From the Guardian

[queen_fire]

US army increases use of moral waivers to meet demand for troops The US army doubled its use of "moral waivers" for enlisted soldiers last year to cope with the stress of the Iraq war, allowing convicted sex offenders, people convicted of making terrorist threats and child abusers into the military, according to new records released today

Comments

[jjjiii]

Well, two, anyway.

[jjjiii]

I'd be more worried about the killers. There's like 150,000 of them at large in Iraq.

[queen_fire]

Oh well that one is more obvious, if you allow traditional criminals into an area with guns, they'll go do damage. I'm sure its a statistical probability, I suppose it depends on how well under wraps they are. Wasn't that the subject of a murder trial a few years ago? A kid with a troubled past organized the killing of an Iraqi family because he wanted to rape the daughters and he got his squad to go along with it because they were young and dumb?

[jjjiii]

I like how the organizer does it because he has a troubled past, and the rest go along with it because they're young and dumb. As opposed to say, all of them doing it because they have no moral foundation worthy of the name human, and are all evil monsters.

[queen_fire]

Yeah, well, I don't think they deserved to get off either but they would probably not have done that if the other guy hadn't initiated it. I don't remember all the details and how much they were participants or followers. I got the impression it was a combination of both.

[queen_fire]

My friend Valentina made the comment that they were most likely 'high as kites,' so probably not in the right frame of mind.

[jjjiii]

My friend Valentina made the comment that they were most likely 'high as kites,' so probably not in the right frame of mindguilty of additional wrongdoing.

Obviously to commit such actions would require not being in a right frame of mind. I think it's extremely important to focus on the accountability of the individual for their actions in a case like this. All the reasons you can point to to contribute to the individuals making the decisions that they made to act as they did do not diminish their culpability or the wrongness of those actions, nor do they remove or distribute any amount of blame.

I had a difficult upbringing, and have been high, and never would have done anything like what these guys did. And if I had, I would expect to be found guilty of war crimes and punished severely for it.

[queen_fire]

Agreed. That's why they had a criminal trial. Whether or not they would have done it sober doesn't really matter at this point. They all got 100 year sentences even if they are only expected to serve out 10 (or 20 years in one case) until they are eligible for parole. They were tried as adults as it was obviously something they shouldn't have been doing.