff Skilling and all who would listen ...) come to mind at the moment.