Almost half of Marines surveyed favor torture - It gets worse from there

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/marine_ethics_070503/

By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 4, 2007 10:01:15 EDT

About 44 percent of Marines in a survey believe torture should be allowed if it would save the life of a fellow Marine, according to a 2006 military mental health assessment.

In addition, only slightly more than one-third of the nearly 450 leathernecks polled in Iraq last year — 38 percent — told members of the Mental Health Advisory Team that they believe all non-combatants should be treated with dignity and respect. That finding was notably lower than the 47 percent of soldiers who were asked that same question, according to briefing slides presented by the team of Army medical officers to Commandant Gen. James Conway on April 18.

The team was commissioned by U.S. Central Command. A copy of the study’s results was obtained by Marine Corps Times.

A Corps spokesman did not dispute the team’s findings. “We are convinced that in broad outline this is an honest, sincere and faithful effort that attempts to accurately capture what our Marines think and do in combat,” said Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas. “It is one more set of data in a series that has taken on tough issues. We will closely consider the report and its recommendations.”

The study also found that 39 percent believe torture should be allowed to gather information about insurgents, and 17 percent said all non-combatants should be treated as insurgents.

they were taught to believe that civilians are nasty undisciplined trash

... in particular, the Army and Marines. 'Jody' ... 'hippies' ... and many less speakable epithets. It's all part of military indoctrination and (arguably) necessary. After all, a 'civilized' person doesn't kill other huamn beings. While the large majority of people who've served in the military in the last 50 years haven't had to actually kill another human being (or at least KNOW that they have), the training and indoctrination must prepare them to do so.

:puke:

What matters is what their civilian leaders do!

I heard that somewhere in the report it was highlighting that only 40% would report other soldiers for abuse (I'm tired so will let others get the stats). I wonder how these numbers compare to cops wandering around our cities carry machine guns in their trunks.

Anybody think that the numbers would be any better for your local neighborhood police officer. Personally I doubt if 5% of cops would turn in another cop for graft or stealing from soneone they arrested or try to get someone to screw them in return ignoring a drug crime or plant a drop gun in a bad shooting?

I actually thought compared to most other enforcement situations our soldiers come off looking better than most.

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I spent four years in the Corps; don’t think I turned into a sociopath yet.
:mad:

Semper Fi and all that horseshit.

and I don't mean that in a negative way. That's what Marines do. So I'm not at all surprised by this poll.

*ss made them our enemies? If we are so interested in the truth maybe we should torture a few of the people in DC.

how realistic is that assumption? The question assumes that torture not only "works" but produces a highly desirable result. They might as well ask if they are in favor of using magic on the battle field if it would save the life of a fellow marine.

Nothing new here... and, by the way, that's the norm in most armed forces around the world.

Soldiers are not trained to be nice. They are trained to kill.