If War Crimes Have Been Committed, It Is George W. Bush Who Is Guilty Or – A Failure Of Leadership

If American soldiers have committed war crimes it is a failure of leadership. Period!

I have written several posts in the past reflecting on the failures of leadership that is the Bush administration. I believe it is urgent and necessary to re-address these failures.

When we, the American people, see news reports of alleged massacres and or alleged war crimes it is all too easy to one, jump to the conclusion that the accusations are true, and two, convict the accused soldiers before the investigations and subsequent possible trials are complete. This is doubly easy to do when you are as against the war as I am and have such strong feelings about the gross tragedies that are occurring in Iraq. I am asking America to not do that. I am begging America to reserve judgment until the facts are revealed, the investigations complete and the trials are ended.

That America not jump to conclusions is critically important to the sanity, safety, and security of the hundreds of thousands of honorable soldiers serving in our military.

It is my professional opinion that the actions of soldiers and by default military units/organizations are a reflection of their leadership. I have been a personal witness to this fact time and again. It was my sad duty but also honor to, on numerous occasions, be asked by my chain of command to go into an organization and with a new Commander “clean it up”. That is to restore military discipline and order and esprit de corps to the organization. I can attest, that in every single instance of this, and there were numerous instances, the reason for the breakdown in order and discipline was an inept, incompetent, and often derelict chain of command. That is that the leadership lacked moral courage and honor and as a result the organization had taken on the weak moral stature of the leadership. It is my opinion that this dynamic has been obvious and prevalent since the beginning of the Iraq war and it has seeped down like the insidious cancer it is from the very top of the military chain of command directly from the Commander in Chief.

Honor and moral courage begin with the manner in which a leader conducts him or her self. If leaders conduct themselves using deceit and dishonesty then it becomes obvious and the leader’s subordinates believe that it is okay for them to act this way. They in fact begin to believe that it is simply expected that they will emulate their leader. So the reality is that when George W. Bush puts himself and his administration above the law and orders torture, and orders warrantless wiretaps and spying on American citizens then the chain of command begins to believe that if the Commander in Chief can do it I can do it and I’m in fact expected to do it and maybe even ordered to do it. And If the Generals believe this then the Colonels believe it and the Captains and the Sergeants and the Privates. That’s how you end up with soldiers stacking nude POW’s into pyramids and making them perform sex acts on each other and that’s how you end up with a Sergeant using his dog to make “POW’s” soil themselves and that’s how you end up with soldiers being accused of shooting innocent men, women, and children.

In the rigid system that is the military there is no room for error. There is no room for people who do not follow orders. It is drilled into the soldiers head day in and day out to follow orders and oh by the way if the order is illegal you don’t have to follow it but oh by the way if you disobey you had better make sure that the order is illegal and oh by the way if it turns out the order is legal we’ll shoot you later for failing to follow a lawful order. The problem is you see that combat is not a nice neat, clean business. So the bottom line is if your leadership doesn’t stand for honor, integrity and the moral right then you the soldier loose either way.

So please when you hear and see these things first give the soldiers a benefit of a doubt and then remember there are hundreds of thousands who are standing tall honorably and with moral courage and third demand that George W. Bush and the rest of his chain of command be held accountable and responsible for every illegal, immoral and corrupt action they have committed and allowed to be committed. And then demand that any soldier found guilty of committing a war crime be held accountable.

Those Are The Sergeant Majors Thoughts On That.