Becoming Monsters in Iraq

Becoming Monsters in Iraq
Author(s): Matthew Gutmann and Catherine Lutz

Source: Anthropology Now, Vol. 1, No. 1 (April 2009), pp. 12-20
Published by: Paradigm Publishers ; Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
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feature
the troops in thisthan any previous

I among
U.S. war. Factorsthatexacerbate PTSD in-
BecomingMonstersin Iraq
MatthewGutmann '
Catherine
Lutz '
The following
pieceis drawnfroma forth- ;
Gutmann :
book
written
coming
byMatthew
and CatherineLutzwiththe assistanceof :
andJoseVasquezentitled
War '
BetsyBrinson
Thisgroupofresearchers
inter- :
Epiphanies.
oftheIraqandAf-
vieweddozensofveterans
warswhohavebecomevocalop- j
ghanistan
ponentsofthosewars.The booktracesthe :
livesoffivemenand one womanwho en- '
- to '
ofotheryoungpeople
listedlikemillions
to :
getmoneyforcollege,to seekadventure,
servetheircountry,
andhopingtofinda way
todo goodintheworld-andtheconclusionsj
work :
theyhave drawnfromtheirmilitary
life.
andtheirreturn
tocivilian
j
U.S. soldiers who returnhome
fromIraq have or will develop crip- by one estiplingpsychologicalproblems
mate,fully40 percentof combat veterans.
Amongthe most common diagnoses given
them is post-traumatic stress disorder
fromexposure
(PTSD), an affliction
resulting
to traumaticevents that,according to the
AmericanPsychiatric
Association,have "involved actual or threateneddeath or serious
or a threatto the physicalintegrity
of
injury,
selfor others/'The cause here,of course, is
exposure to combat itself,more universal
12
anthropology now
:
'
:
and anger because of include frustration

sufficientpreparations, equipment, and
training;the feelingthatthere is no end in
sight;discomfortand deprivationsof lifein
a war zone; worriesabout careersand families back home; racism and sexual harassment within the military;and extended
toursof duty.
Over the years, the militaryhas called
soldiers' traumatic response to war shell
shock, combat neurosis, battle fatigue,or
war-zone stressreaction. In addition, officers have oftenrefusedthe diagnosisclaiming it is an excuse for malingering,or in
more contemporarylanguage, "anger dysregulation." Nonetheless, and despite the
continuingstigmaof mental illness, many
accept and even welcome a diagnosis of
PTSD as partofthe processof recoveryfrom
the mental wounds of the Iraq war. Why
thenwould a groupof veteransdeclare that
in factPTSD is normaland, in some sense,
good?
Fora growingnumberof anti-warveterans of Iraq and Afghanistan,
PTSD is notan
I
j
:
'
:
:
'
:
ManyU.S. soldierswhoreturn
homefromIraq have or will
developcripplingpsychological
... Thecausehere,
problems.
ofcourse,is exposureto
combatitself....
j
Volume 1 Number1 April2009
unhealthyor abnormalconditionbut a rea- :

sonable and normal human reaction to :
what theysaw and did while servingin the ;
While many return- :
United States military.
vets
treatment
because of the :
ing
reject
stigmaattachedto it or findit inaccessible, I
some anti-warvets accept treatmentand
medicationsbutrejecthow theVeteransAdministration
(VA) understandstheirdiagno- ;
and arsis. Some refusestandardtreatment
gue thatothermethodswill help themmove :
These anti-warvets '
beyond theirsuffering.
all agree withVA doctorsthattheyhave re- :
ceived a traumaticinjuryto the self, but :
theysee the injuryas an assault not simply ;
on theirmind but on theirwhole person. :
What the medical establishmentcalls a dis- :
order,theycall a formof dehumanization. 1
In coming to this conclusion, these dis- :
sentingsoldiers focus on the fate of Iraqi :
In I
civiliansat the hands of the U.S. military.
of
these
fact,what makes the lives
troops :
distinctfromthe rest of the armed forces :
is not so much '
sentto Iraq and Afghanistan
their experiences of such civilian harm, :
which is ubiquitous,but ratherthe conclu- :
sions theyhave drawn.Itturnsout thathow I
soldiers react to civilian war injuries and :
death is decisive fortheiremergingcritique :
the injuries ;
of the war and to understanding
of war to themselvesand others.Ultimately :
veteranswho rejectthe diagnosis of PTSD
as being a disorderare makinga political
statementmore than a medical or personal
psychologicaldiagnosis.The pointforboth
anti-warveteranswho seek counselingand
medicationforpost-traumatic
stress,as well
as those who preferto avoid such treatment
and Lutz
Gutmann
even thoughtheymay sufferfromthe same

