The army takes cares of its own

There is a memorial plaque on a building at the northwest corner of Fifteenth and Arapaho Streets in Denver, Colorado. The plaque reads:

“Silas S. Soule. At this location on April 23, 1865, assassins shot and killed 1st Colorado Cavalry officer Capt. Silas S. Soule. During the infamous Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864, Soule had disobeyed orders by refusing to fire on Chief Black Kettle’s peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village. Later, at army hearings, Soule testified against his commander, Col. John M. Chivington, detailing the atrocities committed by the troops at Sand Creek. His murderers were never brought to justice.”

Any surprise that only low ranking personnel were punished after Abu Ghraib? Or that one of the few truth-tellers in our recent past, Bradley Manning, faces the death penalty while torturers and murderers go free? The motto of the US Military Academy is "duty, honor, country". Who gave the orders which made torture and murder some one's "duty"? Which part of "honor" is related to torture and murder? Which country condones torture and murder?

In case you forgot, Colon Powell was the first officer assigned to investigate the massacre we now know as My Lai during the Vietnam War, and his report more-or-less whitewashed the incident.

Every massacre has an officer-in-charge, and damned few of them are ever punished. The army takes care of its own; and by that I mean it takes care of its high-ranking murderers. The rank and file, on the other hand, get thrown under the bus.

That too is not very "honorable".