Revising Mental Health Rules After Shootings

Nov 26, 9:31 am ET, By Andrew Marshall

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait is revising its mental health rules after reports that people plotting anti-Western attacks have been getting themselves certified as mentally unstable to avoid severe sentences, newspapers said on Tuesday.

They said a medical committee had been formed to regulate the issue of psychiatric reports and prevent misuse.

Kuwait's Arab Times newspaper said operatives in "sleeper terror cells" in the Gulf region obtained certificates saying they had psychological problems in a bid to mislead investigators and ensure lighter sentences if they were caught.

The sources were quoted as saying this tactic had been used by those involved in last week's shooting of two U.S. soldiers in Kuwait and an attack last month that killed a U.S. Marine training on a Kuwaiti island.

"Psychiatric reports are obtained by terrorists as part of their plans to carry out attacks so that their punishment is reduced if they are caught," the Arab Times said, citing security sources.

Last Thursday, two U.S. soldiers were shot and seriously wounded by a policeman who then fled to Saudi Arabia. The soldiers were among some 10,000 U.S. troops training in Kuwait at a time of heightened tension over possible war with Iraq.

Master Sergeant Larry Thomas and Sergeant Charles Ellis were traveling in civilian clothes and in a civilian vehicle when they were stopped for speeding and then shot.

The suspect, Khalid al-Shimmari, was captured in Saudi Arabia and extradited to Kuwait where he is being interrogated. Security sources say the policeman told them he was mentally unbalanced and is on file in Kuwait's Psychiatric Hospital.

Last month two Kuwaitis attacked U.S. Marines training on a Kuwaiti island, killing one and wounding another.

Since then, there have been several reports of shots fired at U.S. soldiers training in the desert, although some Kuwaiti officials blame bird hunters.

A teenager was arrested last month with 10 Molotov cocktails near a complex housing expatriates, but officials said he was not a threat and was mentally unbalanced.

Last Monday, a Kuwaiti man in a civilian car sped through Kuwaiti and United Nations checkpoints in the tense border area and entered Iraq. Officials said the man was mentally ill and had been taking strong medication.

The incidents coincide with mounting tension over a possible U.S.-led war in neighboring Iraq -- likely to feature U.S. troops based in Kuwait -- if Iraq does not satisfy Washington's demand that it prove itself free of weapons of mass destruction.

In an illustration of the extent to which Kuwait's mental health system may have been abused, the Al-Qabas newspaper said 15,000 of the country's 146,000 government employees claimed to be mentally unstable and had records at the country's Psychiatric Hospital.

It quoted medical sources as saying the high number of people registered as mentally unstable was partly due to people falsely claiming psychological problems to obtain extended sick leave or early retirement.

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2002