Editor's note: Xin Ping is a commentator on international affairs who writes regularly for CGTN, Xinhua News Agency, Global Times and other Chinese media outlets. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

In May 2006, Time Magazine named Ian Fishback to its list of the 100 most influential figures in the world and regarded him as a national hero.

In November 2021, the former U.S. Army officer was found dead at 42 in circumstances that are still unclear, alone and broke in a care facility. He was described as suffering from a severe mental health crisis.

How did this hero end up in such a sorry plight?

Major Fishback served three combat tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan and later earned a doctorate and became an instructor at West Point. He was once a household name. In 2005, he disclosed that his fellow members stationed in Iraq systematically abused local detainees. Though ignored for 17 months by his superiors and clergy, Ian's persistent appeal led to the passage of groundbreaking anti-torture legislation – the Detainee Treatment Act – in the U.S.

After being deemed a national hero, Ian, a dedicated serviceman and a brave whistleblower, was allegedly mistreated. His pursuit of humane treatment for detainees met only with discredit from his own military unit which considered him as a coward, according to NPR's interview with Ian. Defamation from his own fellow soldiers is tantamount to a death sentence for any honorable Army officer.

He revealed in his interview with the local newspaper, the Newberry News, that the U.S. government violated his rights in ways most people cannot comprehend. He was labeled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – a claim he denied – and his testimony on abuses was called into question. By 2015, he had been demeaned and discredited so severely that he asked to leave the U.S. Army. Coupled with increasing concerns about official surveillance and threat against him, Ian decided to leave for the EU.

"I'm done," he said, "I gave the U.S. a lifetime of service – very admirable service. And if this is the repayment, it is not acceptable." Nevertheless, his struggle was silenced by nearly all U.S. mainstream media outlets. No one cared about what he had been through and whether his allegations against the U.S. government and military were true.

Ian once again made national headlines when he died mysteriously. Some indicated he died from a psychological disorder, while others claimed it was suicide. However, in requesting an autopsy, Ian's family and friends insisted that Ian didn't take his own life and said in the obituary "the system failed him utterly and tragically. There are many questions surrounding his death and the official cause of the death is unknown."

Before delving into the real cause of his death, major U.S. newspapers rushed to cite his death as a case in point to underscore the lack of attention to U.S. veterans' mental illnesses. A seemingly politically correct narrative obfuscates all unresolved myths over his death. No reports cited his own denial of the psychological disorder, nor did they mention his public appearance in a forum held by New America in December 2019, during which he delivered a speech on Moral, Psychological, and Spiritual Impacts of War and displayed no signs of abnormality. 

Back in the early years of the Iraq War, members of the U.S. Army and the CIA committed a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, triggering growing condemnation worldwide. Ian's call for fair treatment of detainees rightly fitted the U.S. government's need to quell the torture scandals of its Global War against Terrorism. Otherwise, there will be no basis for such a whistleblower to exist in the first place. When Ian served the U.S. government's interest, he was used as a sought-after propagandist speaker for America's fair treatment of prisoners of war. When his well-established heroic persona was overshadowed by his personal struggles, he was immediately silenced and eventually marginalized.

The U.S. is good at creating heroes, but many American heroes are chosen for a particular purpose. That is to broadcast American values and amplify American interests. Any rebellious hero who deviates from the official storyline will be rectified or, otherwise, abandoned.

After turning a deaf ear to Ian's struggle for 15 years, the U.S. military conducted full military honors for his death. For the U.S. government, is it heartfelt honorable service or relief from wrapping up the imperfect story of a persevering troublemaker? Either way, Ian's tragic death lays bare how the U.S. treats its national heroes.

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