Colo. senator wants Army mental care probe

COLORADO SPRINGS, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., says he wants a review of U.S. Army mental healthcare after a string of homicides involving local Iraq war veterans.

Salazar told reporters he's concerned military officials are recruiting mentally troubled people into their ranks in the wake of the fifth Colorado Springs homicide in 14 months involving Iraq veterans from Fort Carson, Colo., The Colorado Springs (Colo.) Gazette reported Saturday.

Spc. Robert Hull Marko was arrested in Colorado Springs Monday in the rape and slaying of a 19-year-old woman. Other troops from Marko's unit -- the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division -- have been charged in the deaths of two other soldiers last year, as well as in the slayings of two immigrants this year, the newspaper said.

Army officials told the Gazette the brigade returned from Iraq late last year after 15 months of fighting in Baghdad.

"In the Army's effort to meet its target recruiting numbers, the service has been issuing an increasing number of waivers to recruits who may not meet educational or moral standards," Salazar wrote in a letter to U.S. Army Secretary Peter Geren.