Gee 16Blades, don't hold back.
Now you and Icarus the second with the greatest of respect.
The Colonel who taught me military law for first appointment explained two things.
1. There is a doctrine in military law called "condonation" which I cannot believe some of you have not also been taught. It simply states that if a more senior officer is aware of a breach of military law by a junior and does nothing to punish it himself, then that officer is guilty of condoning the offence and can be charged as if he committed it himself. The junior officer cannot be charged once his senior has condoned it, as far as i am aware.
The reason the CO has been charged can only be that there is reliable and solid evidence that the Cpl., Sgt., Lt., Capt., Maj., etc involved,
(a) knew about the alleged offence and did nothing about it.
(b) The CO learned about the offence and did nothing about it. It should be stating the bleedin obvious to you that noone is going to put a CO on the block without very serious evidence to back it up.
2. With respect to other acts, such as rape, looting etc. Under certain circumstances, an officer may be required to use his weapon to enforce discipline and military law.
Killing or abusing prisoners is wrong, anywhere, anytime. Please get that through your head. This is not to say mistakes aren't made in battle, nor that there isn't the occasional mercy killing either, but that is a different category of situation. Once a prisoner is taken there are strict rules of behaviour that must be followed because it is LAW.