'Hartford Courant': U.S. Sending Mentally Unstable Troops into Battle

By: U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported for Sunday editions.

The Hartford Court, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evcuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq.

Twnety-two U.S. troops committed suicide in Iraq last year, the highest rate since the war started, the newspaper said.