Guild Chief Under Fire for Comments About Attacks on Journalists in Iraq

Supporting the military and U.S. troops should never mean a blind loyalty. Individuals who serve in our military are to be commended for a variety of reasons. Yet they are individuals and some will be moral, ethical and serve properly, while some may falter in their duty or judgement. To examine the killing of non-combatants of any kind, journalists or otherwise, with an eye to improving the way the military runs is a public good. Furthermore, if the administration of Enron can be separated from Enron employees, and we can analyze what went wrong in terms of poor or crooked management and not dishonest employees, so we should be able to examine the U.S. Military as composed of a hierarchy of administrators (officers) who we presume do their duty and serve honorably, but who as humans, can make mistakes or be misled, or even simply follow orders which turn out to be illegal or immoral orders. Any examination of questions of leadership, proper attention to duty and quality of service is not an attack on the troops or its command, but an attempt to make sure the majority of troops and officers who do their duty are protected from being in a barrel with a couple of bad apples. When I have a student who is cheating in class, I want to know about it and deal with that student. By taking action to stop or punish the cheater, I don't condemn the rest of the students. In fact, by dealing with the cheater, I honor the other students for their honesty. Linda's comments or anyone else's about particular instances in the military are not the same as condemning the whole enterprise. Anyone's blind defense of the U.S. Military as if it were perfect is degrading to the individuals in the service who are doing their duty because it lumps the honest with the dishonest, and says that just being in a group makes you good or right, not your personal adherence to common morals. And that is insulting to the troops and officers. Guild Chief Under Fire for Comments About Attacks on Journalists in Iraq