I was really hoping there would be no Marines implicated in this shit.
Devildogs, you can’t do this kind of thing. Remember, we are better than this. It isn’t about “they’d do the same thing to us!” Its about our own sense of honor, pride and adherence to the rule of law. We don’t torture our prisoners of war. We. Just. Don’t. We treat them according to our training, the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Why? Because we come from a country that is supposed to boldly stand for justice and liberty, not the shameful imitation of dictators and Banana Republic thuggery.
Now then, these two Marines had the right, as they and every other Marine have been instructed in the past, to disobey an unlawful order. That may seem like an impossible task to a young PFC, so I partially sympathize with them on that part. The consequences would have been heavy and possibly career-ending, but they wouldn’t be heading to jail for prisoner abuse right now. Further, they wouldn’t be looking shamefully at themselves in the mirror ten years from now, asking “why didn’t I refuse that order?” As hard as it would have been, they still had the right and the responsibility to say “not me.” They carried out the unlawful order when they could have refused, unpleasant as that would have been. There is a price to be paid for such.
As far as the sentences for the two PFCs go, I am fine with that, so long as the officers, SNCOs and NCOs in their chain of command (assuming they knew of the abuses) get slapped down three times as hard. Don’t stop with these two young Marines and let the old salts get away with giving the order for the abuses, looking the other way or doing the “wink-wink.” The higher up the chain of the command this goes, the more severe of a penalty should be attached.
I don’t want to to hear about these two PFCs going to jail while their supervisors simply get off with career-ending Fitness Reports. That would be completely unsat. My real anger and disgust is directed at those NCOs, SNCOs and officers who sanctioned this behavior. They should have never put these two young Marines in the position of having to carry out an unlawful order in the first place.
And it had better cost them more than their careers.
Semper Fi.
Sergeant James Landrith
United States Marine Corps
and Gulf War Veteran