Sunday, July 31, 2005
Corruption Rears It's Ugly Head...
...in our military serving overseas. Thanks to Major K for leading me to this article.
There is something very important to note here -- The LATimes got the story because the military told them about it. I found the Times piece because a milblogger mentioned it. That is terribly important. That says that the military is both watching things closely and taking steps to rectify it when things go wrong.
No institution, particularly one the size of the military, can be scandal free. The measure of such an institution is not the absence of scandal, it is the reaction to scandal. It sounds to me like the military is handling this just fine.
So here is my suggestion. It's important to watch this -- that is part of having the military accountable to the civilians -- it's one of the foundational principles of our nation. But rather than use it as fuel for a fire that might otherwise not burn, let's give the military a chance to do it's job -- let's wait to pile on, if and only if, they mess this up.
A company of the California Army National Guard has been put on restricted duty and its battalion plunged into disarray amid allegations that battalion members mistreated detainees in Iraq and extorted money from shopkeepers, according to military officials and members of the unit.I fear that the greatest problem that will be faced here is not the corruption itself, but the attacks from certain elements in our society that will choose to use the incident for their own ends.
Col. David Baldwin, a California state Guard spokesman, confirmed Tuesday that investigations are underway into the allegations of mistreatment of prisoners by members of Fullerton-based Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion of the 184th Infantry Regiment.
The company, made up of roughly 130 soldiers, is deployed at Forward Operating Base Falcon outside Baghdad. It has been put on restricted duty while the Army reviews its performance, Baldwin said.
Baldwin also confirmed the existence of the investigation of the alleged extortion, which involves members of another company in the battalion.
There is something very important to note here -- The LATimes got the story because the military told them about it. I found the Times piece because a milblogger mentioned it. That is terribly important. That says that the military is both watching things closely and taking steps to rectify it when things go wrong.
No institution, particularly one the size of the military, can be scandal free. The measure of such an institution is not the absence of scandal, it is the reaction to scandal. It sounds to me like the military is handling this just fine.
So here is my suggestion. It's important to watch this -- that is part of having the military accountable to the civilians -- it's one of the foundational principles of our nation. But rather than use it as fuel for a fire that might otherwise not burn, let's give the military a chance to do it's job -- let's wait to pile on, if and only if, they mess this up.
