better late than never

[Wisha Haddan H3]

It's good to see military leadership lay down the law like this, but sad to know it's so needed in the ranks. I wish this statement had come out long before (not this long after) Abu Ghraib.

Now they just need to back it up. Let's see a similar statement from the President and CIA regarding our torture camps and prisons around the world.
_________________



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_battlefield_ethics


In a letter to U.S. service members, Gen. David Petraeus said that adhering to high moral values "distinguishes us from our enemy" and is essential to winning support among the Iraqi population ? the cornerstone of the new U.S. counterinsurgency strategy.
.......................


More than 40 percent support the idea of torture in some cases, and 10 percent reported personally abusing civilians, the Pentagon said last week in releasing its first ethics study of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.


The survey found that 44 percent of Marines and 41 percent of soldiers said torture should be allowed to save the life of a soldier or Marine. Thirty-nine percent of Marines and 36 percent of soldiers said torture should be allowed to gather important information from insurgents.


Only 47 percent of the soldiers and 38 percent of Marines surveyed said noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect. About a third of them said they had insulted or cursed at civilians in their presence.
.....................................

Pentagon officials said they were studying the results of the survey and were revising training programs to focus more on values, suicide prevention, rules of warfare and behavioral health awareness.