Comment by JumpCrisscross
2 years ago
> can't say someone can't be a war criminal if they had underlings, supervisors, or peers who should have known better and stopped them
This isn’t true. The persons who carry out the order are liable. As is the commander.
> The person receiving the order could—and in many cases, should—have refused.
To execute it. Kissinger didn’t execute. He relayed. It’s a subtle, frustrating but—I think—necessary distinction to preserve the sanctity of the term required to prosecute heads of state, a novel concept in its own right.
This is like arguing Eichmann had no part in the holocaust because he just organized the trains. I imagine the Cambodians would make the same distinction the Israelis did, in that both men were clearly evil people.
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