Remember Nüremburg?

[mbarrick]

"[The photos] were for psy-op reasons, and the reasons worked. I mean, so to us, we were doing our job, which meant we were doing what we were told, and the outcome was what they wanted.

"They just told us, 'Hey, you're doing great, keep it up.' "

-- Pfc. Lynndie England's "defense" for the Iraqi prisoner abuse photos.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/03/england.hearing/
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=889192004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3529984.stm
and a few hundred more

Comments

[deckards-sixth.livejournal.com]

I've thought about this a lot. One thing is certain--American troops are taught to do exactly as they are told. They don't do ANYthing without instruction. They don't breathe, sleep, sit down, whatever. I believe they were told to do it. I think they would have been right to refuse, but I also know they could have been court-martialed anyway for refusing to follow orders. I still don't think going through with it was acceptable.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

You're quite right, all soldiers are trained to do as they are told. Nonetheless, the Nüremburg trials of 1945 refused to accept "just following orders" as an excuse, and it is still not an excuse. The entire chain of command involved in this is at fault here. Both those that gave the orders and those that executed them are at fault.

[deckards-sixth.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

yeh and that's the key...for the nazis they put the blame right on down the line, from top to bottom...let's see if they are consistent when it applies to themselves...