Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T20:35:12.719Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Adjudication Deferred: Command Responsibility for War Crimes and US Military Justice from My Lai to Haditha and Beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

William C. Peters*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, SUNY at Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY 12901, USA. Email: [email protected]

Extract

The public international law doctrine of command responsibility, like many firmly accepted rules in law, is more clearly stated than consistently applied. Intended to establish a base level of order and responsibility for sustained violence endemic to the inherently ugly nature of war, even state militaries of fully mature Western democracies demonstrate difficulty appreciating its importance and applying its law.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Addicott, Jeffrey F., and Hudson, William A. Jr. “The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of My Lai: A Time to Inculcate the Lessons.” Military Law Review 139 (1993): 153185.Google Scholar
Anderson, David L. Facing My Lai: Moving Beyond the Massacre. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000.Google Scholar
Bantekas, Ilias. Principles of Direct and Superior Responsibility in International Humanitarian Law. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Beecher, William. “General, Ex-Aide Accused of Murdering Vietnamese.” New York Times, 3 June 1971, 1.Google Scholar
Belknap, Michael R. The Vietnam War on Trial. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002.Google Scholar
Bigart, Homer. “Medina Found Not Guilty of All Charges on My Lai.” New York Times, 3 September 1971, 1.Google Scholar
Bilton, Michael, and Sim, Kevin. Four Hours in My Lai. New York: Viking, 1992.Google Scholar
Bremer, L. Paul. My Year in Iraq. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.Google Scholar
Byers, Michael. War Law. New York: Grove Atlantic, 2005.Google Scholar
Carlson, Margaret. “The John McCain of Bagram Prison.” Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2005, B11.Google Scholar
Cohen, Roger. “A Court for a New America.” New York Times, 4 December 2008, oped.Google Scholar
Danner, Mark. Torture and Truth. New York: New York Review of Books, 2004.Google Scholar
Dinstein, Yoram. The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Eckhardt, William George. “My Lai: An American Tragedy.” University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review 68 (2000): 671703.Google Scholar
Golden, Tim. “Years After 2 Afghans Died, Abuse Case Falters.” New York Times, 13 February 2006.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Joseph, Marshall, Burke, and Schwartz, Jack. The My Lai Massacre and its Cover-up: Beyond the Reach of Law? (Peers Commission Report). New York: Macmillan, 1976.Google Scholar
Green, L. C. Essays on the Modern Law of War. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Transnational, 1985.Google Scholar
Green, L. C.Command Responsibility in International Humanitarian Law.” Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems 5 (Fall 1995): 319371.Google Scholar
Greenberg, Karen J., and Dratel, Joshua L., eds. The Torture Papers—The Road to Abu Ghraib. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Hall, Kristen M. “Accused Soldier Wants Colonel to Testify.” Nashville Tennessean, 6 March 2007, newswire.Google Scholar
Hammer, Richard. The Court-Martial of Lt. Calley. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1971.Google Scholar
Hansen, Victor. “What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander, Lessons from Abu Ghraib: Time for the United States to Adopt a Standard of Command Responsibility Towards its Own.” Gonzaga Law Review 42 (2006/2007): 335414.Google Scholar
Hansen, Victor. “Creating and Improving Legal Incentives for Law of War Compliance.” New England Law Review 42 (2008): 247273.Google Scholar
Herbert, Anthony. Soldier. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1973.Google Scholar
Hersh, Seymour M. “Lieutenant Accused of Murdering 109 Civilians.” In St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 13 November 1969.Google Scholar
Hersh, Seymour M. My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and its Aftermath. New York: Random House, 1970.Google Scholar
Hersh, Seymour M. Cover-Up: The Army's Secret Investigation of the Massacre at My Lai 4. New York: Random House, 1972.Google Scholar
Hersh, Seymour M. “Torture at Abu Ghraib.” The New Yorker, 10 May 2004, 4247.Google Scholar
Hersh, Seymour M. “The General's Report.” The New Yorker, 25 June 2007, 5869.Google Scholar
Kahl, Colin H. “How We Fight.” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2006, 83101.Google Scholar
