What I notice in many discussions that involve ethics, law, and war is that there is a common error made among people who a) have legal backgrounds and b) get their knickers in a twist over inevitable civilian casualties and collateral damage that occurs in war. That error is that they completely forget all principles of respondeat superior and agency law. They assume that every decision made or action taken by a Soldier is one within the scope of that Soldier's job, within the bounds of the "normal course of business" for the organization, and within the Soldier's actual/implied authority. Often times, clearly, none of those are the case. Abu Ghraib comes to mind. There is still a large group of people convinced that that specific prisoner abuse was a policy directed by the administration. That would be like blaming me if I hire a guy to mow my lawn and, instead, he abandons the job, walks down the street, kidnaps a woman, and rapes her - and then concluding that I am a villain who justified the decision to have my lawn mowed by lying to the American people.