JAG Hunter here: Now in the public arena is SECDEF's memo that clearly sanctioned intimidation without injury. Not clear is how firing a nearby gun differs from threatening prisoners with attack dogs to instill fear necessary to illicit intelligence. Why did Col. West face any type or kind of discipline for carrying out what we now know was an approved DoD policy?

Failure of Command

Jed Babbin on Lt. Col. Allen B. West on National Review Online
(NRO Contributor Jed Babbin was a deputy undersecretary of defense in the first Bush administration, and is now an MSNBC military analyst)

After tossing out a soldier who killed a prisoner, how does it help to court martial another who intimidated a prisoner without injuring him, and actually got information that may have saved American lives?