Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar, two United States Marines, wrote this Opinion piece for the Washington Post on Thursday, May 17. Krulak was commandant of the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. Hoar was commander in chief of U.S. Central Command from 1991 to 1994. I happen to have personal knowledge of Krulak. He was an upperclassman at the US Naval Academy during my first year there. One day he disapproved of something I did and, as a corrective discipline, hazed me so badly my “firstie,” the senior who was to ensure each plebe had some where to go, had to call him off –a rare occurrence among the bonding upper classes. He was a mean, mean son of a bitch, with a tough Marine father, nicknamed “Brute,” to follow after. So, it is with particular pride that I read what he learned in his years of service.
As has happened with every other nation that has tried to engage in a little bit of torture — only for the toughest cases, only when nothing else works — the abuse spread like wildfire, and every captured prisoner became the key to defusing a potential ticking time bomb. Our soldiers in Iraq confront real “ticking time bomb” situations every day, in the form of improvised explosive devices, and any degree of “flexibility” about torture at the top drops down the chain of command like a stone — the rare exception fast becoming the rule.
To understand the impact this has had on the ground, look at the military’s mental health assessment report released earlier this month. The study shows a disturbing level of tolerance for abuse of prisoners in some situations. This underscores what we know as military professionals: Complex situational ethics cannot be applied during the stress of combat. The rules must be firm and absolute; if torture is broached as a possibility, it will become a reality.
This has had disastrous consequences. Revelations of abuse feed what the Army’s new counterinsurgency manual, which was drafted under the command of Gen. David Petraeus, calls the “recuperative power” of the terrorist enemy.
Now if he would just go chew out the Commander in Chief….