“I cannot support a msn [mission] that leads to corruption, human rights abuse and liars. I am sullied. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored.”

From the note written by Col Ted Westhusing, found near his body on June 5, 2005

“In e-mail to his family, Westhusing seemed especially upset by one conclusion he had reached: that traditional military values such as duty, honor and country had been replaced by profit motives in Iraq, where the United States had come to rely heavily on contractors for jobs once done by the military.”

From “Officer’s Death Leaves Questions”: by T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times, November 27, 2005

Position: Military Ethicist, Training Iraqi Security Forces
Tenure: Fall 2004 till June 5, 2005

On June 5, 2005, Colonel Ted Westhusing was found dead in his trailer of a single bullet wound to the head. By all accounts an intelligent and honorable man, he was in Iraq to aid in the training of Iraqi security forces. His death was ruled a suicide, but questions remain.

Westhusing was a leading military ethicist with a doctorate in philosophy, whose dissertation focused on the meaning of honor. In Iraq, his sense of honor was severely challenged.

Prior to earning his doctorate at Emory University, Westhusing had a distinguished career in the military. After graduating third in his class at West Point in 1983, he became an infantry platoon leader and received Special Forces training. He served in Italy, South Korea and Honduras, and eventually became division operations officer for the 82nd Airborne, based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Following his graduation from Emory, Westhusing taught philosophy and English at West Point. Feeling that the experience would be of value in his teaching, he volunteered for duty in Iraq in 2004. He was assigned to oversee the training of elite Iraqi security forces by Virginia-based USIS, a private contractor. USIS—a Carlyle Group Company (see HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlyle_Group" \l "Politicians_affiliated_with_Carlyle" politicians associated with Carlyle Group)—had contracts for work in Iraq totaling $79 million. In May 2005, Westhusing received an anonymous letter alleging serious misconduct, including USIS shorting the government of trainers to increase profit margins and company personnel witnessing or participating in the killing of Iraqis. Westhusing alerted his superiors. An investigation ensued, with U.S. authorities eventually finding “no contractual violations” by USIS. However, an anonymous U.S. military official told the Los Angeles Times that problems had been uncovered.

The murky results of the investigation only added to Westhusing’s growing disillusionment with the contractors in Iraq. He expressed to colleagues his disagreement with what he felt were excessive amounts of money paid to contractors. He began talking to his family about resigning his command. Shortly after a discordant meeting with the contractors, he was found dead. He left behind a wife and three small children.