Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007 | 7:26 a.m.
By all accounts, Army 1st Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside was an exemplary officer - highly commended by her superiors and the troops under her wherever she served.
A reservist, she volunteered to go to Iraq and was honored as a "soldier's officer" while leading an ambulance company. In the prison rioting that followed Saddam Hussein's execution, she orchestrated the rescue of the prison's doctors.
However, the strain of working in a combat zone was exacerbated by a male officer who harassed her and other women. She mentally broke one night and shot herself in the stomach.
According to The Washington Post, psychiatrists diagnosed her with a severe mental disorder, possibly triggered by the stress of working in a war zone. But officers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center called that "an excuse" and drew up a series of charges against her. She had pointed her pistol at a nurse who was in a room with her and tried to help her. The officers at Walter Reed saw that as kidnapping and aggravated assault.
Those officers were ironically part of the new Warrior Transition Brigade, which was created to improve the treatment of injured soldiers.
The Army agreed to drop the charges if she resigned. She agreed but changed her mind after learning that commanders in Iraq didn't see any reason - or evidence - to charge her.
Army brass in Washington are now deciding whether to proceed.
The Army's treatment of Whiteside is another sign that the military doesn't understand the stress it is putting its soldiers through in this war. It is time for the military to treat its soldiers more humanely, and it should start by dropping the charges against Whiteside.
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