This was hauntingly beautiful. A story of conscience and reconciliation with the paradoxes of war and personal spirituality/religion.<p>His decision to join the war as an interrogator, believing his presence and oversight would ensure the humane treatment of prisoners is admirable. I often wonder what is the right thing to do: non-participation, or conscientious participation to ensure abuses are minimized.
The notion that its better to have "good" people doing bad things than "bad" people is such a trash take, but it shows up in nearly every conversation of moral consequence these days.
Such a great godlike compassionate gentle guy ... working in Abu Ghraib without noting abuses and reporting them or even figuring out why that damm prisoner cries.<p>I don't think I would have courage to report in such situation. Socialization that makes it all normal and very real consequences whistleblowers get would stop me.<p>The issue is not dude. That issue is article writer trying to frame that work as something gentle glossing over the actual reality of the situation.
That he was able to get such good results from his interrogation using kindness and dialog instead of violence is interesting. This is apparently a known effect. Was a very interesting article posted here some time ago describing similar techniques that I found fascinating: <a href="https://psmag.com/social-justice/nazi-interrogator-revealed-value-kindness-84747" rel="nofollow">https://psmag.com/social-justice/nazi-interrogator-revealed-...</a>
What a fascinating story. Thank you for sharing. I cried towards the end as I was learning about Casteel's death. I was hoping for a plot twist, because all along Casteel was described in the past tense, so I knew from the beginning that he might not be still alive but deep inside I was hoping that he is still alive. I was hoping for paragraph that says "and now Casteel is..."<p>It sucks to lose someone with such integrity, values and good character. I feel like I have known him personally. May he rest in peace.
War is hell. Such a beautiful story of being true to your self and finding your war through the anger and confusion of everything that influences us. Such a loss we lost this man, and many others like him, to environmental and chemical exposure issues in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What a fucking whitewash. Anybody joining an interrogation squad knows what's ahead and those joining the group in Abu Ghraib, especially after the torture revelations really had no excuse. I feel about as much sympathy as I would towards a Nazi camp guard (sorry for the Godwin, but it seems applicable).