symptoms,is that,regardlessof medicalized
analysis,the fundamentalcause of theirafflictionis thattheyhave witnessedand participated in dehumanizing crimes against
people in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Charlie Anderson
Navy medic Charlie Anderson, originally
fromRossford,Ohio, crossed into Iraq in
March 2003 with the Marines. Like most
he was full
everyonearoundhimin uniform,
of fearand curiosity,
anger and resignation,
excitementand ambivalenceabout the mission. Trainedas a medic, he especially relshed the idea of helpinghis buddies ifthey
got hit.Lookingback later,though,he said,
"I didn'teven knowwhat I didn'tknow/'
The learning curve would soon rise
steeplyin frontof him.
On an early convoy operation in 2003,
his unitbegan takingcasualties on the outskirtsof Sadr City. Someone radioed that
they were looking fora young Arab male
wearing black pants, white shirt,and sandais, and carrying an AK-47- in other
words, almost anybody. Fromthe back of
the column came machine gun fire.One of
Anderson's sergeants had been tellingthe
Trainedas a medic,
he especiallyrelishedthe idea
ofhelpinghis buddies....
13
youngermen a story.Suddenly he opened :

firewith his weapon, apparentlyaiming at :
nothingand no one in particular.Then he I
wentback to tellinghis storyrightwhere he :
leftit mid-sentenceonly seconds before, :
pausing now and thento sip his coffee."A I
lot of people would thinkthat was cool/' :
:
saysAnderson."I thoughtitwas scary/'
Thiswas the firstof a set of politicaland I
moral epiphanies Charlie Andersonunderwent in combatand after.
:
Laterthatsame day,Andersonrelates,or- ;
derscame throughto load up and driveinto :
Sadr City.Theyhad highhopes forwhatwas :
to come. Given the standardAmericandiet :
of World War II movies, he and his com- :
radesexpectedto find"a kindof air of liber- :
ation parades in Holland and France/'They
believed thattheywould be rewardedfor :
protecting the population from further :
depredations by Saddam Hussein and his
"bad guys/'but the civilian receptionwas :
fromwhattheyexpected.The :
quite different
thousands of civilians out in the streetsof ;
Sadr Citydidn'tseem excitedto see them:
except the kids. "Thereare kids runningup :
and down the sides of streetsbegging for ;
food."The Marineswere stilllookingforthe :
young Arab male carryingan assault rifle. :
And therewere people everywhere."You're j
lookingat the kids,at the doorways,at the :
windows,and the rooftops.You'retryingto :
scan the alleys, looking for a guy [who '
wantsto killyou] in thiscrowd of 5,000."
:
Anderson was ridingon the passenger :
side of a Humvee with his weapon in his ;
lefthand, safetyoff,fingeron the trigger, :
pointedat the vehicle's door. Withhis right :
14 anthropologynow
hand he was throwingfood out and waving

at the kids. Afterrounding a corner, the
crowd seemed to thin.Then all hell broke
loose and Marinesbegan shootingin all directions. "We're tryingto figureout what
one guy is firingat, and he yells,'Don't ask
me what I'm shooting.I'm shootingat fuckon
ingpeople!'" Andersonpulled thetrigger
his gun untilsomeone said he could stop.
There'sall thispandemonium.Women.
Children.Mostlywomen and children.
And it seems so clich. Butthasreally
whatwas happening.
Mostlywomenand
children.
Anda fewold menrunning
every
whichdirection
and yelling....
screaming
My thoughtswere the black and white
ofthelittlegirlrunning
down
photograph
the streetin Viet Nam. She'd been naoff.
palmed.Allherskin'sfalling
Five years later,in January2008, as we
sat in his home in the mountainsof Boone,
North Carolina, Charlie Anderson still
looked shell-shocked in recountingthose
operations around Sadr City.Whether he
shiveredfromthe cold outside thatwinter
day,or fromthe stillpainfulmemoryof having been a part of the militaryforce that
caused terrified
civiliansto flee throughthe
streetsofan Iraqicity,he didn'tsay. In either
case, even in 2008, Andersonwas continually tryingto come to gripswith his early
tourof dutyin Iraq. Regardlessof what the
ground troops were ordered to do in the
war, he remained convinced theirmotivations were noble. "Most of us thoughtthat
we were thereto do somethinggood. I don't
Volume1 Number1 # April2009
thinkanybodyjoins an armyor goes offto

