Lowered Standards, And The Consequences

AFP:

US authorities detained a male airline passenger who repeatedly tried to break into the cockpit during a flight to Florida before being restrained by passengers, an airport spokeswoman told AFP.

The flight departed La Guardia Airport and was on its landing approach shortly after 11:00 pm when a man refused a flight attendant's order to sit down, became agitated and ran toward the cockpit, where he tried twice to knock down the door, she said.

"Fifteen minutes before landing, the flight attendant wanted him to sit down and he wouldn't. He was uncooperative," the spokeswoman said.

"He started evidently running towards the front of the aircraft and started to run at full speed toward the cockpit door, which was secured, and he fell down and rammed the door again."

The airport spokeswoman said three passengers became concerned about his behavior and "wound up subduing him and holding him."

Police identified the man as Nefpali Alexander Liemenbez, 24.

The airport spokeswoman said Liemenbez was a Hispanic US soldier with a mental problem whose active duty was to end next Tuesday.

AP:

A former Army private accused of raping an Iraqi woman and killing her and three family members was a high-school dropout from a broken home who enlisted to get some direction in his life, yet was sent home early because of an "anti-social personality disorder."

Steven D. Green could get the death penalty if convicted in the horrific crime that has strained the U.S. military's already troubled relations with the Iraqi people and sent shockwaves around the world.

He was given a discharge on May 16 for what military officials in Iraq told The Associated Press was an "anti-social personality disorder." The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Under Army regulations, a soldier can be discharged only if a personality disorder "is so severe that the soldier's ability to function effectively in the military environment is significantly impaired." The diagnosis must be made by a psychiatrist or doctoral-level clinical psychologist who is authorized to conduct mental health evaluations for the military.

Here's a good piece of reporting---slammed as "anti-troop" by the some on the Apologist Right when it first appeared---that explains what's going on here. As the war continues in the years ahead, we should expect many more reports like those above---both here and in Iraq. I suspect Iraqi civilians, unfortunately, will bear a disproportionate share of the consequences.