Psychological Operations and Their Ethical Implications in Phil Klay’s Redeployment

Abstract

The aim of this article is twofold: to examine how psychological operations function in Phil Klay’s Redeployment (2015), namely, the ninth story, “Psychological Operations”, and to uncover the moral dimension of these practices in the context of the 2003 Iraq War. Psychological Operations are primarily concerned with influencing target audiences’ emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behaviour of adversaries to achieve military goals. Nevertheless, these psychological practices may violate some ethical and moral codes and endanger the well-being of their assumed patients, their enemies. The study makes the argument in two constructs, namely, ‘Ethical Implications in “Psychological Operations”’, which addresses the ethical dimensions of the psychological operations, and ‘Accountability in “Psychological Operations”’, which investigates culpability for these unethical practices. It contends that the immoral practices committed by American soldiers are presented as a reaction to the cruelty of the enemy rather than unscrupulous procedures per se.