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Originally Posted by warrenly
Doesn't questioning an order's legality go completely against all the conditioning to automatically obey orders by superiors without question. I was going to say training, but that part is more conditioning a response, is it not?
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Well in the Marines our doctrine was "instant and unquestioning obedience to orders". At the same time we were not to commit crimes and we were aquainted at least vaguely with the Geneva convention.
So, it's one of the kind of grey areas. If you disobey an order because you believe the order to be illegal/against the rules whathaveyou, and the superior giving that order reports you, then it is up to the judgement of one's unit or higher as to whether refusal to obey was warranted or not.
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While sarge may be accountable for ordering you to shoot the woman to watch her scream, you would be accountable for obeying an unlawful order, would you not?
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Yes. In a case like that it would be considered so obvious the order was illegal that even the lowliest grunt fresh out of boot camp should know that.
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I can buy not holding the military as a whole responsible for violating international law. What about a military action that violates a U.S. law? Why are so many in the chain of command willing to take the fall for their superiors?
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Dunno, I certainly wouldn't have.