Marine Corps Moms

Option Two:

A few days ago I asked for opinions on the moral course of action for dealing with the prisoners at Abu Ghraib in light of new evidence. It appears that the military decided on option two--and, to their credit, decided on it months ago.

US forces freed Friday morning hundreds
of Iraqi prisoners from the notorious Abu Ghraib jail, which has been the platform of prison abuse scandals.

Several buses filled with detainees, escorted by US military vehicles, pulled out of the prison, toward the high way, heading to the capital.

Since the dawn, hundreds of Iraqis were at the main gate of Abu Ghraib prison west of baghdad waiting for their thousands of detainees inside the compound.

US officials had previously said that about 300 prisoners would be released on Friday, part of a months-old programme that the new commander of the jail said this week would cut the number of detainees to between 1,500 and 2,000 by the end of next month.

About 3,800 detainees were in Abu Ghraib earlier this week.

This is what we expect to see from the US military--decisive action coupled with an institutional commitment to honor and right action. That commitment is no small thing, not a trinket nor an ornament, to be set aside when the serious business of war is at hand. General Washington said: "Discipline is the soul of an army," and also, "Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army superiority over another." It is exactly in the times of war when these habits must be ingrained if they are not to be lost.

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