LETTER: ‘Just following orders’ won’t cut it
In response to your Nov. 21 wire-service story, “Illegal orders’ message riled Trump”: Some of the worst atrocities in history were committed by men in uniform who were “just following orders.”
The Nazis during World War II blindly followed orders to execute countless innocent civilians, who happened to be Jews, contributing to the worst atrocity in history, the Holocaust. When called to account during the Nuremberg Trials, the oft-repeated refrain, “I was just following orders,” was uttered as a feeble defense.
This is exactly why the U.S. military teaches its new recruits that they are not required to follow “unlawful” orders. I understood this as a young Marine sergeant when I refused an unlawful order from an ill-informed captain. Although the gravity of the order was nowhere near the Vietnam-era My Lai massacre, I was nevertheless exonerated by my commanding officer.
Servicemen and women also take an oath to support the Constitution rather than a leader. After all, you never know when a president might decide to be a tyrant and order troops into American cities.
