An Ethical Failure For The Commander Guys

By Cernig

It's often said that, in the military, soldiers learn their values from their commanders. A new survey by the Pentagon shows just how that has worked while The Commander Guy has been in charge:

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new Pentagon survey of troops in Iraq found that only 40 percent of Marines and 55 percent of Army soldiers would report a member of their unit for killing or wounding an innocent civilian.

In the first internal military study of battlefield ethics in Iraq, officials said Friday they also found that only a third of Marines and roughly half of soldiers said they believed that noncombatants should be treated with dignity.

The study also found that long and repeated deployments were increasing troop mental health problems. And it showed that more than 40 percent of Marines and soldiers said torture should be allowed to save the lives of troops.

Clearly, there is something very wrong with the moral compass that soldiers are being taught when half see nothing wrong with breaking military justice codes and international law - nothing wrong with being war criminals.

Postscript It should be noted that the White House are trying to spin Bush's words about his being The Commander too. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino has ordered the transcript of Bush's speech to be changed to make him say he was "A" commander, not "THE" commander. The change was made after Perino decided she heard something different from everyone else and can now be used to spin Bush's words as saying he is "the sort who prefers the advice of military leaders over politicians in Washington." If the troops are listening to the commander guy like Dubya then it is no wonder they are learning bad ethical habits.