war thinking
theyare goingto do evil/'
Like thousandsof otherveterans,Anderson soughtcounselingfromtimeto timeafter he returned."I did go throughone supportgroup meetingat the VA, and I didn't
findany support.I spent most of the night
talkingabout whyitwas okayforme to be a
veteran against the war, and listeningto
some of the other members of this group
talkabout how we should just have a policy
of genocide because ifwe don't kill everybody in Iraq, then they'regoing to come
over here and kill our kids. It didn't even
make sense." Beyondfeelinglikean alien in
this group of vets, he nonetheless shared
much in common withthem. Like the others, Anderson, too, had to cope with the
traumas of war including what he called
"survivor's
guilt,"and thefeelingthathe was
personallyresponsibleforhelpingotherreturningvetswiththeirown cycles of depression.
Eventually,after returnto the United
States,CharlieAndersonwas givenan honorable dischargefromthe Navy afterbeing
diagnosedwithPTSD.
GarettReppenhagen
Likethousandsofothersoldiers,GarettReppenhagen put in time at checkpoints.
faTrainedas a sniperand bornto a military
ther in Fort Hood, Texas, Reppenhagen
found himselfone day flagging down a
quicklyapproachingvehicle, and tryingto
get its Iraqi driverto leave his vehicle. As
and Lutz
Gutmann
GarettReppenhagen (Photo by Matthew Gutmann)
this car, like many before it, had apl proached,Reppenhagenrecalled,

'
:
'
:
therecould be a car bomb.

You'rethinking
And you got yourheartpumpingand your
adrenaline flowing because you think

you'rejust going to get bombed. And the
;
:
car screeches to a stop. And you go over

and you're yelling at the guy in the car.
Only he doesn't speak English,so he's not

gettingout of his car,you know?
'
:
You're tryingto open the door, but the
door's jammed because his car sucks. It's
'
:
junk. And you're frustratedbecause you

can't open the door. You're embarrassed
:
;
:
:
that you're tryingto open a door that

doesn'topen. So you justgrabthe guyand
pull him out the window and you throw

him on the groundand you zip-striphim
15
Althoughsome troopsand veteranshave

nightsoughtrelieffromtheirpost-traumatic
wife
and
kids
at
that
his
are
mares by popping what medics in Iraq sareye,
staring
you with this intensehatredin theireye.
castically call "happy pills/' Reppenhagen
You just realize you are partof the probis staunchlyopposed.
I'm certainlynot going to take any medlem. And you don't mean to be, and you
don't want to be, but you're there, you
ication. I am flatagainst that. Personally,I
know?And that'sthe crime.The crime is
don't want to separate myselffrommywar
thatyou'rethere.
experience. I thinkmy war experience is
partof who I am now, and I've got to learn
to carrythat.My healMany soldiers,says
"started
Reppenhagen,
ing comes through
to loathe themselves.
helpingotherveterans,
Voujust realize youare partof
But instead of changbeing part of the
the
And
don't
mean
problem.
you
movement.IVAW [Iraq
ing to make it better,
to be, and youdon'twantto be,
some changed forthe
Veterans Against the
butyou'rethere,youknow?...
worse. They just dove
War] is redeemingme.
into it and became
Garett
Andthat'sthe crime.The crime
Reppenmonsters/'
was
the
firstacis thatyou'rethere.
hagen
Like those of other
soldierto join
tive-duty
dissidentU.S. veterans
IVAW while still in
who have come out
Iraq.
the
stories
focus
Men
against war,Reppenhagen's
experiencetrauma,he knows,when
on the hubrisof thiswar, how the war de- ' theirbuddy is blown up in frontof them,
stroyedsome partof him and violated the i when someone is shot and no one can get
trustthathe, as a citizen soldier,once had ! to him. Or, as he puts it, "When innocent
in the U.S. military.
As GarettReppenhagen ; people get waxed." But, Reppenhagen in: sists,forthe most part,the average Amerisays,
can soldieris notthe victim.
I alwayssaw myselfas doing the right
'
the
course
of
He's the victimizer.
And I thinkhe feels
action,
thing,taking
proper
;
as thinkingabout ethicsand morality.
And
likea criminal,
He feelslikethe
:
honestly.
here I was, the one withmyhands on this
killer
and
the
and
the
and he
;
thief,
rapist
i
comes back to Americaand it's,"Thank
dude, feelingjustifiedto riphimout of his
car and throwhimon the groundand put
:
youforyourservice."Butwe're,like,"You
him in handcuffs.It made me feel like an
haveno idea whatyou'rethanking
mefor.
;
:
asshole. I'm theguyactinglikea Nazi.
Youdon'tknowwhatI did."
[withplasticties used by U.S. forces].And
thenyou realize, out of the cornerof your
16 anthropologynow
Volume1 Number1 April2009
Ifmendid thesame thingsin thestreetsof

