Reflections of a stormy petrel

Your friend was not a worse criminal than the Nazi leadership. Who were condemned and executed within the law. And if you refuse to understand that, understand this: this is the same mentality that gave us Abu Ghraib - the worst publicity disaster suffered by the USA in thirty years. And of course everyone knows that the enemy does ten worse things every hour of the day. So bloody what? Are you trying to be judged by the standards of Al Qaeda? Of course we demand better behaviour from Western troops. Americans are not supposed to be brutes. You are not allowed to take pride in Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr.'s heroism ( http://fpb.livejournal.com/149173.html ) if you then make excuses for military brutality. It is not whether the prisoners have any rights, but whether we have any duties. It is not whether the accused deserves due process, but whether due process is to be applied at all. And speaking purely as a historian, I say that people who take shortcuts, who allow themselvs to believe that there is something to be said for brutality, always lose. Brutality is not practical. There is nothing to be said for it. Avoid it. Condemn it. If nothing else, for the sake of your own military power, which will certainly be diminished and corrupted by brutality.