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

Abstract

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.