Suicide Was the Only Way Out of Iraq for Col. Westhusing (Texas Observer, via AlterNet)

[marmar]

Suicide Was the Only Way Out of Iraq for Col. Westhusing

By Robert Bryce, Texas Observer. Posted March 16, 2007.



Writing in his suicide note, "I am sullied -- no more," U.S. Colonel Ted Westhusing, father of three, chose death over a life of lies and corruption in occupied Iraq.

Ted Westhusing was a true believer. And that was his fatal flaw.

A colonel in the U.S. Army, Westhusing had a good job teaching English at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was a devout Catholic who went to church nearly every Sunday. He had a wife and three young children.

He didn't have to go to Iraq. But Westhusing was such a believer that he volunteered for what he thought was a noble cause. At West Point, Westhusing sought out people who opposed the war in an effort to change their minds. "He absolutely believed that this was a just war," said one officer who was close to him. "He was wholly enthusiastic about this mission." His tour of duty in Iraq was to last six months.

About a month before he was to return to his family -- on June 5, 2005 -- Westhusing was found dead in his trailer at Camp Dublin in Baghdad. At the time, he was the highest-ranking American soldier to die in Iraq. The Army's Criminal Investigation Command report on Westhusing's death explained it as a "perforating gunshot wound of the head and Manner of Death was suicide."

He was 44.

In the ever-expanding tragedy of the second Iraq war, the tragedy of Ted Westhusing is just one among tens of thousands. Four years of warfare have decimated Iraq. Its economy and infrastructure are in ruins. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Iraqis are dead. Hundreds of thousands more have fled the country. More than 20,000 American soldiers have been wounded, and more than 3,000 killed. Yet among all of those tragedies, amid all the suffering and heartache, Westhusing's story stands out. It shows how one man's life, and the fervent beliefs that defined it, were crushed by the corruption and deceit that he saw around him. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/49233/

[ShortnFiery]

1. R.I.P. dear soldier.

Prayers from a former Army Officer who also wanted to believe: Duty. Honor. Country.

May God Bless you and hold your loved ones close through their grief.

Your service was valuable and you did NOT die in vain.

We are listening now.

R.I.P. Colonel Ted Westhusing :patriot: :cry: :patriot:

[Demeter]

2. Devout Catholics Don't Suicide--This Smells Fishy

[CGowen]

3. Tillman?

[TheBaldyMan]

5. Pat Tillman, an athelete who left professional sport and joined the US Army

he was killed in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan.

[TheBaldyMan]

6. that's a bit of a sweeping statement, devout RCs might be less likely

but to say that no devout catholic would ever commit suicide is stretching the point.

I think that the Colonel was an honourable man asked to serve in a dishonourable way. As a westpoint graduate he probably felt that all the more keenly. He had also risen to the rank of Colonel, so he was a career officer with many years service. It would be safe to assume that he was immersed in the culture fo the military.

With all those conditions it might not be unreasonable to suggest he 'did the decent thing' as he saw it.

[roody]

4. not a suicide

[Karenina]

7. I'm with you.

He was on track to take some deep breaths, tighten his lip muscles and blow them through a trumpet.