A Groundbreaking PTSD Court Decision
Week of November 02, 2009
A groundbreaking verdict for accused veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was decided recently in Canyon City, Ore. when former Soldier Jesse Bratcher, on trial for murder, was found guilty by reason of insanity. It appears to be the first trial in the U.S. where a veteran's post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was successfully considered to mitigate the circumstances of a crime. For more information on the case, visit the National Veterans Foundation website.
Phi Beta Iota: We had over 250,000 disabled veterans from Gulf War I, where a combination of depleted uranium and toxic chemicals, both courtesy of the USA, imposed a horrific costs even on those who were not wounded or killed. Gulf II is believed to have created 75,000 ambuteess, an astonishing number of them multiple mbutees, and over 5,000 suicides. Now we have another cost of war: an acceptance of insanity & murder as a residual. We do NOT dispute the finding–we simply believe that war is a racket and we have to stop sending our young men and women to wars of choice that enrich the few and destroy the many. Meanwhile, we train gang members from Latin America in the regular Army, and Taliban recruits in the Afghanistan Army–all equipped with a global small arms marketplace where the USA is the most wanton in the sale of automatic weapons.
