Ryan critically examined General Arthur MacArthur 's targeting a Japanese General after World War II using a hand-picked military commission and disregarding customary rules of evidence to send him to the gallows . The verdict , ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court , found General Tomoyuki Yamashita accountable for atrocities committed in the Philippines during the closing months of the Pacific war simply because the troops were nominally under his command . There was no evidence that Yamashita committed crimes or ordered others to do so or was in a position to prevent them or even suspected they were about to happen . This set a far-reaching precedent for command responsibility that has never been undone . However , American Generals were not held to this standard in subsequent wars in Vietnam ( My Lai ) , Iraq ( Abu Ghraib ) , and Afghanistan ( Bagram )
My Lai
My Lai Massacre
Allan Ryan (attorney)