Ronald Lorenzo - The Puritan Culture of Americas Military: U.S. Army War Crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan

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U.S. Army War Crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan

RONALD LORENZO
Blinn College, USA

First published 2014 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright Ronald Lorenzo 2014

Ronald Lorenzo has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifed as the author of this work.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Lorenzo, Ronald.

The Puritan culture of Americas military : U.S. Army war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan / by Ronald Lorenzo.

pages cm.(Classical and contemporary social theory)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4724-1982-8 (hardback)1. Sociology, MilitaryUnited States. 2. Courts-martial and courts of inquiryUnited States. 3. PuritansInfluence. 4. Iraq War, 2003-2011 Atrocities. 5. Afghan War, 2001Atrocities. 6. Military offensesUnited States. 7. War crimesCase studies. I. Title. II. Title: US Army war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

U21.5.L65 2013

306.270973dc23

2013020858

ISBN 9781472419828 (hbk)

To my parents, Mary and Roger Lorenzo,
and in memory of my best friend,
Jason Charles Crawford (July 19, 1971January 2, 2009).

Exploring Puritanical cultural habits in the 21st century American military, the following study focuses on U.S. Army courts-martial in the Global War on Terror. The study uses Emile Durkheims original sociological interpretation of crime and deviance. That interpretation is linked with responsibility as described by Durkheims follower Paul Fauconnet in Responsibility: A Study in Sociology ([1928] 1978) and with a new cultural reading of Max Webers The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism ([1905] 1976). The study is an inductive, descriptive examination of the Puritanical aspects of American military culture based on its treatment of acts labeled as deviant and criminal in the Global War on Terror. Four sets of war crimes are examined: Abu Ghraib (which occurred in Iraq in 2004), Operation Iron Triangle (which occurred in Iraq in 2006), the Baghdad canal killings (which occurred in Iraq in 2007), and another set of killings which occurred in Afghanistan. My data include primary data collected through participation and observation for one court-martial related to the Baghdad canal killings as well as secondary data sources from the other cases including records of trial, investigation reports, charge sheets, sworn statements, and other documentation.

The study illuminates how unconscious, Puritan cultural habits color and shape both military actions and their perceptions. I explore Puritanism and its influence on military law, responsibility, revenge, magic (in its sociological sense), and narcissism. The study concludes with observations and recommendations for changes in U.S. military law.

With regard to legal issues regarding my use of court documents, the reader should be aware of the following: all material pertaining to the records of trial from which I quote are regarded by law as public documents. The records of trial (ROT) include the transcripts of Article 32 hearings, other pre-trial hearings, investigative reports, sworn statements, transcripts of testimony at courts-martial, and other documents. The only exception to this rule is the AR 15-6 report case in Afghanistan, which was not included in Corporal Jeremy Morlocks ROT. However, I obtained the Maywand case AR 15-6 report from a news source, and various news sources have already quoted extensively from this report in numerous news reports. Because that specific AR 15-6 report was obtained from a news source, it is also a public document. In summary, all my usage of government documents in this study is lawful, and the government of the United States does not own any copyright to any of this public information.

I wish to make it unequivocally clear that I do not assert or imply any criminal wrongdoing by any officer or soldier whom I mention or quote in this book. I present many instances of wrongdoing and questionable actions neutrally, and as a sociologist, not as a criminal investigator.

Max Weber has been interpreted and applied in seemingly countless scholarly articles and books. The overwhelming majority of this intellectual output focuses on the theme of rationality. The most notable and best-selling example is George Ritzers McDonaldization of Society wherein he links the Weberian tradition to present-day, Western, cultural obsessions with rationality, efficiency, predictability, and control. Ronald Lorenzos book examines lacunae in this Weberian tradition of scholarship. First, he connects Webers insights less to rationality and more to the obvious theme of Puritanism, and how shades of Puritanism as a cultural phenomenon persist. Second, he connects what I would call postemotional Puritanism (because it no longer carries the same authentic, emotional energy today as it did in the days of Oliver Cromwell and John Winthrop) to war and the military justice system. Third, the new areas for analysis that Lorenzo uncovers in applying his reading of Weber in this manner include the themes of revenge, magic and superstition, ritualism, and the treatment of the enemy as well as soldiers who are convicted in the court-martial system as if they were the Puritan damned (as opposed to the Elect). Lorenzo brings to the forefront of analysis much of what is irrational, inefficient, unpredictable, and seemingly out of control in Puritan-based cultures in general, and more specifically with regard to war and justice.