CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Last year, U.S. Army Sgt. Keith Mitchell became an international poster boy for the misbehavior of U.S. troops in Iraq.
In a bizarre incident, Sgt. Mitchell's right arm was severely mauled by a male Bengal tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. To save him, another soldier shot and killed the caged animal.
Reports that the soldiers were drunk and tried to feed the tiger while roaming the zoo grounds after hours provoked world-wide outrage. "What is so unexpected about one drunken U.S. soldier killing a zoo tiger when his commander-in-chief, who once had a drinking problem, commanded the bombing of Iraq, killing and maiming thousands?" a Malaysian newspaper said. The New Yorker magazine cited the tiger-shooting by "drunk" soldiers as an example of "the stupidity and carelessness" of the U.S. occupation.
Red-faced military officials, led by a U.S. Army general, apologized to zoo personnel. Sgt. Mitchell, who hasn't heretofore been publicly identified as the tiger's victim, was demoted. The Army launched multiple investigations of the incident.
But a year later, Sgt. Mitchell has been at least partly exonerated. According to a copy of an Army report given to Sgt. Mitchell, the military concluded he was not drunk and that he was on zoo premises with the permission of superiors as part of a unit barbecue. Sgt. Mitchell admitted drinking beer that night - he says one beer, while a witness told investigators Sgt. Mitchell said he had had three. He was found in violation of an Army order against consuming alcohol in Iraq. But his rank recently was restored after a three-month probationary period.
The Army even dug up the tiger and performed an autopsy, to check on reports that Sgt. Mitchell was trying to feed the creature. The autopsy found nothing but zoo food in its digestive tract. In addition, no foreign food was found near or in the tiger cage.
"It was a freak accident," said Sgt. Mitchell last summer on the porch of his house here in Charlotte, N.C. Lean, with close-cropped dark hair and a long-sleeve shirt covering his dangling right arm, Sgt. Mitchell spoke about what the injury means to his 14-year military career. "It's gone. Over. I can't believe this happened."
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