"America's moral integrity was most important weapon my platoon had..."

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT op-ed: Op-Ed Contributor
Do Unto Your Enemy...
By PAUL RIECKHOFF
Published: September 25, 2006


(Josh Cochran)

IN 2002, I attended the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, Ga. At “the Schoolhouse,” every new Army infantry officer spent six months studying the basics of his craft, including the rules of war.

I remember a seasoned senior officer explaining the importance of the Geneva Conventions. He said, “When an enemy fighter knows he’ll be treated well by United States forces if he is captured, he is more likely to give up.”

A year later on the streets of Baghdad, I saw countless insurgents surrender when faced with the prospect of a hot meal, a pack of cigarettes and air-conditioning. America’s moral integrity was the single most important weapon my platoon had on the streets of Iraq. It saved innumerable lives, encouraged cooperation with our allies and deterred Iraqis from joining the growing insurgency.

But those days are over. America’s moral standing has eroded, thanks to its flawed rationale for war and scandals like Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and Haditha. The last thing we can afford now is to leave Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions open to reinterpretation, as President Bush proposed to do and can still do under the compromise bill that emerged last week.

Blurring the lines on the letter of Article 3 — it governs the treatment of prisoners of war, prohibiting “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture” and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment” — will only make our troops’ tough fight even tougher. It will undermine the power of all the Geneva Conventions, immediately endanger American troops captured by the enemy and create a powerful recruiting tool for Al Qaeda....

(Paul Rieckhoff,the executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, is the author of “Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier’s Fight for America From Baghdad to Washington.")

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/opinion/25rieckhoff.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[cynatnite]

1. I remember the mass surrendering of Iraqi soldiers...

in the first gulf war. The media went on and on about how well the US would treat them as prisoners.

[bridgit]

3. that is absolutely correct, they would not have surrendered is my...

guess, if they thought their genitals were going to be electrified, or snipped at by the teeth of dogs...doesn't bush's dad have a stake in suggesting to his wayward, wanton prodigal son, the more correct path to follow here

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. Baby bush isn't going to let anyone tell him what too do, he's that

arrogant! He doesn't care how many people, 'Merican or not, are hurt by his decisionating. No one is going to spoil his torture plans.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. It actually brought me to tears to see the Iraqi

regulars emerging from their foxholes, kneeling on the ground before the American GI's, and kissing their hands.

[Erika]

2. Yes, under W, the U.S. has lost its moral authority

and are despised by 90% of the world. With that many enemies, W has opened us up to attack, ridicule, and ruin.

[Raffi Ella]

4. K&R

THIS is why Freepers.This is part of the reason why we shouldn't torture you fucking imbeciles.You may as well be cheer leading for the terrorists when you advocate torture.




Thanks for the post.:kick:

[Kierkegaard]

8. Well, let's see...

It's uncivilized.
It's inhumane.
It's completely ineffectual. Pain and fear are motivators but not a truth serum.
It destroys our moral superiority.
It further endangers us, our military and our futures.

Legitimizing torture is a loser on all fronts and they have to know that. I think it's nothing more than a toy for the sadistic f***ers in our White House to play with. What's next? Legalizing child molestation?

[Nikki Stone 1]

5. kick and recommend

:kick:

[NMMNG]

6. K&R

:thumbsup:

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Bush neither knows nor cares anything about troops

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

10. One more facet of the Chickenhawk problem - they've never been there

So they don't understand what combat soldiers run into and don't care.

[The Wizard]

11. It will be as successful

as everything else the gangsters have done. It also crosses a line that puts us in bad company with other defunct empires. It's the Inquisition with nuclear weapons and on steroids. Where's Dr. Strangelove? What's next, channeling Mengele?

[exlrrp]

12. Oxymoron for the day

"American Torturer"
Tommorrow's oxymoron: "Christian torturer"

[cap]

13. One of my first jobs was a clerk in an Air Force Recruiting Office

twenty+ years ago. I did not sign up my classmates and neighbors to jam sticks up people's butts, hold their heads under water, put underwear on folks head, make naked pyramids out of people, sick dogs on them.

I come from Cumberland MD, home of the troops at Abu Ghraib prison.

My father and four of my uncles served in WWII and none of them mistreated anybody.

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Well said, cap -- thanks! nt

[Raffi Ella]

16. You and your family have my utmost respect and gratitude cap.

Support the Troops has an even more significant meaning for me now:We CANNOT allow our Government to endanger the lives of the brave,honorable and courageous men and women like this.

[Kurovski]

17. The tragedy is complete.

The Bush administration has thrown every soldier into a personal moral crisis.

We owe it to our troops and our nation to defeat the administration and bring every single member to justice.

[cap]

18. the tragedy is not complete

the effects of sadism will ripple through our society when the troops come home. A good friend of mine is the Chief Psychiatrist in the State Prison in Cumberland MD. I am expecting that she will have a lot of business in the years to come.

[Kurovski]

20. Those problems have occured in every war, that is always

part of the tragedy of war.

this is the first time America's moral standing in the world has been systematically dismantled.

The tragedy is complete.

[cap]

21. No... it is not...

Not until a lot of families who had nothing to do with Abu Ghraib get sucked into the maw because of the widening acceptance of sadism and the resultant victimization of family members and friends. It is also furthering the culture of denial of wounds that fester through the generations.

It is also the penance that the righteous will have to bear to restore our country. I am hopeful for the future... but it will be a very painful path.

[Kurovski]

22. "Complete" as in "absolute", not "finished".

As it pertains to the OP, the tragedy of war as practiced by the United states of America is complete with its move to force acceptance of torture as a part of war, and most likely, eventually torture as a domestic tool in the future.

I lived with a Vietnam veteran for two years, there are/were war veterans within my extended family, and yes, the results of war last a lifetime, and as you state, for generations. The damage works its way into the culture.

Look at the factions in Iraq that have harbored hatred for hundreds of years and that culminated in a civil war once strong-armed dictator Saddam was removed from power.

Attitudes and feelings that most likely found their beginnings in personal psychological damage that evolved into general attitudes held within the culture over many generations.

At least in America we once had our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, The Geneva Conventions, law, a desire for decency and a will to do what is right to help us keep our wits, our sanity about us.

And we generally worked from all that, even in the midst of the tragedy, the insanity of war.

With the current administration, all bets are off.

I also have hope that we will restore and heal our nation. As you state, it will be painful, and it is painful now. Each passing day is a burden of agony for a soldier, an Iraqi citizen and others due to what America--having been kidnapped and held hostage by this administration--has wrought.

[cap]

25. I think our generation will learn lessons of fundamental truth

of what is so good and distinctly American and appreciate them more deeply and fully than ever before... but it will be a very difficult lesson. We will definitely have some scars from this. But, at the end of our days, we will value our accomplishments in restoring the Republic.

[Stinkfoot]

19. Reickoff vs the ChickenHawks

Read his book, "Chasing Ghosts", Reickhoff has earned moral authority the hard way. These Chickenhawks don't care about the troops, they just want to use them for their own political benefit. Neither they or any of their progeny will ever get anywhere near a battlefield, what do they care if their tough guy posturing costs soldiers lives? Not only is their promotion of brutality and disdain for the rule of law immoral, it clearly isn't working. When I hear these guys blathering about defense of liberty from islamofascists, I know who the real fascists are and that it is they who are jeopardizing our freedom.

[Kurovski]

23. Welcome to DU, Stinkfoot!

And thank you for the book reccomendation. :hi:

[DeepModem Mom]

24. Excellent post, Stinkfoot -- welcome to DU!