Bringing the
Battle Back Home:
Linking War and Domestic Violence
by Heather Wokusch
Dissident Voice
February 9, 2003
Last summer, the
military base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina was rocked by a series of brutal
killings. In separate incidents, four soldiers murdered their civilian wives,
with two of the men committing suicide right after. A fifth woman then murdered
her soldier husband. The upshot: a body count of 7 dead in only 43 days.
The US Army
Epidemiological Consultation (EPICON) team sent in to investigate found marital
problems and a flawed military mental health system to blame; the team
recommended increased access to psychological and family counseling for
returning soldiers. Case closed.
But dirty little
secrets behind these seemingly random acts of violence remain: the possible
influence of prescription medication on service members' later destructive acts,
and a culture of silence about violence. Both issues have urgent implications
for all of us.
One part of the
problem is an anti-malarial drug called Lariam, with potential side effects
including psychosis, hallucinations, paranoia, aggression, panic attacks and
suicidal thoughts, all of which can persist for years after the drug has been
taken.
Developed by the
US Army in 1985 and licensed to the pharmaceutical giant Roche, Lariam has been
prescribed to millions of military personnel and travelers, but its dangers
have not been properly addressed; key studies into the effects of Lariam have
been funded either by the military or by Roche, a fact that clearly invites
bias. For example, while Roche claims Lariam causes serious psychiatric side
effects in only one out of every 10,000 people, a recent
independent study in Great Britain put that figure at around one in 140
instead. And while Roche admitted to receiving thousands of reports of
psychological problems associated with Lariam, it only disclosed receiving
reports of suicide when internal documents to that effect were leaked.
At least two of
the four soldiers who killed their wives at Fort Bragg had taken Lariam, and
the drug was blamed when a Canadian
veteran attacked his garrison headquarters a few months later. But such
outbreaks of violence are usually dismissed as isolated incidents of Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and handled on an individual, hushed-up,
basis. The alternative - taking a closer look at the role of Lariam in creating
violence - would open the gate to billions in lawsuits against the military and
Roche, a prospect both would no doubt prefer to avoid.
Another factor
is the pressure on service members and their families to keep quiet about
domestic abuse. Even though overall rates of domestic violence are
significantly higher in the military than in the civilian population (with marital aggression
three to five times more likely) victims have relatively fewer options, and
service members hesitate to harm their careers by seeking behavioral health
care.
In this regard,
EPICON's report into the Fort Bragg murders was notable for
its exclusions. The report did not recommend mandatory reporting of
domestic violence incidents or command notification, and failed to address the
critical topic of privacy and confidentiality protocols. The report further
dismissed any connection between Lariam and violence, even though EPICON
investigators did not even bother to question friends and family of the
victims/suspects about the drug, supposedly because of "legal and privacy
concerns."
But last
Christmas, only months after the initial wave of killings, Fort
Bragg was again the scene of tragedy when another service member, Sgt.
Marvin Lee Branch, allegedly tried to murder his wife. How the situation was
handled is indicative of the larger problem. Restraining orders protecting
Carol Branch were dismissed within weeks of the attack, and she complained of
receiving very little support: "I'm trying to save my life and I've got to
beg (the Army) for help? I can see how those other mothers died. They were
trapped." Branch said her husband had a history of abusive behavior, but
he became uncontrollably violent upon returning from duty in Afghanistan. An
Army spokesman confirmed that soldiers in Sgt. Branch's unit had taken Lariam,
but would not confirm whether Branch had as well.
A culture of
silence about violence and denial about the effects of war is not limited to
the military arena: this same myopia is thrust upon the rest of us every day.
We are told Iraq is evil, yet given no information about the suffering of Iraqi
people under the debilitating UN sanctions. We are asked to ignore the fact
that Afghanistan is seemingly no better off today than before we
"rescued" it. We are told to accept a plagiarized joke of a dossier
as reason enough to obliterate Iraq. We are asked to shrug off the thousands of
body bags now being prepared for our service members.
More
to the point - we are being told to swallow the poison of apathy and to accept
violence as a way of life.
Heather Wokusch is a free-lance writer with a background in clinical psychology. Her work as been featured in publications and websites internationally. Heather can be contacted via her website: http://www.heatherwokusch.com