the UnitedStatestheydid withno repercussions in the cities and villages of Iraq, they
would be imprisoned or even executed,
Reppenhagen believes. But since they are
not punished by others,theypunish themselves. "They startdrinkingthemselves to
death and doing drugsand being abusive to
- and committingsuicide, betheirfamily
cause theycan't findredemption/'
So what'sa medical practitioner
going to
do fora veteranin thissituation?
Ifyou'rea clinical doctor,you cannotfixa
problem that's social and political. Let's
say you sitdown witha counselorand say,
and
"I've been betrayedby mygovernment
I'm fuckingpissed off,and thisis dbilitting. I am unable to fitintosociety.And it's
directlybecause of the war."Well, they're
gonna be like, "Here's a pill. Don't be so
pissed off."Theytryto make it yourproblem. And it's not your problem. It's society'sproblem.You don't have to readjustto
society;society'sgoing to have to readjust
to you.
RickyClousing
When RickyClousing deployed to Iraq in
December 2004 at age 22, he didn'trelyon
the media to understandthe situation in
Iraq: "I kindofwantedto formulatemyown
idea about what was going on." He had
high expectations that his militaryintelligence trainingwould help identifypeople
andLutz
Cutmann
: who were threatsto Iraqifreedom.Yearsbe fore,

Clousing had become a born-again
; Christianand done missionaryworkin Latin
: Americaand Thailand. He was eager to find
: a way to help the Iraqis as he had helped
; farmersin Mexico on severalearliertrips.
:
Soon afterarrivalin Iraq, Clousing saw
I civilians killed and harassed with impunity
j by U.S. soldiers. He began to mistrustthe
: missionthatused such methods,and went
: to his command with serious questions
' about whetherto continueto participatein
the war or even in the Armyitself.It was
: recommended he speak with counselors
; and chaplains,and he did so. He told them
: "about the spiritualbasis formy conflictof
: conscience [but] they came back with all
; these clich statements,and even Bible
: verses taken out of context,justifying
war
: and saying God is favoringus, and that I
; should just trustin his plan. Justsurface-y,
: watereddown statements
thatdidn'tanswer
thatI was reallyfeeling."His com: anything
: mandersasked Clousing ifhe was tryingto
: get out of the Army."There's ways to do
: that,such as sayingyou'regay or sayingyou
have mentalproblems.I was insulted,to tell
you the truth.I wasn't tryingto play that
j card to geta ticketout ofthe military."
Clousing tattooedthe word "Veritas"on
: his arm to signifyhis quest, and started
: readingbooks about the run-upto the war
; in Iraq and on U.S. foreignpolicy in gen: eral. In addition,he read Confessionsof an
j Economic Hit Man, Zinn's People's History
j of the UnitedStates,and Thoreau'sessay On
: Civil Disobedience. Afterreturningto the
BecomingMonstersin Iraq 17
United States, Rickycontinued to be tor- :

mented by his time in Iraq. He talked to
more counselors and chaplains and com- ;
manders.All to no avail. He went AWOL :
and aftera year he turnedhimselfin. Fol- :
lowing his militarytrial, he served three l
monthsin the Camp Lejeune brigin North :
Carolina. Duringthe entireperiod afterhis :
tourin Iraq,Armyofficersproposed various ;
optionsto Clousingsuch as filingforconsci- :
entious objector status or a diagnosis of :
PTSD, any one of which would have al- ;
lowed him to serve out his remainingtime :
- and the mili- :
in non-combatassignments
embarrass- ;
tarywould have avoided further
ment(Clousing'scase had become interna- :
tional news). He refused conscientious :
objectorstatusbecause he does notoppose ;
all wars. He rejected the PTSD diagnosis j
because he considers post-traumatic
stress :
nota disorderbut,as he called it,"a patch" ;
thatconceals deeper problems:"I mean, it's :
a naturalreactionof cultureshock,of being :
in a combat zone, and the realitiesand the ;
and beingexpected :
expectationsoffighting,
to killpeople, and thencoming back home :
to what we have here." Farfromrepresent- j
ing an abnormaladaptationto civilian life, :
he adds, traumatizedsoldiersare the norm: :
"They'reactually tapped into theirhuman ;
and spiritualand emotionalside enough to :
feel the effectsof [the war]. They're not :
numb enough to just blow it off like it ;
doesn'tmatter."
:
:
maybe no moreor less traumatizedbywhat

