Military ethics officer and West Point prof commits suicide in Irag

The Los Angeles Times reports that, "A psychologist reviewed Westhusing's e-mails and interviewed colleagues....She said that Westhusing had placed too much pressure on himself to succeed and that he was unusually rigid in his thinking. Westhusing struggled with the idea that monetary values could outweigh moral ones in war. This, she said, was a flaw."

Psychologists like this give psychology a bad name -- let's just call it apologia for corruption...Westhusing was honest, but emotionally fragile it seems. He had a Ph.D. in philosophy and enlisted to serve in Iraq. He could not reconcile what he saw the private security company USIS was doing in Iraq with his sense of ethics. I'm not sure this inability should be called a "flaw."

In April, Westhusing received an anonymous letter accusing the Virginia based company of committing human rights abuses -- (among them covering up the murder of innocent Iraqis while in detention) and overcharging the US government for its services.

The psychologist, however, blamed Westhusing...and called the letter the major "stressor." Yes, I would say that receiving such a letter when one is in charge of overseeing such an outfit might be a bit, well STRESSFUL.

Who are these people who get psychology degrees? They may have profited from focussing on Westhusing's specialization -- ethics, but then they may not have been able to reconcile the principles of ethical engagement and the practice of their so-called profession. USIS may be corrupt and greedy, but what are army psychologists?