Trumps Drohungen bringen US-Offiziere in ein Dilemma – Befehle missachten oder Kriegsverbrechen begehen: „Rechtsexperten sagen, ein Angriff auf die iranische Infrastruktur würde ein Kriegsverbrechen darstellen – aber würden Militäroffiziere dafür verantwortlich gemacht werden?“
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/apr/06/trump-threats-dilemma-for-officers-disobey-orders-or-commit-war-crimes
41 Kommentare
Why do you think Trump was so upset about the reps telling soldiers to not follow illegal orders? Why do you think so many have been fired? This administration is flagrantly committing war crimes and the rest of the world needs to do something about it because us citizens refuse
Never. You won’t even hear calls for it.
If double tap boat strikes ever come up again, I’ll be surprised. Why would this?
They fucking better be held responsible.
If they know it would be a war crime, they know it’s an illegal order, and are therefore bound by UCMJ to disobey it.
This is why Hegseth is purging senior Army personnel who may follow the law instead of Trump’s lawless orders.
I will not vote for a blue candidate who refuses to commit to holding military officials accountable for any war crimes they committed during Trumps wars.
Its a non-starter.
If they try to do the whole forgive and forget crap to „mend and move on“ then the United States is already finished and I will gladly vote 3rd party if they run on holding people accountable.
This is the test run. They plan to use the military against US civilians who resist the end of our democracy or *racial resegregation*.
Officers will be responsible if we hold them responsible. Look at Russia, nobody except their own government is going to do anything about their warcrimes. Hell, some got medals for it! Same applies to us.
From the article:
There is little debate among legal experts that Trump’s threats to attack life-supporting infrastructure in Iran 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.”
The question is whether officers who carried out orders to bomb Iranian power stations and bridges could argue they did not know it was “palpably illegal.”
“A majority of them understand their duty to disobey, and can give concrete examples of situations where they should,” said Charli Carpenter, a political science professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst. “Recognising those situations in real time and acting appropriately is harder than in a survey experiment, but one thing we know is that when one person stands up, it’s easier for others to do so.”
Yeah they will be held accountable. As will the ones murdering fishermen in the Southern Hemisphere.
There’s no dilemma, they know history and they know the law.
The shit always rolls downhill. The guys at the bottom have a slight chance of remaining unscathed if they can prove they were forced under duress. But the command chain, they will go to prison.
Is, “I was just following orders” a solid defense?
Right now? No.
But once Trump is out of office? Yes
Nazi Soldiers were still being charged for their crimes in 2010’s.
You MUST disobey illegal orders
They just let a bunch of military leadership go…. bet you there were the ones pushing back.
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do some googling about what nazis were culpable for, and what excuses didn’t work, and there’s your answer.
There is no statute of limitations for war crimes.
The US already blew up a bridge if I remember correctly
Gee, it’s almost like the reason Mark Kelly and those other Senators made that video…
It might be time for a refresher by bringing back [the video](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Fk9Gh3qwW4I) by Senators Slotkin and Kelly, and Representatives Deluzio, Goodlander, Houlahan and Crow into the troops‘ minds, because its message is even more important now than when Trump deployed armed forces to American cities: You must refuse illegal orders. Don’t give up the ship.
Listen, voters are gonna be around a lot longer than Trumpo and Hegseth. Don’t make mistakes that outlast politics, because politics don’t last.
How does the US legal system handle „I was just following orders“ defenses when people commit crimes?
Let’s put the war crimes into people – the innocent Iranian people who suffered 40 years under tyranny, will be massacred by the US. Millions of innocent children and families will die because of Trump’s itchy fingers to kill.
They lost almost everything under Iranian leadership and now because of Trump and Hegseth Iran will look and feel like Gaza so YES
Damn if only some upstanding Democrats had tried to warn service members about this
Who’s gonna do it? We were able to hold the Nazis accountable because their country was invaded. Is someone gonna be invading the US and start arresting officers and politicians to put them on trial?
Because the oligarchy that runs the US is not going to put soldiers or officers or politicians on trial for war crimes any time soon.
You only have to worry about war crimes when you are on the losing side. Whatever the end of the war looks like, it will not be a situation where the homeland is overrun and American troops are captured.
So, the US army will definately not hold themselves accountable for war crimes, and the American people sure as shit will not either.
Yes, by definition they would be held responsible. They have a legal requirement to not follow illegal orders.
Military officers would and should be held responsible. These orders are 100% for war crimes. This is not a dilemma this is a clear choice and a rather simple one at that. Commit atrocities and as the US continues to lose global power count the days until you rot in prison or say no and be not just an American hero but a global hero.
At this moment the US needs the military to do what politicians cannot seem to do and stop this administration from inflicting further harm.
They have been willing to commit war crimes against the „drug boats“, so I expect them to continue to obey orders no matter how vile.
Considering I was taught that I would be held responsible for war crimes when I was in the military, yes.
Ever since the Nuremberg Trials and per the Geneva Conventions, „I was just following orders“ is not a valid excuse. You have the power and responsibility to deny illegal orders and I have to think the reason Hegseth has purged the military’s top brass is because they defied his illegal orders and thus he kicked them out.
Most agree the Nuremberg trials were just.
Yes. They would. Thats why they were reminded they don’t have to follow unlawful orders.
This is growing darker by the moment. We have a senile idiot as president and an alcoholic warmonger as defense secretary, at this point, if this article is to be believed a military coup seems like the only way to stop these two idiots from causing a major international incident.
>Would military officers be held responsible
Look up the crews of German U-Boats at the Nuremburg Trials that were charged with war crimes.. anyone found pulling the trigger was put to death.
„I was just following orders“ has never been an acceptable excuse
Not a dilemma, committing war crimes is illegal and the order to do so is the very example used in training.for what is an illegal order and how to handle it.
Every enlisted and officer who follows illegal orders belongs in prison, and if it resulted in civilian deaths…. Life in prison.
The person who flew the plane / drone that blew up that bridge – carrer over, rank stripped, and straight to prison.
We need to make examples of this so it, hopefully, won’t happen so easily in the future.
What dilemma? You do not follow unlawful orders. There is no dilemma.
I don’t think people understand…. Venezuela was a success on how he could committed war crimes. And the media helped him! They only saw the maduro part and forgot the months attacking the Caribbean.
The media is complicit with fascism!!!!
For fucks sake we have already established that „just following orders“ is not a valid excuse for committing war crimes.
Hegsworth is stupid
Yes, if they violate the Constitution or commit war crimes, they are responsible even if they’re following orders. This is a litigated and settled matter. That’s why every member of the military has the ability to refuse unlawful orders, and has a way of consulting to determine if a particular order is illegal. They can’t just say they were following orders. This was made clear following WWII.