Alyssa Peterson:“non-hostile weapons discharge.”

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Alyssa Peterson:“non-hostile weapons discharge.”

Postby rain » Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:48 pm

Revealed: U.S. Soldier Killed Herself After Objecting to Interrogation Techniques <br>The true stories of how American troops, killed in Iraq, actually died keep spilling out this week. Now we learn, thanks to a reporter's FOIA request, that one of the first women to die in Iraq shot and killed herself after objecting to harsh "interrogation techniques." <br><br>By Greg Mitchell <br><br>(November 01, 2006) -- The true stories of how American troops, killed in Iraq, actually died keep spilling out this week. On Tuesday, we explored the case of Kenny Stanton, Jr., murdered last month by our allies, the Iraqi police, though the military didn’t make that known at the time. Now we learn that one of the first female soldiers killed in Iraq died by her own hand after objecting to interrogation techniques used on prisoners. <br><br>She was Army specialist Alyssa Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Az., native serving with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne. Peterson was an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at our air base in troubled Tal-Afar in northwestern Iraq. According to official records, she died on Sept. 15, 2003, from a “non-hostile weapons discharge.” <br><br> <br>She was only the third American woman killed in Iraq so her death drew wide press attention. A “non-hostile weapons discharge” leading to death is not unusual in Iraq, often quite accidental, so this one apparently raised few eyebrows. The Arizona Republic, three days after her death, reported that Army officials “said that a number of possible scenarios are being considered, including Peterson's own weapon discharging, the weapon of another soldier discharging or the accidental shooting of Peterson by an Iraqi civilian.” <br><br>But in this case, a longtime radio and newspaper reporter named Kevin Elston, unsatisfied with the public story, decided to probe deeper in 2005, "just on a hunch," he told E&P today. He made "hundreds of phone calls" to the military and couldn't get anywhere, so he filed a Freedom of Information Act request. When the documents of the official investigation of her death arrived, they contained bombshell revelations. Here’s what the Flagstaff public radio station, KNAU, where Elston now works, reported yesterday:<br><br>“Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed….”<br><br>She was was then assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards, and sent to suicide prevention training. “But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle,” the documents disclose. <br><br>The Army talked to some of Peterson's colleagues. Asked to summarize their comments, Elston told E&P: "The reactions to the suicide were that she was having a difficult time separating her personal feelings from her professional duties. That was the consistent point in the testimonies, that she objected to the interrogation techniques, without describing what those techniques were."<br><br>Elston said that the documents also refer to a suicide note found on her body, revealing that she found it ironic that suicide prevention training had taught her how to commit suicide. He has now filed another FOIA request for a copy of the actual note. <br><br>Peterson's father, Rich Peterson, has said: “Alyssa volunteered to change assignments with someone who did not want to go to Iraq.”<br><br>Alyssa Peterson, a devout Mormon, had graduated from Flagstaff High School and earned a psychology degree from Northern Arizona University on a military scholarship. She was trained in interrogation techniques at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and then sent to the Middle East in 2003. <br><br>The Arizona Republic article had opened: “Friends say Army Spc. Alyssa R. Peterson of Flagstaff always had an amazing ability to learn foreign languages.<br><br>“Peterson became fluent in Dutch even before she went on an 18-month Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission to the Netherlands in the late 1990s. Then, she cruised through her Arabic courses at the military's Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., shortly after enlisting in July 2001.<br><br>“With that under her belt, she was off to Iraq to conduct interrogations and translate enemy documents.” ...<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003345862">www.editorandpublisher.co...1003345862</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Alyssa Peterson:“non-hostile weapons discharge.”

Postby isachar » Wed Nov 01, 2006 9:10 pm

Suicide, yeah, that's it. All those candy-asses who don't support abuse and torture are self-destructive, aren't they?<br><br>Well, at least they didn't turn her into a cartoon character like they did Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Alyssa Peterson:“non-hostile weapons discharge.”

Postby Infernal Optimist » Wed Nov 01, 2006 9:31 pm

I almost always think BS whenever I hear someone has comitted "suicide" with a rifle (not that it never happens, but..)<br><br>Another BS: <br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed….</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>I don't believe this for a moment. <p></p><i></i>
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Missing at Gitmo

Postby robertdreed » Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:13 am

Anyone remember that really early case- I think it was early 2002- of the american soldier who went missing at Guatanamo Bay? They found some articles of clothings- his shoes, I seem to recall- at cliffside. I don't remember his name, and can't pull up anything from the search terms I'm using. <p></p><i></i>
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suicide

Postby blanc » Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:26 am

its pos to suicide with a rifle, but suicide prevention training could have offered up alternatives. so, Infernal Opt. if it was necessary to destroy records of the techniques she objected to, her suicide was convenient to that end. autopsy? witnesses? <p></p><i></i>
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Re: suicide

Postby greencrow0 » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:59 pm

Another whistleblower bites the dust.<br><br>gc <p></p><i></i>
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Re: suicide

Postby Infernal Optimist » Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:39 pm

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>its pos to suicide with a rifle</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>You and I are in agreement, blanc. Just to clarify what I was trying to say: suicide by rifle though possible is rare. Controlling for gender I'd think suicide by rifle by a female is one in a million (not literally, but you know what I mean).<br><br>I also think the suicide prevention training is just for cover ("Gee, we tried to help her...")<br><br>But it kind of reminds me of <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/demille.html" target="top">this</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Terry Wright, trained as a linguist by the National Security Agency for military intelligence and interception of sensitive messages, who supposedly killed himself with a .22 rifle on a remote road at Ft. Meade, Md., despite the fact he was wearing gloves so thick his fingers wouldn't fit through the trigger housing. <br>The dead soldier's glasses were perfectly placed on his nose, undisturbed by the shot or his fall, his body was obviously "arranged" neatly, according to the game warden who found him, and there was no trace of dirt found on the heel of the rifle butt, which necessarily would have been propped on the ground to have caused such a self-inflicted entry wound under his chin. <br><br>In the young man's car, 400 yards away, were two uneaten McDonald's meals -- two burgers, two soft drinks, two fries -- on the back seat. <br><br>No gunshot residue tests were done on the gloves. <br><br>The Army psychologist said the kid was depressed over a girlfriend back in Ohio, even though he'd broken up with her two years before his death. <br><br>A supposed suicide note, belatedly received by the surprised girl, was written and signed in crude block print. <br><br>The soldier invariably had written in script since puberty. <br><br>When his parents were sent his clothes, they discovered a small hole, the size of a hypodermic needle, through his field jacket and shirt, with a matching blood spot on the shirt. No mention of that in the autopsy. <br><br>The supervising CID agent now claims the FBI, the NSA, and the National Park Police screwed up the case. The NSA confiscated 153 disks from Wright's computer and desk, and wouldn't allow them to be examined.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: suicide

Postby dbeach » Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:49 pm

or suicided<br><br>the Army intell lies <p></p><i></i>
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Re: suicide

Postby 4911 » Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:43 pm

To give this human a face:<br><br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/iraq/database/images/Spc.%20Alyssa%20R.%20Peterson.jpg"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--> <p></p><i></i>
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