Alleged murderer was diagnosed with ‘homicidal ideations’

[spindrifter]

January 09, 2007

By Ryan Lenz
The Associated Press

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — An Army private charged with the slaughter of an Iraqi family was diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military mental health team three months before the attack.

Pfc. Steven D. Green was found to have “homicidal ideations” after seeking help from an Army Combat Stress Team in Iraq on Dec. 21, 2005. Green said he was angry about the war, desperate to avenge the death of comrades and driven to kill Iraqi citizens, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.

The treatment was several small doses of Seroquel — a drug to regulate his mood — and a directive to get some sleep, according to medical records obtained by the AP. The next day, he returned to duty in the particularly violent stretch of desert in the southern Baghdad suburbs known as the “Triangle of Death.”

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Sending troops already in Iraq who have been diagnosed with mental illness back to combat duty — often under medication that has not been prescribed long enough to have provided relief — has been a particular criticism.

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http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2471826.php