121 war veterans linked to killings in US: report

At least 121 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have committed a killing or been charged in one in the US after returning from combat...

At least 121 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have committed a killing or been charged in one in the US after returning from combat, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

The report said it also logged 349 homicides involving all active-duty military personnel and new veterans in the six years since military action began in Afghanistan, and later Iraq. That represents an 89 per cent increase over the previous six-year period, the newspaper said.

About three-quarters of those homicides involved Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, the report said. It did not illuminate the

exact relationship between those cases and the 121 killings.

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The newspaper said its research involved searching local news reports, examining police, court and military records and interviewing defendants, their lawyers and families, victims’ families and military and law enforcement officials.

The Defense Department declined to comment, saying it could not reproduce the newspaper’s research.

A military spokesman, Lt Col Les Melnyk, questioned the report’s premise and research methods, the newspaper said. He said it aggregated crimes ranging from involuntary manslaughter to murder, and he suggested the apparent increase in homicides, involving military personnel and veterans in the wartime period might reflect only “an increase in awareness of military service by reporters since 9/11”.