Terrible stress of serving in Iraq may fuel rage, loss of judgment

From The NEWS Dept. of The Cleveland Plain Dealer exploring possible reasons for the Haditha Debacle.


Washington -- While the specifics have yet to emerge in the alleged murder of 24 civilians by U.S. Marines last fall, it is clear that troops in Iraq are laboring under enormous stress that can intensify feelings of helplessness and rage and sap their ability to make moral judgments, military psychiatrists say.

Typically, there are too few Marines for the enormous job of providing security, meaning they endure long bouts of extremely high-risk operations with insufficient sleep.

They often lose buddies in ambushes or bombings by unseen insurgents, leaving them with no one to fight back.

At issue are reports that members of 3rd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment, led by an experienced staff sergeant, went on a killing spree after one of their unit was killed in a bomb blast during a routine patrol in Haditha.