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"I was only obeying orders" [message #47044]

Sun, 18 November 2007 09:48

timmy

Has no life at all

Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13828

I suppose this will be highly controversial, but this defence, offered at the Nuremburg war crimes trials, has always seemed to me to be valid in its way.

Private Soldier Hans "I am not a Nazi, but the bastards run the country, and I want to survive" Schmidt is ordered to kill an innocent civilian.

Scenario 1: Hans shoots the civilian. Later the order was deemed unlawful. Hans is executed for murder.

Scenario 2: Hans refuses. Someone else shoots the civilian. Hans is court martialled by his superiors for refusing to obey an order. Hans is shot.

We still have the same number of dead people, we just have different timescales.

Comments would be interesting.

Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School

		"I was only obeying orders" By: timmy on Sun, 18 November 2007 09:48
		Re: "I was only obeying orders" By: dunfyn on Sun, 18 November 2007 22:48
		Re: "I was only obeying orders" By: timmy on Sun, 18 November 2007 23:08
		Re: "I was only obeying orders" By: CallMePaul on Mon, 19 November 2007 00:56
		Deep question; no easy answers. By: cossie on Mon, 19 November 2007 03:01
		Re: Deep question; no easy answers. By: timmy on Mon, 19 November 2007 11:39
		Re: Deep question; no easy answers. By: marc on Mon, 19 November 2007 11:58
		Re: Deep question; no easy answers. By: timmy on Mon, 19 November 2007 21:19
		Re: Deep question; no easy answers. By: kupuna on Tue, 20 November 2007 00:08
		Re: Deep question; no easy answers. By: timmy on Tue, 20 November 2007 07:34
		Re: Deep question; no easy answers. By: marc on Tue, 20 November 2007 02:32
		Re: "I was only obeying orders" By: NW on Mon, 19 November 2007 22:20
		Re: "I was only obeying orders" By: CallMePaul on Tue, 20 November 2007 00:32
		Re: "I was only obeying orders" By: NW on Tue, 20 November 2007 00:39
		On Obeying Orders By: unsui on Tue, 20 November 2007 03:42
		Re: On Obeying Orders By: acam on Thu, 22 November 2007 13:17
		Trying for an overall view. By: cossie on Wed, 21 November 2007 03:37
		Re: Trying for an overall view. By: marc on Wed, 21 November 2007 07:25
		Re: Trying for an overall view. By: timmy on Wed, 21 November 2007 07:34
		Re: Trying for an overall view. By: marc on Wed, 21 November 2007 07:42
		Re: Trying for an overall view. By: timmy on Wed, 21 November 2007 07:39
		I think some of these alternative may change the question. By: cossie on Thu, 22 November 2007 05:29
		Re: I think some of these alternative may change the questio By: acam on Thu, 22 November 2007 13:30
		Methinks thou hast the wrong end of the stick! By: cossie on Fri, 23 November 2007 04:03
		Re: Methinks thou hast the wrong end of the stick! By: NW on Fri, 23 November 2007 12:11
		Bet you say that to all the boys, NW! By: cossie on Sun, 25 November 2007 04:09
		Re: "I was only obeying orders" By: JFR on Wed, 21 November 2007 04:07
		I take your point and your limitation, JFR ... By: cossie on Wed, 21 November 2007 05:02
		Re: I take your point and your limitation, JFR ... By: acam on Thu, 22 November 2007 13:38
		Re: I take your point and your limitation, JFR ... By: timmy on Thu, 22 November 2007 18:39
		Re: "I was only obeying orders" By: NW on Wed, 21 November 2007 21:35

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