About “just following orders”:
From the earliest days of their military training, right straight through until the day they are discharged, soldiers are taught that they must obey a lawful order.
When he stood accused of war crimes for slaughtering known civilians at My Lai during the Vietnam War, there was a reason why William Calley couldn’t hide behind the “just following orders” defense. That reason can be found in Rule 916 in the Manual for Courts Martial.
Quote:It is a defense to any offense that the accused was acting pursuant to orders unless the accused knew the orders to be unlawful or a person of ordinary sense and understanding would have known the orders to be unlawful.
https://jsc.defense.gov/Portals/99/Documents/MCM2016.pdf?ver=2016-12-08-181411-957
Now, that’s saying a soldier doesn’t have to follow an unlawful order. Gallagher wasn’t even following any order when he performed his perverse photography with the corpse of the 14-year-old. He acted on his own, and he knew it to be one kind of action they were specifically directed not to do.
There is no legal, ethical or moral defense for what this man did.
And the only defense for 45 coming to his aid and defying the justice decided on by the military - is that he is doing it just because he can. That’s probably good enough for those so far up 45’s ass they can tell what he ate yesterday.
But it really shouldn’t be good enough for any of the rest of us.
