The recent mass murders in Afghanistan and the analysis of
the events in the press highlight my contention from an earlier post that the
press really does not do a good job in these situations. We can expect a
continued exhaustive risk factor analysis and discussions by various pundits.
The accused soldier clearly had a lot of exposure to combat stress, there is a
history of traumatic brain injury, there is a possible history of substance
abuse, and there are multiple psychosocial factors. So far we have seen the
statements by people who knew him describing this event as completely
unpredictable based on his past behavior. The debate will become more polarized
as the lawyers get involved. The real truth of the matter is never stated.
What we know about these incidents is more accurately
described by anthropologists than psychiatrists or psychologists. The best book
written on this subject is Lawrence Keeley’s War Before Civilization. In
that book Dr. Keeley explores the contention that primitive peoples were
inherently peaceful compared to modern man and a warfare that was waged was
brief, fairly nonlethal, and stereotypic. In order to explore that theory, Dr.
Keeley ends up writing a fairly definitive book on the anthropology of warfare.
There are more lessons in that book about war and peace then you will ever hear
on CNN or in the risk factor analysis that is produced in the popular media.
So what do we know about the mass murder of civilians during
warfare? The first thing we know is that it is commonplace. It happens in every
war and no military force despite their level of training is immune to it. In prehistoric times, the most frequent
scenario was a surprise attack on a village with the goal of killing as many
inhabitants as possible. In Keeley's review, that number was generally around
10% of the population and that could have devastating consequences for a
particular tribe including the complete dissolution.
Keeley also makes the point that: “Only the "rules of
war," cultural expectations, and tribal or national loyalties make it
possible to distinguish between legitimate warfare and atrocities.” He gives the examples of Wounded Knee and My
Lai as well as larger scale bombings of Hiroshima and Dresden. My Lai was a highly publicized
incident from my youth. It occurred during the Vietnam War when the US Army
massacred hundreds of Vietnamese noncombatants – largely women, children, and
old men. In that situation, 26 soldiers
were charged and only one was convicted. The convicted soldier served 3 1/2
years under house arrest.
In addition to outright killing, mutilations of bodies and
the taking of body parts as trophies continue to occur in modern civilized
warfare in much the same way that these practices occurred in primitive
warfare. Haley reported on a series of
Vietnam veterans seen in psychotherapy and the special problems that exist in
patients who have been exposed to or participated in wartime atrocities. Based
on the literature at the time she suggested that the war in Vietnam resulted in
a disproportionate number of atrocities.
My current final analysis of the situation is that there are
important social and cultural determinants of war and the inevitable wartime
atrocities. Risk factor analysis and analysis of individual biology is very
unlikely to provide an explanation for what occurred. The moral, legal, and
political environment has changed since Vietnam and that is obviously not a
deterrent. A comparison of the final legal charges and penalties in this case
with what happened in Vietnam will be instructive in terms of just how far those
changes come. If there is a conviction, there will be a lot of pressure to
portray the convicted soldier as very atypical and probably as a person who
underwent a significant transformation of his conscious state. There will be many theories. The idea that
this transformation predictably occurs during warfare will not be
discussed. I have already heard some experts talking about the thousands of soldiers who go though similar situations and seem to do just fine.
The best approach to these events is a preventive one that includes minimizing the exposure to war instead of being involved in the longest war in American history. I don't expect that much will be said about that either.
The best approach to these events is a preventive one that includes minimizing the exposure to war instead of being involved in the longest war in American history. I don't expect that much will be said about that either.
George Dawson, MD
Lawrence H. Keeley. War Before Civilization. Oxford
University Press, 1997.
Haley SA. When the patient
reports atrocities. Specific treatment considerations of the Vietnam
veteran. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1974 Feb;30(2):191-6.
