Soldier who reported abuse sent to psychiatrist

WASHINGTON, MARCH 5: A US Army intelligence sergeant who accused fellow soldiers in Samarra of abusing detainees in 2003 was in turn accused by his commander of being delusional and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in Germany, despite a military psychiatrist’s initial judgment that the man was stable, according to internal Army records released on Friday.

The soldier angered his commander by urging the unit’s redeployment from the military base to prevent what the soldier feared would be the death of one or more detainees under interrogation, according to the documents. He told his commander three members of the counterintelligence team had hit detainees, pulled their hair, tried to asphyxiate them and staged mock executions with pistols pointed at the detainees’ heads.

The case did not lead to criminal charges and was among 13 described in Army criminal records released at the Pentagon on Friday. They detail the Army’s investigations of allegations by US military personnel in Iraq of abuse, rape and larceny by fellow soldiers.