Atrocites

Atrocities happen.

Troops under great pressure do things that they would not under controlled conditions. The alleged massacre at al-Haditha will be investigated and the facts, as they can be determined, will be made public.

My Lai is a fact of the Vietnam era and a massacre of refugees that occurred during the Korean War has only lately come to light. Atrocities happen on all sides. In the case of the United States, such behavior is never sanctioned by policy; the same cannot be said for all combatant states and organizations.

While Nazi, Japanese, and Soviet sanctioned atrocities that occurred before and during W.W. II have come to light, certainly individuals and small groups of American troops did terrible things that will never be made public as the old soldiers pass from the scene. Terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and elsewhere clearly demonstrate that the lives of innocents are put purposely at risk in their deadly attacks.

That someone like me with no combat experience should write about this subject is unusual but something happened in my army tour that makes all of this relevant. As a member of a platoon in a defensive position during a war game situation at Ft. Lewis, WA in the months after the end of the Korean Conflict, we `captured’ several `enemy’ troops trying to infiltrate our position.

As part of the exercise, we were expected to interrogate our `prisoners’. In keeping with army requirements, the `POWs’ had been trained that, in accord with the Geneva Convention, they would not have to provide captors with more than their names, ranks, and serial numbers. As the situation developed, I paid little attention since the `enemy’ troops were actually soldiers from another company in our real battalion whom I knew well by sight.

Suddenly, the situation went explosively out of control; one of our interrogators demanded information about the broader infiltration effort on the part of the `enemy’ and our `POWs’ answered with only their names, ranks, and serial numbers. Before my eyes, one of my platoon mates became extremely agitated and enraged and struck the nearest `prisoner’ very hard in the gut with the butt of his rifle.

Several of us intervened and smoothed the situation over, but this frightening incident has remained vivid in my memory for more than half a century. A review of the My Lai situation showed men under pressure behaving as badly as possible and others rising to the heights of moral courage.

As communication improves, it becomes far more difficult for abominable behavior to be covered up, and the incidence of court martial offenses is far more likely to become public. Today’s troops are of equal moral stock to those who have gone before them, but, sadly, the terrible behavior in abu Grave Prison and the allegations of atrocities in al-Haditha while truly rare are much more likely to come to light in our time.

Last week, the President lamented that the abu Grave situation undercut the American moral position in Iraq and across the Muslim world. If the facts in al-Haditha are as alleged, another black eye is certain.

While America has no choice but to punish the guilty as well as those above in the chain of command who may have covered it up, as Secretary of defense Rumsfeld has stated – and it’s true, “Stuff happens.”

With this in mind, American leaders must be ever mindful how hard they must work to train bad behavior out of the troops, to police the behavior of troops in action, and to bring criminally behaving soldiers to justice.

But even more important, the leaders must not send our troops into harms way except when the vital interest of the United States are threatened. The problems of abhorrent behavior in Iraq cannot be ignored but neither can the strategic decision to intervene in that land without adequate intelligence be forgotten. It has gravely damaged the presidency of George W. Bush and brought the nation to a low state in world opinion. While the motivation behind our intervention may have been based on the best intentions, the nature of war often leads to unintended consequences.

Pray that we may get through this period with the least possible damage to our country and with our national honor intact.

Blog on!

Wild Bill