Justice is Done

Back when the charge of drowning an Iraqi was made against a 4th ID soldier after Baghdad fell, I was openly skeptical given the description of horrible light discipline by the soldiers.

I noted some months ago when the soldier went on trial that I was probably wrong. Now (via Instapundit) comes the conviction. I was definitely wrong and our soldier committed a crime, although murder is not the conviction since nobody is sure the victim is even dead. But forcing the man into the water was a crime.

Our troops are amongst the best trained, disciplined soldiers in the world and in history. Crimes such as this are rare. I am glad we punish such a crime since it is both right and in our interest to punish a crime like this. Committing crimes like this just makes enemies. We expected this soldier to brave enemy fire to complete the mission and we also expect him to treat civilians with respect to complete his mission. He both committed a crime and failed to accomplish his mission, putting other soldiers at risk.

Hopefully our press won't treat this as a tip of the iceberg of abuse. It isn't. We punish our guilty.