First I must say that reading details of what happened in the U.S. military prison facilities in Iraq gave me a feeling of nausea. It is hard to imagine that people could be so insensitive and cruel to fellow human beings. Not to mention the failure to think of how this could jeopardize the mission at hand. However that is being said sitting in my comfortable chair in the Midwest, far from harms way. Even as I like to hope that I would never resort to similar actions, it is true that you never know how you will react to a given stress or stresses, until faced by the situation. That being said I offer the following. It is in the form of statement of beliefs followed by a hypothetical Q & A with an average 12-year-old. Finishing with what I consider to be poignant questions.

• what happened in Abu Ghraib is wrong
• young adults should know right and wrong
• people should be held responsible for their actions

A 12-year-old is asked to make decisions about right and wrong:

• Q: Is okay to abuse and humiliate people? A: No, that is wrong.
• Q: Have you ever seen someone do it? A: Yes.
• Q: What did you do? A: Nothing.
• Q: Have you ever done something like that yourself? A: Well yeah, but only a little.
• Q: Would it be all right if you took your gun and shot someone? A: No, that would be wrong.
• Q: What if they are trying to kill you, would be okay then? A: Yes.
• Q: What if you thought they were maybe going to try to kill you? A: No, you have to be pretty sure.
• Q: What if someone tried to kill you and there were other people around him, would be okay to kill them all? A: You should try not to kill the others, but if they knew he tried to kill you and didn't try to stop him and they wouldn't get out of the way and were protecting him maybe then.
• Q: What if you know someone a few towns away is going to try to kill you. What if they already tried. Would it be okay to bomb the town he lived in? A: No. Definitely not.
• Q: What about just the neiborhood that he lives in? A: Still no.

Is an eighteen year old or a twenty two year old or for that matter a forty year old suppose to know that in the more or less hierarchical list above that it is okay to do the really bad stuff in the latter part of the list but the kind of bad stuff in the beginning to middle of the list is strictly forbidden? I think they should know. But surrounded by stress and violence, trying to do what you think is most important, namely protecting yours from terrorists, from the evil doers, if you make a mistake what should happen to you? Where is north from which to calibrate your moral compass? I don't think you can get off scott free. Who should be more responsible, the cannon fodder on the ground, up against it everyday, or the managers higher up? Those putting people in place without clear instructions. Who stands to gain the most with success? Shouldn't they also lose the most with failure or when mistakes are made?