**Excellent LTTE by a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.**

[tk2kewl]

Bush's detentions are on his orders

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/letters/

When a sergeant orders his men to move out and complete an assigned mission, no matter how daunting or dangerous it may be, not a man among them will say the order does not apply to them. There is no thought of seeking plausible deniability or using lawyerly arguments to deflect the awesome, dangerous responsibility thrust on their young shoulders.

They do their jobs. They obey. This bond is a trust called the chain of command. It is unbreakable from beginning to end because all believe their obedience is based on the righteousness and necessity of the orders given - which, in turn, require whatever sacrifice necessary to complete.

<snip>

In "Questions that Bush can't ignore" you state that "President George W. Bush should bring U.S. detention practices into line with U.S. law and tradition, which demand due process." It is only because "higher ups" beginning with him give orders that men below act, and no amount of clever sidestepping to make him and his administration seem innocent of the consequences of those orders will work.

To do so is to break that sacred trust and thus command unlawful conduct in the guise of lawful orders. It is simply wrong and thoroughly immoral.

Editor's note: The writer is a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.

[Ravenseye]

1. Remember Personal Responsibility?

I seem to recall something about Bush that when he ran against Gore in 2000 one of his big lines was that the buck woudl stop with him, that he would take responsibility (implying that Clinton didn't etc).

How quaint eh? Has he ever taken responsibilty for anything he's done?

[tk2kewl]

2. I wish more retired military would state what active officers

feel it is their duty not to.

[htuttle]

3. "But if the cause be not good, ..."

"...the King himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads chopped off in a battle shall join together at the latter day, and cry all, ‘We died at such a place’—some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle, for how can they charitably dispose of anything, when blood is their argument?

Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the King that led them to it—who to disobey were against all proportion of subjection.”

-- King Henry V, Shakespeare

[gratuitous]

4. Ah, but none dare call it treason

"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason." Sir John Harrington

And have you seen Halliburton's annual reports lately? They were on the verge of bankruptcy at the end of 2002, but they're flying high now, able to pay their former CEO's hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. It's very prosperous to wage an illegal and unjust war. Too bad for the line grunts getting blasted, killed or maimed, but they should have been corporate CEOs.

[peace4all]

5. good letter -nominated

someone who remembers that real 'leaders' take responsibility for their actions, instead of looking for the easiest scapegoat.

[tk2kewl]

6. As a marine officer, he understood the gravity of his responsibility...

too bad our pResident doesn't understand his.