Hypothetically, if someone you trust told you that they saw prison abuse during a tour of duty in Iraq...?

Submariner 1

Immediatley Report it. It is not an option, if he knows of it and does nothing, he is just as guilty.
Contacting the Media may violate one of many Regulations, including OPSEC. It is not his job the broadcast it to the media.

Remember your Forces Creed:
Mine is Honor, Courage, and Commitment.
Can you or him live up to it, by keeping your mouth shut? Is that the American way? By letting this happen, what seperates us from them? We have Moral Supremecy, do we loose it by doing that.

DOOM

I'd tell him to inform his chain of command. If they don't address it, I would tell him to inform the IG. There are avenues in the armed services for handling these things.

TinyMe

Nothing. It could get that person in a lot of trouble and they trusted you. You'd have to live with the guilt of hurting a close friend that has gone through more than you will ever know. Would you be able to sleep at night knowing that you did something that could hurt your friend?

wcowell2000

While I don't condone violence, unless necessary, it would be a judgment call. It really depends what the abuse is. If we are talking Abu Grab stuff, then no.

Nude pyramids and a few dogs barking, while I am sure it was unpleasant for the prisoners, hardly counts as horrid torture.

From what I read, Abu was a media driven mess and the things done to the prisoners were acceptable.

But, if they are say beating someone stupid for no good reason, then that is something I would come forward on.

Hokie

Nothing. They told me there was prison abuse, I have no solid proof. Not much I can do in that situation. Even if they showed me photos, unless I had to pictures, I would have no proof.

alberto g

Look war is war... just think about what the enemy have done or is doing to our troops when they catch them and make them prisoners. They torture us and then cut our head off in the name of Allah. They don't care about us, why should you care about them, the enemy.. They even kill their own without mercy. In war you have to become like them is you want to win.. Good luck with your decision..

Alberto Garcia, Capt.
Special Forces,
Vietnam

richfraga

tell him that we both need to keep our mouths shut and turn a blind eye. you never hear what they do to us. you don't hear about the torture and the beatings, but forbid if we think of doing that.

Meta

How are Iraqis going to kill your children? Your children, presumably, do not live in Iraq. These people DO live in Iraq. The only Americans they'll have seen are the ones who came to Iraq with guns.

Plus I highly doubt they have any interest in your children. Maybe someone elses children... but not yours. These children-killing Iraqis are actually pretty fussy, and they have a lot of children to choose from when deciding which children to kill.

To answer your question, the conscientious thing to do would be to persuade the person to get some proof, and let the proper authorities know. However such a decision would probably end their Army career - sadly, noone likes whistleblowers. This is why abuse persists... they could alternatively leak pictures to the media, which would allow them anonymity.

And I assume you want to know the conscientious thing to do - since the obvious thing to do otherwise would be to just pretend it never happened.

jason

nothing, its hearsay

bud68

There is nothing you can do. It is heresay to you.

darrell m

hypothetically I'd think you should seriously question your friend, and i would hypothetically think your friend was clueless.

King Felix

nothing. abuse and torture are sometimes necessary in order to save American lives.

fsfa

Be happy about it. There is no such thing as abuse when it comes to people who want to kill my kids.

satcomgrunt

Nothing they trusted me. Secondly unless they said they were beheading people screw the enemy. They chose not to obey the Geneva Conventions so 2 can play at that game.

Something Smells Fishy

I'd ask if they had any evidence, then encourage them to turn it over to the news.

This kind of thing is ruining our reputation across the world, and risks increasing terrorism and discouraging other nations from cooperating with us.

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