US servicemen are escaping charges of murder in court because they can claim they were following orders. Actually, their official Rules Of Engagement: “Kill all military age males.”
Kill all military age males?! That’s an actual ROE? That’s a war crime!
We’re still trying to bring Serbs to justice for that very crime in Srebrenica. That’s a criminal ROE and all soldiers have an obligation to question such a rule. The Nazis claimed they followed orders. Not good enough. Still a crime.
Say you were a teenage Iraqi, or say you were an innocent bystander, or say you were an insurgent with your hands up, or say even you were an insurgent holding a gun, if you decide to give up and raise your hands in surrender, for your opponent to kill you would be an injustice and a war crime. Don’t you agree?
It’s pretty simple, compassionate and humane. It may feel shitty to a bunch of American soldiers who would like a license to shoot every Hadji in sight, but war is not a license to kill, kill, kill. War is hell, it’s not Half-life.
If you’re an American who just shot up a houseful of children, and you raise your hands in surrender, to shoot you would be a crime too. These days American solders now unfortunate to become captured are facing the wrath of the beleagered Iraqis.
We reap what we sow. We must prosecute the bastards sowing war crime.