A video that became available on WikiLeaks.org in April 2010 shows seemingly clear evidence that U.S. troops engaged in what many journalists and activists are calling a massacre of Iraqi civilians. The video has gone viral, being viewed more than six million times over the past few weeks.

In addition, major media outlets including the New York Times reported on another massacre in Afghanistan by U.S. troops, this time on a group of five Afghans, two of whom were pregnant women. Troops even went so far as to dig the bullets out of these bodies in order to cover-up the massacre, but the story broke through and is now part of the larger narrative surrounding the war in Afghanistan.

In the wake of these two terrible incidents, one might expect Congress to launch some sort of investigation or hearing, to discover what led U.S. military members to engage in such brutal actions. But to date, Congress has been deafeningly silent.

It's time to urge Congress to investigate these two incidents, and ensure that the U.S. military acknowledges culpability. Killing innocent civilians is only going to fan the flames of the war on terrorism. We must take steps now to make sure that U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are held to account for committing massacres like these.