theysaw and did than otherservice members. However,theirdistinctiveunderstanding of the problem and of the remedies
available to them- particularly
politicalactionand helpingothervets- allows themto
reshape theirsense of self in crucial ways.
Each has been an activememberof IraqVeteransAgainsttheWar,and has workedin a
variety of ways, including recruitingfor
IVAW fromwithinthe active duty military
and others, lobbying Congress, and long
public marches and talks to educate the
public. They are workingto advance the
goals of the organization,which includes
campaigningforan immediatewithdrawal
of all troops fromIraq; reparationsto the
Iraqi people thatthey,ratherthancorporate
would administer;and lobbying
profiteers,
forfullbenefitsand adequate healthcarefor
vets.They have also forgedstrong
returning
bonds of advice and help with dissident
VietnamWar era vetsand organizationsand
are helpingwithcounter-recruitment
efforts
in highschools aroundthe country.
Each is also tryingto reestablishhimself
in workand/orschool: in winter2008, Charlie Anderson was attendingAppalachian
State University
in Boone and workingwith
the VA nearby,Garett Reppenhagen was
studyingat Pikes Peak CommunityCollege
in Colorado Springsand workingas a parttime organizerand consultantforVeterans
forAmerica,and RickyClousingwas working in a giftshop and learningto be a dealer
I in Las Vegas.
A nti-warvets like RickyClousing,Garett :
As another anti-warveteran said about
/VReppenhagen, and Charlie Anderson : his emerging recovery-through-activism
18 anthropologynow
Volume1 # Number1 April2009
BrigArt(Photo by RickyClousing)
Gutmannand Lutz
19
fromthe war,"I am no longerthe monsterI

serviceand the inbeginningabout military
once was." These vets are convinced they
vasion and occupation of Iraq,these men at
have found a kind of rethe same time believed
and
balm
thattheywould be doing
demption
by
breakingranksand speakgood for others through
Theydo notwanttheir
out
the
their
war,
ing
against
by
participationin the
stressto be
post-traumatic
a new kindofcomwar. In the end, however,
forging
neatlyboxed offbya
with
their
fellow
radeship
they do not want their
medicalizeddiagnosis....
stressto be
dissenters,and by beginpost-traumatic
to
make
amends
with
boxed
off by a
ning
neatly
the Iraqi and Afghanipeomedicalzed diagnosisthat
their
condition
fromthe total exples.
separates
Some mightsay thatthese veteranswere
perienceofthewar in Iraq and froma moral
dehumanizedfromthe momenttheybegan
and political critique of its impact on the
basic training,and that by turningagainst
people ofthatcountry.
the war in Iraq and what theysaw and did
there,theyare simplyreclaimingtheirhuMatthewGutmannand CatherineLutz, Departmanity.But that conclusion would be too
if
Because
these
anti-war
vetment of Anthropology,Brown University,Box
easy.
anything
eranswere among the mostidealisticof sol1921, Providence,Rhode Island 02912. E-mail:
diers,committedto the idea of armed sergutmann@brown.edu; lutz@brown.edu. Gutvice in defense of the nation and indeed
mann is professorin the Departmentof Anthrohumankind
their
and Lutz has a joint
serving
pology at BrownUniversity
through
participationin military
operationsin Iraq.
appointmentas professorin the Departmentof
As contradictoryas it mightseem, and
Anthropologyand at the Watson Instituteof InternationalStudiesat BrownUniversity.
despite all the questionstheyhad fromthe
20
anthropology now
Volume 1 Number1 April2009

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Becoming Monsters in Iraq

Author(s): Matthew Gutmann and Catherine Lutz

the troops in thisthan any previous

and anger because of include frustration

unhealthyor abnormalconditionbut a rea- :

even thoughtheymay sufferfromthe same