Maybe it's just me but I think Siun is being a little hard on the Marines.
Yes, it's important that the Marines act honorably and take steps to reduce civilian casualties but I think that's missing the broader point. As I've said many times the U.S. Marine Corps shouldn't even be in Iraq in the first place. At least not since the initial hostilities ended.
The Marines exist as a branch of the U.S. armed forces for reason only: to destroy the armies of our enemies. Brutally, and without mercy. They are very, very good at fulfilling that charter. Probably the best organization in the world when it comes to that.
When it comes to things outside of that charter such as peacekeeping and police work the Marines are wholly out of their element. It's like trying to use an axe to slice a loaf of bread. It's not only the wrong tool for the job it's the wrong family of tools.
It's another aspect of the attempts by the administration to hide the true costs of the war and prosecute it on the cheap that they've put branches of our armed services into situations they aren't equipped nor trained for. The deaths that've occured to Iraq civilians are as much the responsibility of the civilians who made these decisions as they are the individual Marines who did the killing. You don't leave your baby with a pit-bull then complain when it gets mauled. The same formula works here.
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Siun's sarcasm comes off as a bit awkward to me. Dean is exactly right that the Marines aren't there to perform non-combat roles and yet are being asked to.
Here is the other thing. Less than 40% of Marines and other soldiers say that torture can be justified.
Our nation voted at over 50% for it when they elected Bush in 2004 and the opinion writers and commentators are at somewhere around 90% in favor of torture.
It looks like the Marines and the sodiers are ahead of the curve to me. Shame on the ignorant half of America for their moral weakness.
Don,
I would bet my eye-teeth that every incidence that soldiers would feel that torture was justified was in a "ticking timebomb" situation.
That is - they imagine that the lives of fellow soldiers are on the line if they aren't rescued quickly.
I don't think torture is justified (or useful) under even those situations but I understand the reasoning.
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