Military Report On Iraq Stress Clinic Killing Spree: Soldier Showed Obvious Signs Of Unraveling

BAGHDAD — An American soldier accused of killing five fellow troops at a counseling center in Iraq had been unraveling for nearly two weeks but the U.S. military lacked clear procedures to monitor him or deal with the deadly shooting spree once it began to unfold, a military report found.

The shooting at a U.S. base in Baghdad in May was the deadliest case of U.S. soldier-on-soldier violence of the six-year Iraq war. Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, was arrested and is the only person charged in the incident.

The shooting deaths drew attention to the issues of combat stress and morale as troops have to increasingly serve multiple combat tours because the nation's volunteer army is stretched thin by two long-running wars.

The 325-page report, released Friday and obtained by The Associated Press Tuesday, included detailed witness statements and describes a soldier less than two months from ending his third deployment who began to show obvious signs of unraveling before the shootings.

While all the names, including Russell's have been removed from the report, it refers to the person taken into custody as well as his unit, the 54th Engineer Battalion.

The internal investigation was ordered by Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, who appointed an investigating officer to determine if policies regarding "service members who are believed to be at risk of harming themselves or others were followed and adequate," said military spokesman Lt. Col. David Patterson.

A criminal investigation by the military is ongoing. LinkHere