The judgments in the Nuremberg trials all rejected the Nazi's defense that they were "just following orders". Though a form of "victor's justice", these judgments did establish a precedent that was applied, belatedly, to some atrocities committed by Americans in Vietnam.U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada refused to go to Iraq because he believes the war is illegal. His court martial was recently declared a mistrial. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that this administration and it's thuggish Department of Justice will reverse 6 years of persistent, pervasive abuse of prosecutorial discretion that has produced, thankfully, very few guilty verdicts. If only the CIA agents now under indictment in Italy and Germany for their roles in the illegal "extraordinary renditions" (torture) had been willing to accept personal responsibility. If enough soldiers and officials have the courage to refuse inhuman, immoral, or illegal orders, the war will stop.
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Some people never will "get it". The following came from a story at MSNBC dated Feb 8, 2007:
***START QUOTE***
A military judge granted a Marine corporal's request Thursday to withdraw his guilty plea to charges of murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian who was dragged from his home and shot.
Cpl. Trent Thomas asked to change the plea, saying he no longer believes he is guilty. Thomas now says he believes he was following a lawful order.
"Sir, when my country gives me an order, I follow it," Thomas told the judge, Lt. Col. Tracy Daley.
***ENDQUOTE***
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