Nice to see that thanks to Ghaddafi's army, people are rediscovering the standards of Nuremberg.

[howard112211]

Suddenly we are discussing here on DU the obligation to disobey illegal orders, and pointing out that the people who were blown away by NATO airstrikes had it coming because they remained loyal to the chain of command, and should rather have stood down.

Ok then, I suppose everyone who didn't lay down arms and refuse to obey, when Bush gave the illegal order to invade Iraq, is guilty of crimes against humanity and crimes against peace, and certainly had coming what came to them.

Correct, or is there a flaw in this simple logic that I am missing? Or are we going to declare that we believe in a double standard?

[rfranklin]

1. Of course, it's the American Way!

We are exceptional and the rules do not apply!

[Teaser]

2. When you get your time traveling DeLorean working

let us know.

[Avalux]

3. Ethical dilemmas....

Doing what is ethically right results in a bad or worse outcome or effect

VS.

Doing what is ethically wrong results in a good or better outcome or effect


Ethical dilemmas have no easy answers, sometimes there is no solution; every situation is different. More often than not, the second choice above is what people pick, based on the assumption of the goodness of the outcome (the end justifies the means).

[dipsydoodle]

4. double standards

sounds about right.

[RC]

5. Really? Why didn't we discover those standards of Nuremberg during bush's terms?

[joshcryer]

6. Nuremberg did not indict junior military people.

And you usually go after the officers in those cases anyway.

And yes I damn sure would advocate having Bush and everyone down to SGM taken be looked at with scrutiny and tried.

I'm dead serious.

Gaddafi executes people who disobey orders, so I don't blame them for shooting. Their best option is to defect.

[Catherina]

7. I wish we'd just openly declare the double standard and avoid all the confusion

The honesty would be refreshing and think of all the time we'd save on grand-standing political speeches.