Dissent in The Case of War Crimes
There are countless examples in recent history where military officers have refused to execute the orders of their superiors because they felt their military was party to war crimes.
Several German generals during World War II either refused orders, modified orders, or mounted coups or assassination attempts against the German leader Adolf Hitler. Many of these generals were highly respected by the German people and within the German High Command, notably Erwin Rommel, Claus von Stauffenberg, and Otto von Stülpnagel.
With respect to recent history, United States and UK involvement in the War in Iraq has produced notable dissenters who, in their words, feel that war crimes are being perpetrated by US-UK forces in Iraq. Ehren Watada and Malcolm Kendall-Smith -- one an American officer and one a British officer—have been court martialed for refusing to deploy with their units. Both Watada and Kendall-Smith dissent on the grounds that their respective governments are party to war crimes in Iraq.
Read more about this topic: Dissent By Military Officers And Enlisted Personnel
Famous quotes containing the words dissent, case, war and/or crimes:
“Though dissenters seem to question everything in sight, they are actually bundles of dusty answers and never conceived a new question. What offends us most in the literature of dissent is the lack of hesitation and wonder.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“When trying a case [the famous judge] L. Cassius never failed to inquire “Who gained by it?” Man’s character is such that no one undertakes crimes without hope of gain.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“A sergeant of the lawe, war and wys,
That often hadde been at the Parvys,
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“The form of act or thought mattered nothing. The hymns of David, the plays of Shakespeare, the metaphysics of Descartes, the crimes of Borgia, the virtues of Antonine, the atheism of yesterday and the materialism of to-day, were all emanation of divine thought, doing their appointed work. It was the duty of the church to deal with them all, not as though they existed through a power hostile to the deity, but as instruments of the deity to work out his unrevealed ends.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)