Crosslinked to Stop the ACLU.

Via Time:

Lawsuit Alleges Troop Misconduct

New documents released Tuesday regarding crimes committed by U.S. soldiers against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan detail a troubling pattern of troops failing to understand and follow the rules that govern interrogations and deadly actions.

The documents, released by the American Civil Liberties Union ahead of a lawsuit, total nearly 10,000 pages of courts-martial summaries, transcripts and military investigative reports about 22 incidents. They show repeated examples of soldiers believing they were within the law when they killed local citizens.

The killings include the drowning of a man soldiers pushed from a bridge into the Tigris River as punishment for breaking curfew, and the suffocation during interrogation of a former Iraqi general believed to be helping insurgents.

I want to stop for a moment and note a few things. 

First, this story was sent to me by a friend of many years who vehemently opposes any form of torture and coercion.  He has very vocally made that position well know.

Where he and I disagree quite often is in the details.  I may buy off on some forms of coercion that he wont, but we both disagree with actual abuse and torture, much like what is noted here.

Note also that the “repeated examples of soldiers believing they were within the law when they killed local citizens” is based on reports of 22 incidents.  22.  So they looked into all 22 and found that most of the soldiers were sure they were doing OK.

Of course they were, that is the core of a defense.  They have to state that they believe they were justified to defend their actions.  So their grim pronouncement is hardly a shock, when their data is gleaned from Court Martials against people who committed crimes.

But getting back to my friend, he raised an interesting point.  he said: