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The quiet between Christmas and New Year is proving to be a good time to reflect on the Afghanistan Inquiry Report. For those thinking about how to lead professional discussion on it next year, here’s a thread of thoughts and resources that might help 1/15
Start people with the report itself (link below). Read the Executive Summary p.26 - 42. Focus on understanding ‘hors de combat’, ‘credible evidence’, and ‘responsibility’. Ask people to scan the Consolidated Findings at Annex C (p.68 onwards) 2/15 https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/IGADF-Afghanistan-Inquiry-Public-Release-Version.pdf
Next, help people to consider what drives behaviours in war. This is a mixture of individual and group psychology, military ethics and morality, and war studies. I give an introductory view on this in the video below, which some might find helpful 3/15
The discussion on individual and group psychology is a key one, and there are some great resources to take it forward. For individual psychology and the nature of evil, people can watch Philip Zimbardo’s @TED talk on ‘The Psychology of Evil’ 4/15 https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil/transcript?language=en
For group psychology, and the power which groups can have on individual behaviour, it’s then worth following up with another Zimbardo video, this time on ‘Dangerous Conformity’ 5/15
A very good next step in the ‘behaviour in war’ analysis is then to get people to watch the documentary ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’. This examines the systemic development of deviant behaviour towards detainees in the early years of the GWOT 6/15
Equally, for examining the corrupting nature of war, the best read is ‘Black Hearts’ by Jim Fredericks. This is particularly useful in discussing the impact of leadership and command climate, and is an easy and engaging (if nasty) book for all ranks 7/15 https://www.amazon.com.au/Black-Hearts-Platoons-Descent-Triangle/dp/0307450767
A solid next step is to look at a comparative case study. The UK case of SGT Blackman (‘Marine A’), convicted for the manslaughter of an injured Taliban fighter in 2011, is a good study of psychology, group behaviour, and the impact of battle stress 8/15 https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/school-of-humanities-and-social-sciences/sites/hass/files/uploads/occasional-Paper-No-6-McDermott_WEBONLY_3.pdf
Blackman’s case is also well examined by Prof Anthony King ( @antbruceking), Chair of War Studies at Warwick University, in a 2017 article @WarOnTheRocks 9/15 https://warontherocks.com/2017/04/the-very-british-affair-of-marine-a/
If you to go deeper into military ethics + behaviours in war, there are a number of options available. @covetweet’s COVE+ have just published a new module on ‘Military Ethics’. This is accessible to any @australianarmy member for free through ADELE 10/15 https://cove.army.gov.au/article/cove-the-armys-professional-development-program
There is also the excellent military ethics MOOC run by KCL’s Centre for Military Ethics ( @KCLMilEthics). Open access to an extensive set of online resources. Prof Whetham ( @davidwhetham), the MOOC’s designer, was part of the Afghanistan Inquiry 11/15 https://militaryethics.uk/en/
Many will want to consider the strategic issues of the incidents outlined in the Inquiry Report, and what they mean for the future conduct of warfare. For those who want to look deeper, try @Strategy_Bridge’s 2016 series on ‘Strategy and Ethics’ 12/15 https://thestrategybridge.org/search?q=%23strategyandethics
Finally, the best bible (IMHO) is the seminal text by Michael Walzer, ‘Just and Unjust Wars’. Anyone who wants to look at societies and political violence should get a copy of Walzer. Read sections on ‘Dilemmas of War’ + ‘Question of Responsbility’ 13/15 https://www.amazon.com.au/Just-Unjust-Wars-Historical-Illustrations/dp/0465052711
In terms of Twitter and military ethics / behaviour theory, interested people should follow / explore the handles below: @davidwhetham @KaurinShanks @DPBEthics @SEFrench @KCLMilEthics @matthewtbeard @Ned_Dobos @Coleman_Ethics @ltgrdubik @EthicsWarPeace @CWRUInamori 14/15
That’s all folks. The focus here is theory, not answers. It is theory - be it of psychology, group behaviour, ethics, or the nature of war - that will help keep us on track on a wickedly complex cultural journey. Proud that @australianarmy has had the courage to take it 15/15.
