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West Point Scandal: Officers Prepare For Future Coverups

By VVAW

Along the banks of the Hudson River, up from New York City at West Point, sits the 174-year-old institution known as the US Military Academy. Famous for turning out an endless line of blood-thirsty young "tin soldiers" the likes of George Custer and William Westmoreland, the Academy, whose motto is "Duty-Honor-Country" has been rocked by a recent series of scandals.

The cadet corps of future Army officers supposedly governs itself through a strict code that state, "A cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal nor tolerate any cadet who does." Punishments dealt out for infractions of this code by upperclass cadets have recently come to light and suggest the Academy is administered along the lines of a zoo.

The practice of "hazing" of harassing new cadets is an outdate practice of indoctrination that was prevalent at one time throughout the American educational system of higher learning, used primarily by fraternities and other gatherings of the sons of the rich and privileged expressly to take care of the need of those involved to prolong their childhood. West Point has managed to maintain and in fact encouraged this standard of ignorance down through the years. Horror stories given to the American public have recently contained incidents of starvation and physical abuse generally reserved for enlisted personnel in the military, but is apparently not acceptable for future officers.

Periodically we are also treated to massive expulsions of cadets for cheating (such as the 50 expelled in April) as the Academy bares its inner secrets, flushes its private cesspool and quickly puts the lid back down.

In reality, the cadets have violated and been found guilty of the basic law of this system--"Thou shalt not get caught." The very idea that these future officers, who will represent the US ruling class in its bloodsucking wars, would be such "innocent victims" is ridiculous. The rich who pull their strings guide their own lives on a philosophy of lies, murder, cover-ups, thefts and deceit. It's very clear that more than a little of the corruption of the bosses rubs off on their little stooges, the cadets.

One cadet, Steven Veer of Chicago, who has been subjected to intense harassment and severe punishment for a minor infraction of the code described things aptly when he said, "They've made it clear to me what this whole place is all about. It teaches us to cover things up. The honor system is not realistic. If they really practiced it, they wouldn't have anybody left here."

Just as clear is the fact that West Point and its occasional attempts to shine up its so-called "good name" will remain with us until the people of this country commit it, the system it serves, and the wars to which it supplies officers, to the garbage pile of history.

It way, however, make a wonderful museum for our children to demonstrate what crap imperialist wars were.