Why does Max Boot hate the troops?

As more U.S. troops roll into Afghanistan, they will conduct offensive operations that result in the capture of more Taliban over the next 18 months. That is not enough time to build Afghan courts and prisons and to train guards, judges and lawyers. Even in Iraq, the legal system has had trouble coping with all of the terrorists U.S. authorities have turned over during the past year. Some have been released and have gone on to commit fresh atrocities.

Such a situation, which exists on a much bigger scale in Afghanistan, is profoundly demoralizing to troops. If service members see a “catch and release” policy in effect, they are likely to either pull back or pull the trigger prematurely. Both possibilities are worrisome. The former means more enemy fighters on the loose; the latter sullies our troops’ honor, denies them the intelligence gleaned from interrogations and leads the remaining Taliban to fight harder.

Just as those many right wing arguments about how the CIA will refuse to protect the country if they aren’t granted immunity from prosecution or the claim that the troops will no longer report abuse if pictures of abuse is made public, Boot is saying that American soldiers will be demoralized and either fail to do their jobs or start killing people indiscriminately in Afghanistan if the US doesn’t break the law. This argument is insulting to the troops. They are all professional soldiers who understand their duty and they do not need the country to betray its principles because they have a hard job.

Right wingers often use the “feelings” of police and soldiers as a shield to excuse their authoritarian impulses. If Boot and his buddies want to argue for torture and indefinite detention, let them admit that they just don’t believe in the rule of law. Blaming the troops is cowardly.

.