General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Officers of the United States Government should be on trial -- not PFC Bradley Manning. [View all]Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)Have been for the last few regimes.
Presidents and Vice Presidents are, the entire CIA according to Obama (above even investigation), anyone from the DOJs Office of Legal Counsel and I believe investment bankers.
Obama's specific reasoning for not allowing the CIA to be investigated was because they were "following orders in good faith" when they committed crimes like systematic torture designed in N Korea to get confessions regardless of guilt (and justified by the DOJs OLC). It is no surprise that the blanket immunity for "following orders" would cover all military personnel as well.
They have to criminalize those that reveal the crimes committed by those deemed above the law or their proof becomes embarrassing. Imagine how embarrassed the allied leaders would have been if they gave the same "following orders in good faith" immunity to the SS and the other German officers that ordered atrocities thus shielding them from prosecution?