Orders Do Not Justify War Crimes?

[FutureRANGER]

I am aware of the US policy of not allowing the argument of "it was an order" to justify a war crime. I have two questions about this.

1) When did the US adopt this policy for our enemies? (If my memory serves me correctly it was at Nuremberg).

2) When did the US adopt this policy for US soldiers? (My guess would be Vietnam?)

:?:

 

[RnderSafe]

1) When did the US adopt this policy for our enemies? (If my memory serves me correctly it was at Nuremberg).

Yes.

2) When did the US adopt this policy for US soldiers? (My guess would be Vietnam?)

In 1953, the DoD adopted the Nuremberg Principles as "official policy" of the United States.

 

[Eric]

In the French military it is not supposed to be an issue anymore: no one has to obey an illegal order and basically that covers all the rules and laws of war. Up to the individual to chose wisely...that increases the need to look up the rules and laws of war, and Geneva convention studies are part of boot camp + the pretty extensive military litterature on all the different military operations, war and ops other than wars.
Of course that is at home...War or combat is something else and men can quickly turn into animals if not "kept on a short leash" unless of course, the commanders are the one losing it!!!
Did you read Caputo's book on Vietnam? It is a classic....and I just forgot the title....
He lost it as a platoon cmmdr in Nam, gave the wrong orders and let the wrong impression and his soldiers kind of run amok and murdered a couple of innocent kids they captured in a village at night. They believed he gave them a "blank check". Furthermore he also tried to cover it up....Real story on the degradation of the moral of the troops after a couple of months of losses due to snipers and mines... The loss of the main goal and focus, loss of ideal, loss of trust twrd the chain of command, loss of humanity through boredom, loss of fear to die....
Deja vu!

 

[FutureRANGER]

Thanks a lot guys, that answers my questions.