I Cogitate
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Ted Westhusing RIP
Ted Westhusing didn't have to die yet he became just more collateral damage from the Iraq war.
In hindsight, he was certainly wrong about the justness and nobility of the 'mission' in Iraq. It appears he wanted to believe too much. His faith in the creeps and crooks was misplaced, in the vein of this-is-how-war-is-supposed-to-unfold rather than the often sharp contrast of reality.
Greed and thuggery are simply not by-products of honor and integrity and vice versa--never have been, never will be. This clash of 'proper civilization' and an unmanageable hell, plus the inability to correct such damnation, did Westhusing in.
Unfortunately, he was wrong about war, especially this particular one and wrong about professional kin. No one will ever know with certainty but it appears dysfunction within Westhusing's beloved military was the tipping point.
Yes, the hatred and divisions within Iraq were insurmountable and prevented Westhusing from any success whatsoever in fulfilling his assigned mission. But it was the spineless so-what comportment of his superiors in the face of unbridled financial and personal rapaciousness that proved deadly.
A search for enlightenment ended so very badly for this army of one.
I am Sullied-No MoreGo here to read the rest.
Faced with the Iraq war's corruption, Col. Ted Westhusing chose death before dishonor
Robert Bryce
Texas Observer
March 9, 2007
Ted Westhusing was a true believer. And that was his fatal flaw.
A colonel in the U.S. Army, Westhusing had a good job teaching English at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was a devout Catholic who went to church nearly every Sunday. He had a wife and three young children.
He didn’t have to go to Iraq. But Westhusing was such a believer that he volunteered for what he thought was a noble cause. At West Point, Westhusing sought out people who opposed the war in an effort to change their minds. “He absolutely believed that this was a just war,” said one officer who was close to him. “He was wholly enthusiastic about this mission.” His tour of duty in Iraq was to last six months.
About a month before he was to return to his family—on June 5, 2005—Westhusing was found dead in his trailer at Camp Dublin in Baghdad. At the time, he was the highest-ranking American soldier to die in Iraq. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command report on Westhusing’s death explained it as a “perforating gunshot wound of the head and Manner of Death was suicide.”
He was 44.
Here is some background on T. Christian Miller, who wrote a book about Iraq and Ted Westhusing:
My name is Tee Miller--the "T" is short for Thomas, a family nickname--and I wrote Blood Money for a simple reason. The reconstruction of Iraq was supposed to be one of the most important efforts in Iraq. It was supposed to help American soldiers by winning hearts and minds, and the Iraqi people by providing a decent infrastructure. The reconstruction obviously hasn't done that, and I wanted to explain why.top
T. Christian Miller is an award-winning investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times. In ten years as a professional journalist and foreign correspondent, Miller has covered four wars, a presidential campaign and reported from more than two dozen countries. He has won numerous accolades for his work in both the U.S. and abroad, including the Livingston Award for international reporting, one of the most competitive and prestigious reporting prizes in American journalism.
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