Donald Trump’s threats to carry out mass bombing of civilian infrastructure in Iran present US military officers with a dilemma: disobey orders or help commit war crimes.
It is an urgent matter for the US chain of command. In an expletive-laden threat, Trump set a Tuesday 8pm Washington time deadline for the Iranian government to open the strait of Hormuz or face “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one”.
There is little debate among legal experts that such an attack on the life-supporting infrastructure for 93 million Iranians would constitute a war crime.
“Such rhetorical statements – if followed through – would amount to the most serious war crimes – and thus the president’s statements place service members in a profoundly challenging situation,” two former judge advocate general (JAG) officers, Margaret Donovan and Rachel VanLandingham wrote on the website Just Security on Monday.
“As former uniformed military lawyers who advised targeting operations, we know the president’s words run counter to decades of legal training of military personnel and risk placing our warfighters on a path of no return.”
It’s not about agency it’s about a very real risk. You will be court-martialed for disobeying an order. Period.
You will then need to fight a lengthy and public legal battle against the US government to prove that your disobeying was legal. And the result is very much not guaranteed.
That is a significant risk to ask of a soldier and should not be underestimated. I hear your armchair “well they should be brave” whining but this is reality.
And even if you won that Court battle, politicians including the president might call you out by name, they absolutely would call you out by name, and make you a hated figure and a target across the entire country. Not just for the maga diehards, but for all of those conniving police and prosecutors looking to curry favor with the administration.
Sure but it’s only reality because everyone’s too pussy to take responsibility thus the framework is not protecting agency. So it becomes and endless circle of no one’s taking responsibility out of fear thus no one’s agency is being protected.
The answer here has been clear since ancient Greek philosophers - virtue. As a soldier, or any professional for that matter, you have to rule your position through virtue not fear. This is the only way to resist oppression and deception.
It’s always easy for somebody with no skin in the game to demand another person risk everything they have.
Somebody have blown a village in iraq like a good doggie. People like you disgust me.
“No skin in the game”, go tell that to the people under the bombs, asshole
No I take my existence seriously and take responsibility. Just because a person is not capable of holding responsibility doesn’t mean they’re entitled to the position - can’t do it? Then fucking do something else.
Don’t you make the choice to risk your life for your country already by joining the military? Sounds like this is that risk for them. Risk stepping on an IED killing children or getting a court martial for not killing children is a risk either way, but one is infinitely better than the other.
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When was the last time an American was held responsible for a war crime?
In my lifetime, we’ve been doing them since Bush Jr was in office, and I’ve never heard of a single one.
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