Rules of Engagement: Who Bears Ultimate Responsibility?

crossposted at Disabled Americans for Democracy

Rules of Engagement: "Kill All Military-Age Males"
After two internal inquiries evaluating a mission that had taken place in northern Iraq on May 9, Pfc. Corey Clagett and three other soldiers from the 3rd Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division expected to return to their duties without a stain on their characters. Three of the four have since been arrested, accused of premeditated murder, and placed in a US military jail in Kuwait. In their sworn affidavits, the three accused soldiers, along with others in the unit, say they received unusual but unequivocal rules of engagement for the task ahead. They say that they were given repeated and explicit orders to "kill all military-age males."

If it is true that the soldures being held received the orders they claim to have received, then they are not primarily to blaim for their actions. They did something immoral and illegal. As such, they must face the consequences of their actions. However, it is the officers who developed and promulgated the rules of engagement who are guilty of premeditated murder.

It is they who bear the full burdon of guilt, not only for their decision, but also for the actions they ordered those under their command to commit. One is reminded of mafia bosses who order hits. While the actual hitman is guilty of murder, it is the boss who bears ultimate and full responsibility. Similarly here, those who issued the orders bear far greater guilt than the triggermen. As usual, though, the lowest ranking persons have become the fallguys. This writer would be very surprised if the responsible officers were ever identified, much less tried, convicted and punished for their crimes.

There is another disturbing element to this story: namely, the rules of engagement themselves, Kill all military-age males. These are the rules under which the Serbs operated in Bosnia. They are the rules under which all ethnic cleansings are carried out (or, at least, begin). Will we next see American forces rounding up Iraqi girls and women to staff ad hoc brothels as the Serbs did with Albanian girls and women in Cosovo? Is this what America has sunk to?

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