BAGHDAD, Iraq — A U.S. commander warned troops Thursday to watch their friends because suicides were on the rise.
"Check on your buddy," Lt. Col. Harry Nantz told soldiers Thursday, urging them to be vigilant for signs of depression.
Since April, at least 17 Americans — 15 Army soldiers and two Marines — have taken their own lives in Iraq, the military said. At least two dozen noncombat deaths, some possible suicides, are under investigation, according to a review of Army casualty reports.
The military sent a 12-person mental health team to Iraq to see what can be done to help troops cope with anxiety and depression. The team completed its mission and is expected to make recommendations soon.
Underscoring the continuing violence, a U.S. military convoy came under attack Thursday on the main highway west of Baghdad near the town of Abu Ghraib, witnesses said. A cameraman filmed two flatbed military trucks abandoned with cabs ablaze as dozens of townspeople looted tires and parts. The military had no information.
In the northern city of Mosul, unidentified gunmen shot dead an Iraqi police sergeant, Brig. Gen. Muwaffaq Mohammed said.
On the political front, U.S.-led efforts to transfer power to a transitional Iraqi government ran up against a major obstacle after key figures in the powerful Shiite Muslim leadership criticized the handover blueprint — and the Kurdish president of the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council said he agreed with the criticism.
Iraq’s most influential Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, objected the plan’s call for electing a transitional legislature from regional caucuses. Instead, he demanded a transitional legislature that would be elected directly.
Jalal Talabani, who signed the plan as head of the Iraqi Governing Council on Nov. 15, traveled to Najaf to meet al-Sistani, and said he thought the cleric’s views were "logical and reasonable."
Talabani planned to discuss them with his colleagues on the council and the U.S.-led coalition, he said.
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