[Windfalls of the week]
An American problem: Waived morality

The Americans will find a less safe world for them and we will face more resistance from our own countrymen and power elite when advocating for more reform in the direction of rule of law, democracy and individual rights.

If one reason of this outcome is the unlawful invasion of another country stamping on international law and defying international consensus thus opening the way to the dictum “might makes right,” the other is the misdemeanor of American troops that have shocked the world in the photos out of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons and the torture sessions conducted in CIA planes traveling from one country to another.

Having personally witnessed the discourse among the politicians and speeches delivered in the American Congress on the permissibility of “a little” torture, and the quasi-hate speech constantly alerting the Americans to the evils of foreigners -- hence eavesdropping on communication has become an executive privilege -- I came to the conclusion that we have lost the US in our naïve drive to cleanse the human soul from hating the “other” and contain the excesses of power holders.

The other factor that has tarnished the image of the US in the world that is evident in the results of multi-national public opinion polls is the conduct of American soldiers in Iraq. Some of their criminal behavior is covered up; some find their way to the courts and end up penalized. When I was wondering about the reasons for the decline of moral conduct among American soldiers, who were so chivalrous during the two world wars, I came across the following editorial in The New York Times on Feb. 20, 2007. The title of the piece that will be quoted below is “Moral Waivers and the Military”. Here are some excerpts:

“The Iraq war has plunged the Army into a vicious cycle of declining standards. Multiple, extended tours of duty have sapped morale and blighted recruiting. New plans for a larger overall force could reduce pressures but would also mean that recruiters would have to meet higher quotas.

“To keep filling the ranks, the Army has had to keep lowering its expectations. Diluting educational, aptitude and medical standards has not been enough. Nor have larger enlistment bonuses plugged the gap. So the Army has found itself recklessly expanding the granting of ‘moral waivers,’ which let people convicted of serious misdemeanors and even some felonies enlist in its ranks.

“Last year, such waivers were granted to 8,129 men and women -- or more than one out of every 10 new Army recruits. That number is up 65 percent since 2003, the year President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. In the last three years, more than 125,000 moral waivers have been granted by America’s four military services.

“Most of last year’s Army waivers were for serious misdemeanors, like aggravated assault, robbery, burglary and vehicular homicide. But around 900 -- double the number in 2003 -- were for felonies. Worse, the Army does no systematic tracking of recruits with waivers once it signs them up, and it does not always pay enough attention to any adjustment problems. Without adequate monitoring and counseling, handing out guns to people who have already committed crimes poses a danger to the other soldiers they serve with and to the innocent civilians they are supposed to protect. The military is America’s face to much of the world. It ought to present the best face of American youth.”