Lawmakers grill Pentagon on Afghan massacre suspect

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressman asked the Pentagon on Tuesday to explain why the soldier accused in the massacre of 16 Afghan villagers was sent back into combat after earlier suffering a traumatic brain injury in Iraq, as lawmakers questioned how seriously the military deals with the mental health of troops.

The Army staff sergeant accused in Sunday's shooting served three deployments to Iraq before he was sent to Afghanistan last year. The soldier, whose name has not been disclosed publicly, was treated for a traumatic brain injury suffered in a vehicle rollover in 2010 in Iraq, according to a U.S. official.

Representative Bill Pascrell, founder of a U.S. congressional task force on brain injuries, wrote to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta requesting details of the accused soldier's injury, diagnosis, and when and how he was returned to combat duty.

"I am trying to find out basically whether there was a premature 'OK' on this guy," Pascrell, a Democrat, said in a telephone interview.

"This is not to excuse any heinous acts; we are all sickened by it. But dammit, we all have an obligation to prevent these things," Pascrell said. "If this soldier fell through the cracks, does that mean that others have?"

Other lawmakers expressed similar concerns.

"I think there are some serious questions out there about whether or not we are taking seriously, within the armed services, the issue of mental health," said Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington state, home to the army base where the accused soldier had been stationed.

Murray, who recently raised questions about post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses at that base, said she wondered whether the United States is "correctly" sending soldiers back into combat.

'WAR-WEARY'

"I think we are looking at 10 years of war with some pretty war-weary people," Murray told reporters outside the Senate chamber.

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Lawmakers grill Pentagon on Afghan massacre suspect