LETTER: About those ‘illegal’ orders …
Who gets to decide if an order is illegal? Is it the general who issues a command-level order and policy? Is it the second lieutenant who commands a platoon-level set of orders? How about a sergeant addressing his squad? Or is it left to the E-1 who doesn’t like being told what to do?
In the aftermath of the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, only one person, 2nd Lt. William Calley, was convicted at court martial, later overturned. More than 100 soldiers took part in that event. Where does the responsibility lay?
