Bacevich: Military leaders need to take responsibility for troops’ actions
In today’s Washington Post, Andrew J. Bacevich writes that the problem in Afghanistan these days is that the commanders aren’t taking enough responsibility for their troops’ malfeasance;
For too long now, command accountability for our troops’ misconduct in wartime has been more theoretical than real. The latest scandal to erupt in Afghanistan — photographs of American soldiers amusing themselves with dismembered Taliban corpses — suggests that it’s past time to confront this problem.
On the question of accountability, the military’s ethic is clear: With authority comes responsibility. More specifically, commanders bear responsibility for everything that happens within their jurisdiction. This decree supposedly applies to high-ranking generals as much as lowly lieutenants.
He concludes;
Leaders shape institutions. But no leader is irreplaceable — sometimes nothing beats replacing a few near the top to focus the attention of the rest. For an American military well into a second exhausting decade of continuous war, this is one of those times.
You might be surprised to read that I agree with Bacevich, but not in the way he’d like me to agree. Leaders do indeed shape institutions. And the military’s top leader hasn’t taken responsibility for one thing he’s done since he assumed that mantle. How else should his subordinates act?
Yes, I know, Bacevich wants Obama to fire Gen. John Allen from his post as commander of our forces in Afghanistan, but I think it would do more good for our intentions in Afghanistan to be secured if we fired Allen’s bosses.
We have Leon Panetta raping military retirees while he takes $32,000 trips home every weekend. And Panetta’s boss, the President, sitting on his hands while the economy falls to pieces. Neither take responsibility for their own malfeasance, more interested in blaming nebulous banks, oil speculators and the previous administration for their woes and inability to effectively act on what they are paid to do.
Now, I don’t expect Bacevich to be intellectually honest and extrapolate his theory so that it affects directly the mission in Afghanistan and the effectiveness of our troops there. That would cost him job at the Post. But as you read his piece, you can see that there is no other solution to the problems in Afghanistan than removing the leadership in November.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Media
On the contrary, Obama has *just* rewarded Panetta with another permanent Federal payment to Panetta’s hometown projects: http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/ps/2012/04/panetta-obama-ensure-a-permanent-place-in-the-federal-budget-for-his-hometown.html
That’ll save Panetta the cost of a coach fare ticket on a $32,000 personal executive jet flight for one weekend as he cuts the red ribbon on the National Monument, er, bike trails. I’m betting it’ll occur on a Friday morning, but wouldn’t discount a Monday afternoon either.
I would argue that part of the problem is they sent these guys and just left them. No one gave a shit about them till they started doing next level stupidity. What did you expect when you keep recycling guys to extreme threat envioronment and don’t care if they win lose or draw?
It also does nothing to keep firing every halfway compotent leader that only makes the problem worse. Small unit leaders sure but on the whole I’d you keep firing leaders everytime there’s a misstep you’ll end up with glorified privates running the show
Leadership is some of the problem, but not all of it.
I believe the biggest probelm is sending people to do 4 and 5 tours in combat areas.
I can not find anytime in US history were we sent troops to fight more than one or two tours in a combat area unless they volunteered.
I agree with Bacevich. We should hold responsible and fire his bosses at the WaPo who let him anywhere near a keyboard.
@4: There’s absolutely zero data to prove that once you do more than one or two tours you “lose your moral compass” and start acting out irrationally and ignoring the law of war. I have a TON of friends that are on tour #4 and are just fine. I’ve done 3 myself and I feel no inclination to make an ass out of myself internationally.
Ah, but part of the problem is the criteria used for firing a commander now: sins of political correctness, or less than full support for the CinC.
The criteria for keeping or firing a Military Commander should instead rest on a culture of abusing the Troops, or a norm of defeats on the battlefield (when those defeats are not for a lack of support from higher.) It should not be for a lack of political correctness.
I’d suggest that each small team leader, squad leager, platoon sgt/ldr, company commander etc make it very fu–ing clear what they expect the troops to do and not do…then supervise them!
I was given a few fuckups before OIFIII…then somebody told me later what they were like— and I supervised and made sure the followed the fu–ing rules etc. Why? because I knew if they did anything stupid, my higher ups whould throw my ass under the Humvee.
Lead, Follow and stay the fuck at home. For every one fuck up we have in the military–that gets in the news—everybody else has to work 10 times harder.
The head Turd in the White House, i’m sure is reacting with glee that things are going the way they are in A-stan. Geez i wish it was Novenber already .
Yes a leader in the white house who is not doing everything he can to throw the war or apologize for everything that happens even if it is not wrong. How about the media do a story about the Taliban once in a while I wonder how the public would feel about the war if they were reminded that the enemy we were fighting liked to poison school girls, like they did earlier this week. I wonder what they would think if the media reported on half the acid attacks or stonings that go on. Yes some of our guys may take some pictures, but how about rather than try to demoralize us how about try and maybe report a little of the truth.
I agree that leaders should be held accountable for their soldiers’ acts of commission or omission.
But our troops posing with corpses is a 10,000 year old tradition, and only America is supposed to break with that tradition.
I suppose Daniel Perl was just promptly buried, according to the tenets of his religion. Not really filmed at all. Really.
DaveO I have been talking about how this is the first war we have not been allowed war trophies (weapons, equipment, uniforms) and we have easy acess to documentation of our exploits. I know guys during the invasion of Iraq that took tons of pics of/with dead bodies. They just didn’t get reported. We are expected to to cut off all feeling and “act as professionals” at all times, fuck that instinctually we need to release and sometimes that is doing something crazy and what some understand as barbaric.
Jonn wrote “Yes, I know, Bacevich wants Obama to fire Gen. John Allen from his post as commander of our forces in Afghanistan, but I think it would do more good for our intentions in Afghanistan to be secured if we fired Allen’s bosses.”
The problem Jon is he has already fired two. One McKiernan for no discernable reason, the second McChrystal for something he didn’t say. Then he stuck Petreaus as a place sitter for barely a year and replaced him with Allen. We have had a different commander in Afghanistan for roughly every year of the Obama administration. Upon who’s leadership does this looks poorly upon?
The problem with following through with Bacevich’s proposal is the conclusion that we come to. Either we need to sack more generals in theater(a few are gone already) or the needed expulsion begins at the Whitehouse.