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Anthony F. Lang Jr. is a lecturer in the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland:
The overriding moral dilemma in this case is one of responsibility. Just as in My Lai, it is unclear which persons or institutions are responsible for the deaths of the civilians involved. In his classic book JUST AND UNJUST WARS, Michael Walzer concludes with two chapters on responsibility, suggesting that the just war tradition, while protecting soldiers, does not alleviate their responsibility for violating the laws of war. On one level, it is quite clear that the soldiers involved in this case are the primary responsible ones. They should be tried and prosecuted before the proper military courts.
But to explain what happened (which is necessary for ascribing responsibility) might suggest other levels of responsibility. It would appear that those who did the killing were motivated by anger at what had happened to their compatriots only moments, and probably many times, before. Being subject to constant sniper and bomb attacks when you think you are there to help people create a democratic political system (the claim of the American political leadership of its role in Iraq now) should certainly create some dissonance in any individual soldier's head. Moreover, seeing your friends, people with whom you have been for months and maybe even years in highly stressful situations, suddenly and brutally killed can certainly lead to any soldier snapping.
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Even if they did not order such actions, the political leadership of the United States is also responsible. By placing young men (and, increasingly, young women) in a country where they were told they would be liberators and yet find themselves embroiled in a civil war, the Bush administration has deceived the American military on what its tasks would be. This is not a case of the U.S. military not being trained in "hearts and minds" work (although this is true); rather, this is a case of the U.S. military being sold a bill of goods by the civilian leadership in the Pentagon and White House that their task would be easy once the regime was overthrown.
As in the Abu Ghraib scandal, American leadership will seek to locate responsibility in the individuals who actually did the deeds. But it is increasingly clear that the ultimate responsibility for these actions rests [with] a group of leaders who refuse to see they might have been wrong. While American soldiers should be held responsible when they violate the laws of war, American leaders must be held responsible for putting them in situations where they will be more likely to do so.
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