Silber, Arthur. “When honor is no longer possible: a nation beyond forgiveness.” Once upon a time..., November 27, 2005.

Summary: Ted Westhusing, a professor of military ethics at West Point, volunteered to serve in Iraq. He was assigned to supervise the training of Iraqi police by a private company, USIS. Within months, he discovered that USIS was not doing its job and, moreover, was collaborating with Iraqi trainees in murdering other Iraqis (some insurgents, some innocent civilians) and covering up the crimes. Westhusing considered this activity, and his role in making it possible, dishonorable. He committed suicide about five months into his tour of duty.

Lisa Breitenbach, a military psychologist who investigated the suicide by reading Westhusing's correspondence and interviewing his colleagues, concluded that the moral basis of his character was flawed. She wrote:

Despite his intelligence, his ability to grasp the idea that profit is an important goal for people working in the private sector was surprisingly limited. ... He could not shift his mind-set from the military notion of completing a mission irrespective of cost, nor could he change his belief that doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do should be the sole motivator for businesses.

For officers in the American military, failure to recognize that the profit motive is paramount is a catastrophic error in moral judgement.