Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Cover up of soldier who committed suicide rather than torture detainees [AUDIO]

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at 9:37 AM on November 2, 2006.


Official report on death of Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson
Listen

Download

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form

Get PEEK in your
mailbox!

 

An Army investigation has determined that Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson committed suicide after refusing to participate in torture (click the "download" button to the right to hear the report):

10/31/06 (2006-10-31) Army specialist Alyssa Peterson was an Arabic speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at the Tal-afar airbase in far northwestern Iraq near the Syrian border. According to the Army's investigation into her death, obtained by a KNAU reporter through the Freedom of Information Act, 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.

Instead she was assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards. She was 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. [KNAU]

Listen to the KNAU report using the buttons on the upper right...

[Erin in Flagstaff, Rox Populi]

Digg!

Tagged as: iraq, torture, suicide, detainees


Finally, Someone Has Made Fighting Global Warming Cool
Thanks to the Alliance for Climate Education, high school students are getting engaged in the issue. Check out the video.
Post by Tara Lohan. July 6, 2009.
Sick: Operation Rescue Founder Launches 'Defeat Sotomayor' Tour, Including Press Conference at Dr. Tiller Clinic
Randall Terry has announced a 12-city tour to spread word that "[t]o refuse to filibuster [Sotomayor] is to bow ... to the Angel of Death."
Post by Ian Millhiser. July 6, 2009.
Hot Air Alert: New Report Repeats Old B.S., Claims Immigration Causes Pollution
Such "green" xenophobia is common among anti-immigrant groups, but blaming immigrants for greenhouse gas emissions won't fix anything.
Post by Walter Ewing. July 6, 2009.
Advertisement
Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
sick
Posted by: JoshuaLudd on Nov 2, 2006 11:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
sick.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Suicide or "Suicided"
Posted by: GeorgiaLiberal on Nov 2, 2006 12:19 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sounds suspicious-go against the grain, and she winds up dead. Very sad either way-but considering the cover-ups we've seen out of the military so far.....

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Good question Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Suicide or "Suicided" Posted by: symcokid
KNAU retracted the story
Posted by: mackenjim on Nov 2, 2006 2:16 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All the blogs and sites linking to it come up with nothing.

"Correction to Alyssa Peterson story - Daniel Kraker

FLAGSTAFF, AZ (2006-11-02) KNAU reported in a broadcast Tuesday and Wednesday that Army specialist Alyssa Peterson of Flagstaff may have committed suicide in Iraq three years ago rather than follow what she believed to be illegal orders. In fact, while the army investigation does state she objected to interrogation techniques used on detainees, it does not conclude that those objections were related to her suicide. KNAU apologizes for this error."

KNAU Retraction

Because they say a link can't be inferred between her objections to the orders and her suicide, they have decided to expunge the story from their web page, even though there is obviously much more to this than meets the eye. The Army covered up a suicide by calling it a “non-hostile weapons discharge" and she killed herself after working for 2 nights in a place called "the cage". I would say that KNAU is being extremely timid here, but I guess this is normal for most media these days.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

AND IF YOU BELIEVE THAT, CONSIDERING THE RECORD
Posted by: mdruss42 on Nov 3, 2006 7:43 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
THEN YOU BELIEVE THE TOOTH FAIRY IS GOING TO LEAVE A WINNING LOTTERY TICKET UNDER YOUR PILLOW.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Sounds fishy to me....
Posted by: WitchyNy on Nov 3, 2006 11:47 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
An article about this woman stated she was a "devout Mormon".
Devout Mormons do not kill themselves. Also, my understanding is the 'suicide note' was not given to her parents.
Perhaps because they would know her handwriting???

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Sounds fishy to me.... Posted by: mkwagner