Kluger, Jeffrey. “How Haditha Came to Light.” Time, 12 June 2006, 2829.Google Scholar
Lael, Richard L. The Yamashita Precedent: War Crimes and Command Responsibility. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1982.Google Scholar
Landrum, Bruce D.The Yamashita War Crimes Trial: Command Responsibility Then and Now.” Military Law Review 149 (Summer 1995): 293301.Google Scholar
Lasseter, Tom. “Abuse Worse before Guantanamo.” Miami Herald, 16 June 2008, 1.Google Scholar
Lasseter, Tom. “Day 2: U.S. Abuse of Detainees was Routine at Afghanistan Bases.” McClatchy Washington Bureau, 16 June 2008.Google Scholar
Lieber, Francis. (Lieber Code) Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field (General Order No. 100), 24 April 1863.Google Scholar
Lippman, Mathew. “Humanitarian Law: The Uncertain Contours of Command Responsibility.” Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law 9 (2001): 193.Google Scholar
Martinez, Jenny S. “Understanding Mens Rea in Command Responsibility.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 5 (2007): 638664.Google Scholar
Nelson, Deborah, and Turse, Nick. “A Tortured Past.” Los Angeles Times, 20 August 2006, 1.Google Scholar
“Officer to Face Court-Martial on 8 Charges in Abu Ghraib Abuse.” New York Times, 27 January 2007, 18, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CE1DB173FF934A15752C0A9619C8B63> (accessed 14 September 2009).+(accessed+14+September+2009).>Google Scholar
Oliver, Kendrick. The My Lai Massacre in American History and Memory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Parks, William H.Command Responsibility for War Crimes.” Military Law Review 62 (1973): 1104.Google Scholar
Paust, Jordan J.My Lai and Vietnam: Norms, Myths and Leader Responsibility.” Military Law Review 57 (1972): 99187.Google Scholar
Peers, William R. The My Lai Inquiry. New York: W. W. Norton, 1979.Google Scholar
Pelton, Tom. “Strife at Prison is Shown.” Baltimore Sun, 19 October 2006.Google Scholar
Perry, Tony. “Haditha Killings Detailed at Hearing.” Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2007, A8.Google Scholar
Perry, Tony. “Charges against Marine Dropped.” Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2008, 3.Google Scholar
Prugh, George S. Vietnam Studies Law at War 1964–1973. Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1975.Google Scholar
Robinson, Douglas. “Army Drops Charges against General Accused of Killing 6 South Vietnamese Civilians.” New York Times, 10 December 1971, 18.Google Scholar
Sandoz, Yves, Swinarski, Chrostopher, and Zimmermann, Bruno, eds. Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977. Geneva: Martinus Nijhoff, 1987.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Susan, and Priest, Dana. “Civilian Charged in Beating Death of Afghan Detainee.” Washington Post, 18 June 2004, A1.Google Scholar
Sengheiser, Jason. “Command Responsibility for Omissions and Detainee Abuse in the ‘War on Terror.'Thomas Jefferson Law Review 30 (2008): 693721.Google Scholar
Shamsi, Hina, and Pearlstein, Deborah. Command's Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. Report. New York: Human Rights First, 2006.Google Scholar
Shaw, Malcolm N. International Law. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Smidt, Michael L.Yamashita, Medina, and Beyond: Command Responsibility in Contemporary Military Operations.” Military Law Review 164 (2000): 155234.Google Scholar
Smith, James W. IIIA Few Good Scapegoats: The Abu Ghraib Courts-Martial and the Failure of the Military Justice System.” Whittier Law Review 27 (2006): 671724.Google Scholar
Solis, Gary. The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War. New York: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming November 2009.Google Scholar
Sun, Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by L. Giles. Harrisburg, PA: Military Service Publishing, 1944.Google Scholar
Time Magazine. “Charge of a General.” 14 June 1971, <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909864,00.html> (accessed 14 September 2009).+(accessed+14+September+2009).>Google Scholar
Time Magazine. “Colonel Herbert v. the Army.” 22 November 1971, <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905528,00.html> (accessed 14 September 2009).+(accessed+14+September+2009).>Google Scholar
von Zielbauer, Paul. “Army Says Improper Orders by Colonel Led to 4 Deaths.” New York Times, 21 January 2007, 10.Google Scholar
Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust Wars. New York: Basic Books, 2000.Google Scholar
White, Josh. “Army Officer is Cleared in Abu Ghraib Scandal.” Washington Post, 10 January 2008, 6.Google Scholar
Worth, Robert F. “Sergeant Tells of Plot to Kill Iraqi Detainees.” New York Times, 28 July 2006, 8.Google Scholar