Two weeks ago, I told you about Staff Sgt. Tom Zinkle, assigned to supervise guards in a large prison camp in Iraq. He struggled to provide his prisoners humane conditions when his company tolerated one platoon’s mistreatment of detainees. After pleading with the other platoon and running his complaint up his own chain of command, it was clear to Zinkle he would find no help from within his unit.

His company first sergeant had made the policy clear when he proclaimed to the men, “It’s our job to make life hard for our prisoners.” Something had to change, and fast. Several soldiers from other units, most notably those involved in the notorious Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, had already received severe penalties for abusing prisoners.