Iraq: The Army Knew He Was a Maniac

Three months before he led the rape-murders of an Iraqi family, Steven Green was diagnosed by an Army mental-health team as being a homicidal threat who was desperate to avenge the deaths of his comrades by killing Iraqi civilians.

But instead of being sent stateside for treatment, he was told to take several small doses of Seroquel, a mood-altering drug, and ordered to get more sleep before being returned to his unit in the particularly violent "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad.

It is difficult to know how to react to this appalling story, reported by The Associated Press, but banging one's head into the nearest wall is probably a good start.

The shame that I again feel over this vileness -- the crime, the boy-man and the obligatory cover-up by commanders -- cannot be wished away any more than George Bush can wash away the blood of the thousands of Americans and Iraqis on his hands.

Then there's the fact that the way Green's illness was treated is drearily typical of an Army with too few troops and an ingrained disdain for anyone who admits to pain or emotional distress and a system that makes it difficult for them to get adequate help.

Green was evaluated and found to have "homicidal ideations" after seeking help from an Army Combat Stress Team on Dec. 21, 2005.

The sedative and more nap time ordered by the team apparently was inadequate because on march March 12, 2006, Green and several comrades broken into the home of a family in Mahmoudiya and shot and killed the father, mother and two young daughters. The older girl, 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, was raped and her body set afire.