Commanders Beware: Law of War Accountability For Contractors on the Battlefield

ISBN: 1288330960

Author: Keith, Kent J

Condition: New

In the near future, a battalion commander and a military contractor officer representative are sitting at a military joint article 32 investigative hearing in Baghdad facing Uniform Code of Military Justice charges relating to a violation of the law of war. The charges concern the unlawful killing of 12 Iraqi civilians by "civilian contractors". What is unique is that the two military officers are facing charges relating to their failure to ensure that the civilian contractors, employed by the Department of Defense and under the command and control of the military officers, abided by the law of war while operating in Iraq. Is this hypothetical scenario impossible or has the inclusion of contractors into the Department of Defense's "Total Force," and recent legislative efforts to place them under the disciplinary control of the military, resulted in an expansion of the doctrine of command responsibility for war crimes?