The final, anguished years of a warrior-scholar who exposed torture by U.S. troops

[Jilly_in_VA]

Retired Special Forces Maj. Ian Fishback graduated near the top of his West Point class, deployed four times to Iraq and Afghanistan, earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan and was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in 2005 for blowing the whistle on torture by the U.S. military.

He died broke, virtually homeless and medicated with heavy antipsychotic drugs in an adult foster care center near Kalamazoo, Mich., on Nov. 19 at age 42, as his friends and family scrambled to find him mental health care.

"He was Captain America," says Marc Garlasco, a former Defense Department official who was at Human Rights Watch when Fishback reached out in 2005.

"It's just hard for me to comprehend that this is how the life of Captain America would end, in mental anguish while being forcibly medicated in some facility," Garlasco says. "It's a real damning, damning statement on 20 years of war and how we treat the veterans of this country."

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/02/1060884859/the-final-anguished-years-of-a-warrior-scholar-who-exposed-torture-by-u-s-troops

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[gratuitous]

2. Gee, why don't you want military recruiters in every high school?

Exhibit 322 of a continuing series. If this is how the military takes care of its West Point best, imagine how they're going to take care of the kids they're signing up in high schools.

[keithbvadu2]

3. Those who support torture done by our troops are also supporting torture done to our troops.

Those who support torture done by our troops are also supporting torture done to our troops.

That probably bothered him as well.

[erronis]

4. The US and the USSR (formally known as Russia) know how to deal with dissidents

Not to also be too conspiratorial. There's not that much moral distance between the military and intelligence agencies of any of these countries.

"One of the problems with Ian was that some of his paranoia seemed very reasonable," says Ford, his boyhood friend. "You know, like if the FBI is watching him and that seems plausible, right? I mean, but if a normal person from the street told you that, you think they're crazy."

Psychotropics and other stressors might be investigated.

[crickets]

5. Only 42 years old.

Cause of death still unclear. Tragic, and a travesty.

[Volaris]

8. If he had another 10 years running special forces, he would be a 3-star general by 60...

I've never been enlisted, and so dont get a say, but it seems to me that chain of command has to be at least asked questions regarding his life and death.

Now I'm gonna see if I can find some of his lectures...

[Boomerproud]

6. This should be given large coverage by the media.

I don't mean a 20/20 episode or Nightline. Tragic.

[traitorsgalore]

11. The media sold torture like fast food

Every 5 minutes on the news it was "tell us what you think about torture".

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. K&R

[NowISeetheLight]

9. I read the article...

… and found it tragic the VA system failed him. These are the best of us and deserve so much more.

[MustLoveBeagles]

10. RIP