Doctor of psychology and Bronze Star recipient Peter Linnerooth suicided in Mankato on Jan. 2 after being critical of the U.S. military for its limited work on the right to heal by providing mental health care to soldiers, particularly to those with PTSD.

Military right to heal violation

Capt. Linnerooth, 42, was buried with full military honors at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 14, at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

His death has shined light on the United States military right to heal violation.

"He was really, really suffering," Linnerooth's widow, Melanie Walsh, told Time. "And it didn't matter that he was a mental health professional, and it didn't matter that I was a mental health professional. I couldn't help him, and he couldn't help himself."

Dr. Linnerooth earned a doctorate degree, trained as a child clinical behavior analyst and specialized in pediatric disorders and child safety issues. He, with his research team, was involved in clinical psycholinguistic research, clinical behavior analysis, military family issues and parent training.

After becoming an Army psychologist, Linnerooth was deployed to Iraq during the height of the invasion there.

He went to Iraq to help U.S. troops manage post-traumatic stress disorder, and returned with the disorder, according to news reports.

Upon returning to Mankato, Minnesota, Linnerooth, who had been critical of the military's abuse of mentally injured soldiers, was a paranoid and disorganized assistant professor, friends have said.

When he returned, he was reportedly in the clutches of PTSD, said his mentor Dan Houlihan, professor director of Minnesota State’s School Psychology Doctoral Program.

Veterans battling for right to heal called 'extremists'

The human right to heal is a major focus of many veterans for peace, especially Iraq Veterans Against the War that agree: Redeploying psychologically injured troops sustains US human rights abuses and war crimes including murdering children and women daily.

Such veterans are now viewed by the government as extremists warranting harassment and intimidation.

(Watch "Extremist" by Pat Scanlon on the YouTube video on the upper left of this page.)

Free War is Trauma posters are available through a non-government project called Operation Recovery, managed by Iraq Veterans Against the War.

The news about Linnerooth's suicide follows the headlines this weekend of another human rights defender and critic of U.S. policy to be found dead.

Prominent American blogger and human rights advocate Aaron Swartz, who spoke against US President Barack Obama’s “kill list,” was found dead in New York on Friday.

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Deborah Dupré is author of "Vampire of Macondo," packed with censored stories about the BP-wrecked Macondo Prospect oil well in the Gulf of Mexico that continues causing catastrophic human and environmental devastation.

"What is happening in the Gulf of Mexico region is the same kind of human and environmental devastation oil causes everywhere the petrochemical-military-industrial-complex invades overseas under the guise of the so-called 'war on terror.'" - Deborah Dupré

Watch the compelling "Vampire of Macondo" book trailer, "First book to reveal BP Gulf Oil Human Rights Abuses," to see real victims of this crime against humanity.

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