Ian Fishback revealed that he had tortured detainees during the Iraq War, but struggled after leaving office. He died while waiting for a bed in Virginia

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Ian Fishback divides the world between justice and injustice, model and mistake. As a scholar athlete from a small town in northern Michigan, he chose the army as his path to a principled life. When the army failed his creed during the Iraq War, he insisted on letting the truth be known.

Major Fishbeck, who had been retired from the army, died last week. The situation is still unclear. He broke into a collective house alone, believing that he is being persecuted by the forces he once embraced. He is 42 years old.

The short life and unnecessary deaths of Major Fishback have highlighted the cost of the twenty-year war that went far beyond the battlefield and the overall pressure on the nation’s mental health system. He is one of many well-known veterans of the global war on terrorism, whose lives ended in tragedy.

"There are many underlying root causes here," said Rep. Tom Malinowski, a New Jersey Democrat, referring to the decline of Major Fishback. Mr. Malinowski served as the director of Human Rights Watch when he first met Major Fishback in 2005 and linked him to Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, who also wanted to expose wrongdoing in Iraq .

"This country has a mental health crisis for veterans and lacks facilities and assistants," he continued. "When the U.S. ICU beds ran out, we panicked, but we admitted that we did not have enough mental health beds."

Mental health experts say that during the coronavirus pandemic, the shortage of psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric nurses across the United States has worsened, and lawmakers have been working hard to find solutions. The shortage of personnel in the Department of Veterans Affairs may hinder access to care, possibly including the main Fishback.

In 2005, as a captain of the Army, he revealed that other members of the 82nd Airborne Division had systematically tortured detainees in Iraq. His allegations led to the passage of far-reaching anti-torture legislation advocated by Mr. McCain.

Major Fishback fought four times in Iraq, later received a PhD, taught at West Point Military Academy, and became a highly sought after speaker on moral injury and military service issues.

In recent years, he has also suffered from paranoid delusions and deep depression, which easily broke out and caused him to lose his job and relationships. More than a dozen family members, former professional partners and friends said in interviews that he was wavering between contempt and despair of his fragile mental state when he asked for help.

Since September, shocked by the deterioration of his body and mind, his friends and his sister scrambled to transfer him from the hospital and the home of a low-income adult group to them, saying that there he took a lot of antipsychotic drugs. , Moved to the Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital. They said that in Battle Creek, Michigan, the appeal filed with the department on his behalf last week was not answered. After breakfast on Friday, Major Fishback was found dead in his room.

Nancy Sherman, a professor of philosophy at Georgetown University, said: "He is always driven by a deep sense of humanism that people should be respected, in this case detainees." The last week of life.

She added, “He has a strong sense of mission and stereotypes, and stereotypes usually don’t bring flexibility.”

His sister Jazcinda Jorgensen said that as a young man, Major Fishback was known in his small town as a high achiever in school and sports-with a backpack full of loads. Run the mountain, while others are content with jogging. He was arguing with his classmates about his strict ethics.

"He is a straight arrow in every way," Ms. Jorgensen said.

A high school teacher noticed his qualifications and financial needs, and suggested to join the army, so he applied for and was admitted to the West Point Military Academy.

"He always has a strong sense of morality and justice, and thinks it is best to use him as an officer," his sister said.

He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 2001 with a bachelor of science degree in Middle East Studies, and served in the military until 2014, including four combat trips with the 82nd Airborne Division and special forces.

One day in 2005, when Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon analyst and later a senior military adviser to Human Rights Watch, was tidying up his desk, his phone rang. The person on the other end of the phone said: "Hello, sir, I am an American military officer, and I am worried that my troops have tortured the detainees," Mr. Galasco recalled. He added: "Needless to say, this aroused people's interest."

After many email exchanges, the two met at the Applebee restaurant in La Grange, Georgia, where Major Fishbeck drank iced tea and described the terrible abuse suffered by Iraqi prisoners between September 2003 and April 2004 , Including exposure to extreme temperatures, beatings and lack of sleep in the camp Mercury, a forward operating base near Fallujah.

Major Fishback had appealed to his superiors and even the clergy for 17 months before seeking help on Capitol Hill. "He said,'I want John McCain,'" Mr. Gallasco said.

A Human Rights Watch team took him to see the Senator, who asked to see him alone.

The Act on the Treatment of Detainees was passed by a vote of 90 to 9 in the Senate and was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2005.

"It has nothing to do with personal growth," said Richard Fontaine, Mr. McCain's assistant. "This is entirely to correct a deep-seated flaw in the U.S. security policy."

But Major Fishback encountered difficulties in pursuing a master's degree in philosophy and political science from the University of Michigan, which he received in 2012. During his studies, he met Georgetown University professor Ms. Sherman, who became his confidante.

When she noticed that he was showing symptoms of paranoia, "I was worried," she said. She helped him find a therapist.

He taught at West Point Military Academy from 2012 to 2015 and received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, but troubles continued, including disputes with students, faculty and staff. "He became controversial," said Nomi Ford, a psychologist and trauma expert, who was the wife of a childhood friend who worked for Major Fishback for the last week of his life and put him in treatment.

His ex-wife Clara Hoisington McCormick, whom he met at West Point and married in 2001, said that he was hospitalized for the first time in 2016. (The subsequent short marriage also ended in divorce.) He increasingly alienated his military colleagues, she said. He has trouble establishing a relationship.

Mr. Galasco was also worried. Over the years, they kept in touch intermittently, and he regarded Major Fishback as a friend. "In 2018, I received an email saying that my neck was growing hairy," he said. "He said people were chasing him."

He recalled that in July 2019, Major Fishback informed Mr. Galasco in an email that the CIA was tracking him. "I think, buddy, call me." Major Fishback took a new position in Europe. "He said,'If you don't let the CIA get rid of me, I will provide confidential information to foreign governments.' It was there that I lost the line."

Later that year, the European work was disbanded.

Major Fishback returned to Michigan, but a series of fighting there resulted in him violating the court's prescribed treatment stay. In September, he was arrested after an argument with a reserve officer training team official during a football match. He then lived in a series of low-cost collective housing, while friends tried to get him into a Veterans Affairs hospital in Battle Creek.

"It was terrible to hear him there," Ms. Ford said. "He cried. He said:'Can you help me? I can't trust my family.'"

His friend initiated a GoFundMe campaign to pay for a high-end treatment center in Massachusetts. Ms. Ford said that he started speaking very slowly during a telephone conversation, which she attributed to high levels of psychotropic drugs.

In an email, a patient coordinator of the Department of Veterans Affairs who saw him on Thursday described his appearance as "shocking" and pointed out that the formerly healthy army major could barely walk. And his "arm is locked at a 90-degree position, he has never changed his facial expression in our conversation."

"He had breakfast on Friday morning," Ms. Ford said. "Later they found him dead."

The Battle Creek facility called his sister that day. Ms. Jorgenson said she replied: "It's too late. He's gone."

Terrence Hayes, a spokesperson for the department, said: "We feel sad for the loss of Army veteran Ian Fishback and extend our sincere condolences to his family." "Virginia has been with Fishback. Family liaison and provide support and any appropriate services to help them during this period. VA remains committed to ensuring that all veterans receive the care they need in a timely manner."

In a panel discussion in 2015, Major Fishback talked about the concept of moral harm in war and "when you are in a situation where you have to be vigilant, it can be said that when you are with the people you should face Loss of "be able to trust and try to navigate over time"

"If you are willing, it is very challenging to try to maintain your virtues in very bad situations," he said.