There's no doubt that those higher up should also take responsibility, but the fact remains that it is illegal to follow an illegal order. The soldiers have a responsibility to refuse.
The combination of reality being defined by the government/media, the military mentaliy and the actual tension of combat make it virtually impossible for a soldier to refuse. Another of many victims of the PNAC agenda.
There's no doubt that those higher up should also take responsibility, but the fact remains that it is illegal to follow an illegal order. The soldiers have a responsibility to refuse.
Never in any military organization (save maybe the salvation army) has a soldier ever had any right to refuse. Armed forces are hierarchies, not democracies. If each soldier went around thinking, they would not be able to accomplish the task at hand.
Never in any military organization (save maybe the salvation army) has a soldier ever had any right to refuse. Armed forces are hierarchies, not democracies. If each soldier went around thinking, they would not be able to accomplish the task at hand.
Under both international law and US military law it is illegal to follow an illegal order. It's been that way since the Nuremberg trials. If military organisations have a systemic problem that makes that impossible, then it is up to them to change. If the do not change, then those in charge of those organisations should be held responsible as well as, not instead of, those under them.
