Death and dishonor in Iraq

This, definitely worth reading. Hat-tip to Diana.
I hadn’t seen this story before. It’s in today’s L.A. Times. It’s about a US Army straight arrow called Col. Ted Westhusing, who had a Ph.D. in philosophical ethics from Emory University in Atlanta and taught military ethics full-time at the West Point military academy. Westhusing thought he should get some experience in Iraq in order to be able to teach his officer-cadet students more effectively. So he asked to be deployed there and was tasked with overseeing a large army contract with a private, Virginia-based firm called USIS that was supposed to be doing some of the training of Iraqi security forces….
One night last June, he was discovered dead in his trailer, with a single gunshot wound to the head. A USIS manager who discovered the body later said he had personally moved the murder weapon “for safety’s sake”.
Lots of questions in this case. But what seems clear is that Westhusing– whose doctoral dissertation was on the concept of “military honor”– was deeply troubled by much of what he witnessed in Iraq.
Investigators found a four-page letter on the bed next to his body. It was addressed to his military superiors and included these words:

“I cannot support a msn [mission] that leads to corruption, human rights abuse and liars. I am sullied. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored.
“Death before being dishonored any more.”

I was saddened (but not surprised) by the whole story. “The concept of “honor” meets the reality of US military operations in today’s Iraq? Someone should write a Greek tragedy about this, I think.
But this part at the end of the LAT story intrigued me greatly:

A [military] psychologist reviewed Westhusing’s e-mails and interviewed colleagues. She concluded that the anonymous letter had been the “most difficult and probably most painful stressor.”
She said that Westhusing … was unusually rigid in his thinking. Westhusing struggled with the idea that monetary values could outweigh moral ones in war. This, she said, was a flaw.
“Despite his intelligence, his ability to grasp the idea that profit is an important goal for people working in the private sector was surprisingly limited,” wrote Lt. Col. Lisa Breitenbach. “He could not shift his mind-set from the military notion of completing a mission irrespective of cost, nor could he change his belief that doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do should be the sole motivator for businesses.”

Then this:

Westhusing’s family and friends are troubled that he died at Camp Dublin, where he was without a bodyguard, surrounded by the same contractors he suspected of wrongdoing. They wonder why the manager who discovered Westhusing’s body and picked up his weapon was not tested for gunpowder residue.
Mostly, they wonder how Col. Ted Westhusing — father, husband, son and expert on doing right — could have found himself in a place so dark that he saw no light.
“He’s the last person who would commit suicide,” said Fichtelberg, his graduate school colleague. “He couldn’t have done it. He’s just too damn stubborn.”
Westhusing’s body was flown back to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Waiting to receive it were his family and a close friend from West Point, a lieutenant colonel.
In the military report, the unidentified colonel told investigators that he had turned to Michelle, Westhusing’s wife, and asked what happened.
She answered:
“Iraq.”

In addition to his widow, Westhusing also left behind three children.