STRESS AT WAR LOOKING LIKE THE DEFENSE FOR RAPISTS

I've never been enlisted. I've never been to war. I wouldn't even begin to try and understand the stress of it. Only the men and women who have experienced it would know that. But I don't believe PTSD can turn a "normal" person into one that would premeditate a rape and murder. Rape of a 14 year old girl. Killing her family, including a 5 year old. Killing her and burning her body. I don't believe it. And neither does the person I live with, who served in VietNam and has suffered PTDS. Like me, he believes these guys should be court martialed and suffer the consequences of their evil wicked actions.

By Andy Mosher
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, August 9, 2006; Page A13

BAGHDAD, Aug. 8 -- The constant fear of death and the trauma of several devastating incidents took a heavy toll on morale in the U.S. Army unit whose members included five soldiers accused of involvement in the rape and killing of an Iraqi teenager, witnesses testified Tuesday in a military court.

Pfc. Justin Cross said the 1st Battalion of the 502nd Infantry Regiment was subjected to intense stress during the months it served in the area south of Baghdad known as the Triangle of Death. Patrols, he said, put soldiers in constant fear for their lives.

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