Perpetrator trauma was documented among the perpetrators of the Holocaust , the Indonesian Communist Purges , the Cambodian genocide , and South African apartheid . In writing about the experiences of American soldiers in Iraq , the psychiatrist R. J. Lifton claims in the aftermath of the Haditha masacre : " The alleged crimes in Iraq , like My Lai , are examples of what I call an atrocity-producing situation — one so structured , psychologically and militarily , that ordinary people , men or women no better or worse than you or I , can commit atrocities . A major factor in all of these events was the emotional state of US soldiers as they struggled with angry grief over buddies killed by invisible adversaries , with a desperate need to identify an ' enemy . ' ” Referring to the definition of " atrocity-producing situation " , Morag ( 2013 ) was one of the first scholars to theorize perpetrator trauma and delineate the victim-perpetrator distinction in the context of the twenty-first century new war / war on terror . 22 According to Morag 's theorization , perpetrator trauma as an ethical trauma has been documented among Israeli soldiers during the Intifada as well US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan .
Cambodian genocide
Cambodian genocide
Perpetrator trauma