Thursday, November 10, 2011
"This Should Haunt All Of Us": A US Army Officer Calls For Better Ethical Training For Soldiers
Apropros of yesterday's post on waterboarding, here's another take on the role of torture in contemporary warfare.
H/t to Tom Ricks of the Best Defence blog for flagging this excellent piece on ethics and combat by a junior US Army officer, based on his recent experience in Afghanistan.
Kevin Bell argues that ethics can't be left to chaplains as subject matter experts because nobody else needs to know about it. He argues that because of the stresses that junior officers will feel in a counter-insurgency environment where the enemy is largely unknown, the temptation to resort to torture as interrogation will be huge because of anger and the desire for revenge will be enormous.
"Reasonable people can disagree about the best arguments for and against torture. For us as soldiers, though, these claims are beside the point. We are required by duty and honor to uphold our country’s statutory and treaty obligations, which state that torture is categorically unacceptable. To better fulfill this duty we have to do more to confront the ethical dilemmas of our profession before we go to war. It isn’t enough to know the rules if we are still unsure in a time of weakness what to do with detainees who might have tactically useful information. Our training
and leadership culture have to reinforce our understanding that the ethical treatment of prisoners doesn’t undermine the counterinsurgency strategy."
Whole article here. A must read for army officers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Mad Padre
Followers
Blog Archive
-
▼
2011
(150)
-
▼
November
(17)
- The Economics Of Death
- A University Chaplain Brings Some Peace To Tense C...
- Seen On The Run
- Seen On The Morning Run
- Meeting Royalty: A Sermon for the Reign of Christ...
- Military Video Games: "The Promise Of Plausible H...
- Atheists In U.S. Military Seek Official Status
- "This Should Haunt All Of Us": A US Army Officer ...
- On The Wargames Blog: Confederate Gunners
- US Soldier: Waterboarding Is Torture, Period
- Seen On The Morning Run: Winter Starts To Grip Th...
- Life in Suffield: The Mad (And Bad) Padre On Ice
- "They Facilitated the Horror": A New Study Of Ger...
- Zombie Apocalpypse, Christian Apocalypse
- Military Picture of the Week
- Doing Church in Hipster Brooklyn
- Notable Quotable: Gail Collins on Herman Cain and...
-
▼
November
(17)
Labels
- Advent (5)
- Adventures in Alberta (11)
- Adventures in Atlantic Canada (17)
- Adventures in Ontario (2)
- All (1)
- All Saints Collingwood (112)
- All Saints King City (128)
- American Civil War (2)
- Angl (1)
- Anglican Church (323)
- Anglican Military Ordinariate (6)
- archaeology (1)
- Beer (2)
- Blogs and Blogging (13)
- Book Reviews (58)
- C.S. Lewis (1)
- C.S. Lewis and Narnia (1)
- Canada At War (18)
- Canadian Armed Forces (25)
- Canadian Forces Chaplain School (2)
- Canadian Military History (1)
- Chaplain Stories (23)
- Chaplaincy Issues (7)
- Children's Ministry (9)
- Christianity and Islam (4)
- Christianity and Society (13)
- Christmas (2)
- Church and Society (8)
- Church History (11)
- Climate (1)
- Climate and Environment (1)
- Conversations (1)
- Cool Stuff (11)
- CS Lewis (1)
- Cultural Studies (1)
- Daily Devotional (37)
- Daily Office (2)
- Death and Dying (5)
- Depression and Suicide in the Military (10)
- Drones (3)
- Easter (2)
- ebooks (7)
- Ecumenism (1)
- Epiphany (6)
- Ethics and Society (31)
- Eucharist (1)
- Evangelism (1)
- Family News (5)
- Films (4)
- Firearms (1)
- First World War (2)
- Flowers (1)
- Food Insecurity (1)
- Friday Theology (19)
- Funerals (5)
- Funny Stuff (36)
- Gaming and Ethics (7)
- Good Friday (2)
- Great War (3)
- Grief and Loss (1)
- Hebrew Scriptures (3)
- Holy Week (6)
- Homiletics and Preaching (6)
- Interfaith Dialogue (3)
- J.R.R. Tolkien (1)
- Jordan Peterson (2)
- Judaism (2)
- Language Play of the Week (9)
- Lent (44)
- Lent Madness (1)
- Lent Madness 2023 (20)
- Lent Madness 2024 (20)
- Literacy and Literature (12)
- Literature and War (2)
- Liturgy (2)
- Living History (1)
- Marriage and Relationships (6)
- Marriage and Society (3)
- Me and My iphone (12)
- Mental Health (9)
- Military and Literature (2)
- Military and Society (59)
- Military and Spirituality (40)
- Military and Suicide (13)
- Military Chaplaincy (109)
- Military Culture (7)
- Military Ethics (68)
- Military Families (10)
- Military Goats (11)
- Military History (67)
- Military History American Civil War (5)
- Military Humour (32)
- Military News (220)
- Military Picture of the Week (36)
- Military Rantings (10)
- Military Reading (3)
- Military Service (42)
- Minature Wargames - My Figures (18)
- Miniature Wargames - Battle Reports (11)
- Miniature Wargames - Miscellaneous (2)
- Music (2)
- Oh Canada (10)
- Over There (122)
- Pandemic (1)
- Physical Fitness (1)
- Pluralism (1)
- Poetry (1)
- Prayer (3)
- Psalms (1)
- PTSD Issues (45)
- Random Stuff (1)
- Reconciliation (2)
- Regional Ministry (1)
- Religion and Conflict (5)
- Religion and Society (74)
- Religion In The News (12)
- Remembrance Day (2)
- Royal Canadian Regiment (4)
- Running (37)
- Sacraments (1)
- Saints (18)
- Saints Days (3)
- Seen on the Run (16)
- Self Care (1)
- ser (1)
- Sermon (3)
- Sermons (348)
- Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) (1)
- Spirituality (23)
- Technology and Humanity (1)
- Terrorism (1)
- The Bible and Society (4)
- The Great War (1)
- The Secular (1)
- Theology (35)
- Tolkien (1)
- Tom Holland (1)
- Travel Stories (3)
- Truth and Reconciliation Canada (2)
- Video Gamex (1)
- Volkswagen Westfalia (8)
- Wanderings (8)
- War and Literature (3)
- Worship (4)
2 comments:
An excellent article indeed.
Well Padre, for what it's worth here are some thoughts of a vet of asymmetrical conflict.
Laws and doctrines can only be guidelines. The job of teaching ethics is the responsibility of the home and society from an early age.
There once was a military system that tested the character of potential leaders. The idea was that those of desirable character, even if uneducated, could be taught what they needed to know but it was beyond the ability of the military to build character in those lacking it no matter how educated.
By the time a person is in their early teens ethics should be well developed. No one is perfect but the leader in the article exhibited very admirable character in a stressful situation. It was an extremely personal dilemma but I believe that his decisions will be something that in future he will find personally right.
Revenge can give short term satisfaction but long term agony.
Post a Comment