More propaganda from the lawless military-industrial-security complex
Professed guidelines to diminish civilian harm during war are a hoax
On December 21, 2023, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy sallied forth with a resplendent bouquet of guidelines to identify and diminish civilian harm during American conflicts. But the guidelines are meaningless because there are no credible enforcement mechanisms.
It has been a cornerstone of due process since at least Dr. Bonham’s precedent in 1610 that a man cannot be a judge in his own case. The principle extends far beyond the law. Neither the batter nor pitcher calls the balls and strikes. An independent umpire does. Students do not grade their own essays. Teachers do.
The Constitution’s crown jewel—separation of powers—pivots on the understanding that no branch of government can be a judge in its own case. Unchecked power is constitutionally anathema.
With these principles in mind, let us examine the Pentagon’s civilian harm guidelines. Who investigates civilian harm allegedly caused by the Pentagon? The Pentagon itself. Who reviews the investigative findings? The Pentagon itself. All investigations are secret, shielded by the state secrets doctrine, executive privilege, and Freedom of Information Act exemptions. There is no judicial oversight. There is no congressional oversight.
The Pentagon knows falsehoods concealing civilian harm will never be detected and will make findings accordingly to create the appearance of fighting antiseptic, error-free wars, like the 100 percent conviction rate in Russian and Chinese courts creating the appearance of prosecutorial inerrancy. The guidelines presume that the military is never wrong, when all history teaches the military is chronically wrong, for example, herding 120,000 Japanese Americans into concentration camps during World War II with zero evidence they were security threats. Are you surprised that not a single American soldier has been prosecuted under the War Crimes Act of 1996 enacted some 27 years ago?
Secrecy is the mother of lies, and absolute secrecy is the mother of stupendous lies and wrongdoing.
The probability that civilian harms will diminish or that American soldiers will be prosecuted for war crimes because of the toothless guidelines is zero. As assistant secretary of war John McCloy said of the Constitution, the guidelines are a scrap of paper. They should be taken cum granis saltis.