US Troops Refused Illegal Commands: What They Revealed
- Here's a breakdown of the key points from the provided text, organized for clarity:
- The article discusses a survey conducted by UMass-Amherst's Human Security Lab regarding active-duty service members' willingness to disobey illegal orders.
- Law: Troops increasingly referenced international law as a standard for illegality, sometimes implying U.S.
Here’s a breakdown of the key points from the provided text, organized for clarity:
Main Argument:
The article discusses a survey conducted by UMass-Amherst’s Human Security Lab regarding active-duty service members’ willingness to disobey illegal orders. The findings suggest a concerning trend: while many troops generally acknowledge a duty to disobey unlawful commands, they are less likely to do so when presented with specific scenarios. A key factor influencing their willingness to disobey is awareness of international law.
Key Findings & Supporting Details:
* Distrust in U.S. Law: Troops increasingly referenced international law as a standard for illegality, sometimes implying U.S. law might not be sufficient or could even be manipulated to legitimize unlawful actions. Respondents specifically expressed concerns about potential illegal orders from a future President Trump.
* Political concerns: Many responses directly linked potential disobedience to concerns about domestic political issues, like oppression of U.S. civilians or the use of the military for deportations.
* Training & Pressure to Obey: The lower rate of disobedience in specific scenarios is attributed to the intense training and social/psychological pressures to obey orders within the military. Troops receive limited training on the laws of war and human rights.
* Impact of International Law Knowledge: Knowledge of international law increases willingness to disobey.The survey showed an 8 percentage point increase in willingness to disobey when reminded that shooting civilians violates international law.
* Thinking about Law & Morality: Even prompting troops to consider legal and moral principles before presenting specific scenarios significantly increases their likelihood of refusing illegal orders. (This builds on previous research from 2020).
* Nuclear Bomb Scenario: 69% of troops who where asked about “manifestly unlawful orders” before being asked about dropping a nuclear bomb on a civilian city said they would refuse.(The article cuts off before providing the refusal rate for those who were asked the nuclear bomb question directly).
Image Caption:
The image is a tag cloud representing responses to the survey, illustrating the range of situations in which service members would consider disobeying an order.
In essence, the article highlights a gap between the principle of disobeying illegal orders and the practice of doing so, and suggests that education on international law could be a crucial step in bridging that gap.