THE stress of combat and lack of sleep affect soldiers so badly that after a week they perform worse than if they were drunk or sedated, according to a US Army study carried out last year.
The research raises serious questions about the ability of tired soldiers in Iraq, some of whom have been on the move for nearly three weeks, to make split-second decisions about whether a potential target is an enemy soldier, a civilian or one of their own. There is a steadily growing list of incidents in which civilians or friendly forces have been mistakenly killed.
Harris…
