This makes me feel sad and hopeful and want to cry my eyes out all at the same time. The article is a long one, but I highly recommend reading it carefully from beginning to end.
There is a leadership deficit in the Armed Forces today, and it begins with the commander-in-chief, President George W. Bush.
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As a former Marine Corps officer, I have to admit to a certain bias in favor of the Marines. I personally believe all of the involved Marines should be punished to the full extent of the law if found guilty of the crimes they have been accused of. There simply is no excuse for the systematic murder of civilians.
However, the crimes that the Marines have been accused of, and the behavior required to carry out such crimes (both from the enlisted Marines and their officers) run so counter to the very fabric of the Marine Corps I was a member of that I have a hard time accepting the charges at face value. Many of my peers still serve in the Marine Corps today as battalion commanders, regimental commanders, or senior staff officers
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Because war is in and of itself so horrible, and the act of waging war so dehumanizing, there is a real danger of those involved suffering a complete breakdown of human sensibility, becoming so traumatized by the act of killing that they become desensitized to human suffering and death. Death becomes a narcotic, and the act of taking human life a drug that must be consumed over and over again.
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The proclivity to become addicted to dealing death is one of the major reasons behind the laws of war. Adherence to the laws of war goes far beyond any legal obligation; once the bullets start flying, legal niceties go out the window. Adherence to the rules of law doesn't come from a sense of right and wrong that exists on the battlefield, but rather as a result of rules and procedures being drilled into the minds of those who wage war over and over again, until these rules, like procedures for fighting through an ambush, are branded into the minds and muscle memory of those pulling the triggers.
The rules of war are adhered to not because someone is thinking about doing the "right thing" on the field of battle, but because of the discipline which ingrained these rules into the very fabric of the warriors waging combat, and the leadership which continued to emphasize these rules once the forces became engaged in combat. The main reason it is so hard for me to believe that the Marines of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment did what they are accused of doing in Haditha is that it runs counter to the discipline and leadership I know they were subjected to. If Haditha in fact occurred, something went very, very wrong.
It is far too easy to place blame, when things do go wrong in war, on a "few bad apples." The fact is, every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine in a theater of combat is a potential "bad apple" if denied the discipline and leadership necessary to maintain a certain standard of conduct in conflict.
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There may have been a crime committed in Haditha. The facts will emerge in due course. But it should be clear to all that there is an ongoing crime taking place in Iraq, and anywhere around the world where American military forces operate according to a mandate given to them by the Bush administration. America has collectively walked away from the rule of law, and in doing so, has become the greatest perpetrator of war crimes in modern times.
The scope and scale of our crimes, as manifested in Iraq and elsewhere, are mind-boggling. The indifference of the American people is mind numbing. And the wrath of history, which will judge all of us harshly, has yet to be felt.
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