UPI: "The Pentagon reversed course Wednesday and told Congress it would look into whether an anti-malaria drug... might be causing suicides, one month after asserting the drug could not be a factor."
21 G.I.s assigned to Iraq and Kuwait have committed suicide, according to the wire service. "The Army is investigating another five deaths in Iraq as possible suicides, along with six deaths among soldiers in Iraq who returned to the United States and then killed themselves."
That amounts to 15.8 suicides per 100,000 soldiers per year, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr. told a House Armed Services Committee panel. That's not much more, he claimed, than Army suicide rates of between 9.1 and 14.8 per 100,000 in the Army between 1995 and 2002.
Last fall, a Naval Reserve commander in Iraq alleged that the military doctored his medical file to get rid of any evidence of lariam, which he claims made him suicidal.
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