America's Professional Military Ethic and the Treatment of Captured Enemy Combatants in the Global War on Terror

This article deals with one aspect of the U.S. War on Terror: the treatment of enemy combatants captured during the conflict and the implications of such treatment for the professional ethic of the United States military. It briefly addresses the technical legal arguments underlying Bush Administration detainee policies, then focuses on the adverse impact the policies have had on the professional ethic of the armed forces. The article contends that Bush Administration policies have undermined the values upon which America’s professional military ethic is based, but it in no way suggests that this has created some sort of “moral equivalency” between the United States military and those whom it fights.