Pentagon Silent on Whether Suspect in Afghan Massacre Took Controversial Anti-Malaria Drug

democracynow.org - As Staff. Sgt. Robert Bales is charged with murdering 17 Afghans, we speak with reporter Mark Benjamin, who revealed the Pentagon recently launched an emergency review of a controversial anti-malaria drug known to induce psychotic behavior. Mefloquine, also called Lariam, is used to protect soldiers from malaria, but has been known to have side effects including paranoia and hallucinations. It has been implicated in a number of suicides and homicides, including within the U.S. military ranks. In 2009, the army decreed that soldiers who've suffered traumatic brain injuries should not be given the drug. But this month, just nine days after Bales' shooting rampage, the army issued an emergency decree calling for the review to be expedited. "The military announced that this drug should not be given to people who have brain problems like traumatic brain injuries," Benjamin says. "What the military has discovered is that out on the battlefield, those rules aren't being followed and some soldiers who do have these kinds of problems are getting this drug." The Pentagon says there's no connection between its review of Mefloquine and the murders, but it's refused to confirm or deny whether Bales was given the drug. Benjamin reports for the Huffington Post that the Pentagon initially ordered the review of Mefloquine in January.
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[@robinosgood2666]

And the military isn't facing the fact that the raise in suicide rates have anything to do with dosing our troops. What's interesting is they started dosing Gitmo prisoners in recent years that they weren't before.
We need to ask if they are doing this in order to do an 'unofficial' study on its side effects. Remember, suicides of detainees have gone up at Gitmo in recent years too.
How much longer are our military men and women going to be given this drug that can cause suicides?

[@2dogarageoxo]

From the datura family it can easily be dropped into a drink or sprinkled on a cigarette, the victim is 100% suggestible and can't remember anything about what happened while they were under the influence, it's commonly used in street crime in Colombia. Pretty sure this accounts for things like Sirhan Sirhan, David Hinckley Jr. and others who jumped way out of character to commit heinous crimes they can't remember.
No one in possession of their faculties could have done this.

[@2dogarageoxo]

I haven't heard anything but good stuff about this guy so I wonder where you got the story of the scam? I don't watch much mainstream news so that might be the problem... I would really appreciate it if you could direct me to an article or video that discusses his alleged shady past, that would help a lot, thanks.

[@goemon9378]

robert bales looks like christian bale in american psycho

[@landlogger]

Cover-up in Kandahar of "the Actions of a Group of US Soldiers"
by Joe Giambrone
globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29967

[@strngrthnfiction]

Hey now! No need to generalize!! I'm American and I along with others are just as appalled as you are. Be smart in your choice of words, otherwise you look/read/sound like the people you are denouncing.

[@Randy778]

Another red hering?
He was drunk? Maybe that´s the most likely reason why an unstable mind expects impunity given to other similar cases?