Lynn Vincent has a couple links to the difficult story of Captain Roger Hill being pressed b/w hard and rock inside Afghanistan. She calls it “no way out.” Her article has a good overview of the story, and the Washington Post article she links to has some horrible details. The most horrific point to me is the possible or suggestion that this situation occurred because of petty friction b/w two commanding officers. That may not be true. The Washington Post reporter offers a few possibilities, but as he says, it’s hard to sympathize with those who want to punish excellent commanders who believed following protocol would only get themselves killed.
This is a difficult case, especially without hearing the Battalion commander’s side of the story. However, scaring people into a confession that would be thrown out anyway isn’t useful. Not without collaborating evidence that you could reveal to whoever takes them.
Captain Hill was under tremendous stress and he made a bad decision. For a civilian, that would be an understandable and forgivable lapse in judgment. But he is not a civilian, he’s a military officer. They are supposed to function under tremendous pressure. Arguably, it shows that he isn’t qualified to be a combat officer(1).
The proper thing to do would have probably been to keep the detainees in custody past the 96 hour limit, and tell the Battalion commander that he’d rather be courtmartialed than release them. The Battalion commander is welcome to come get them and release them if he wants to, but all the details will come out in the court martial.
Refusing to obey a lawful order is serious matter, but in this case it wouldn’t have been as serious. It would have forced the Battalion commander to stop dithering and do his job.
(1) I say it as somebody who does not consider himself qualified to be in the military at all. The Israeli government disagreed, but it’s not a particularly intelligent organization.
Yes, that’s a strong point. Confession under intimidation doesn’t work. I think I would have been tempted to put them in a wired room where they may talk to one another and incriminate themselves. If that wasn’t a possibility, I probably try to think of ways I could detain them without keep them technically arrested. But it would work out the way you described in the end.
Holding them in custody after the 96 hours is violating orders. But so is coercing a confession out of them.
Captain Heller accepted that he might have to die to protect his men. He should have also accepted that he might have to be court martialed to protect them. It sucks, but there is a lot about war that sucks. The only thing worse is the kind of peace you’d get if the other side knew you wouldn’t fight no matter what.