Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Ultimate responsibilty

'Punish US troops for atrocity'
Iraq's justice minister demands punishment for US soldiers accused of rape and murder of Iraqi woman and her family in Mahmudiyah.

Not new news, but it got me wondering; who holds the ultimate responsibility for actions of US troops deployed overseas?

Any transgressor should face justice, but there is a chain of command which seems to stop very short when these incidents occur.

Surely those charged with establishing, training, ensuring discipline and for the deployment of troops have some serious shortcomings to answer for when things go badly wrong in the field.

2 comments:

Praguetwin said...

"Every Parliment is a Parliment of Whores. The difference is, in a democracy, the whores are us."

-P.J. O'Rourke

(unless you can show that you were ordered to do it, it is on you pal.)

Cartledge said...

I know of P J O'Rourke, but not a great deal. I'll have to look at stuff, thanks.