{"product_id":"yamashitas-ghost-war-crimes-macarthurs-justice-and-command-accountability-modern-war-studies-9780700618811","title":"Yamashita's Ghost: War Crimes  MacArthur's Justice  and Command Accountability (Modern War Studies)","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinner: George Pendleton Prize Scribes Award  Honorable Mention Silver Gavel Award  Finalist I dont blame my executioners. I will pray God bless them. So said General Tomoyuki Yamashita  Japans most accomplished military commander  as he stood on the scaffold in Manila in 1946. His stoic dignity typified the man his U.S. Army defense lawyers had come to deeply respect in the first war crimes trial of World War II. Moments later  he was dead. But had justice been served? Allan A. Ryan reopens the case against Yamashita to illuminate crucial questions and controversies that have surrounded his trial and conviction  but also to deepen our understanding of broader contemporary issuesespecially the limits of command accountability. The atrocities of 1944 and 1945 in the Philippinesrape  murder  torture  beheadings  and starvation  the victims often women and childrenwere horrific. They were committed by Japanese troops as General Douglas MacArthurs army tried to recapture the islands. Yamashita commanded Japans dispersed and besieged Philippine forces in that final year of the war. But the prosecution conceded that he had neither ordered nor committed these crimes. MacArthur charged him  instead  with the crimeif it was oneof having failed to control his troops  and convened a military commission of five American generals  none of them trained in the law. It was the first prosecution in history of a military commander on such a charge. In a turbulent and disturbing trial marked by disregard of the Armys own rules  the generals delivered the verdict they knew MacArthur wanted. Yamashitas lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court  whose controversial decision upheld the conviction over the passionate dissents of two justices who invoked  for the first time in U.S. legal history  the concept of international human rights. Drawing from the tribunals transcripts  Ryan vividly chronicles this tragic tale and its personalities. His trenchant analysis of the cases lingering questionshould a commander be held accountable for the crimes of his troops  even if he has no knowledge of themhas profound implications for all military commanders.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648059039797,"sku":"ByrdShop_0700618813","price":45.92,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780700618811.jpg?v=1781708387","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/yamashitas-ghost-war-crimes-macarthurs-justice-and-command-accountability-modern-war-studies-9780700618811","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}