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[Duuvian]

What's the general opinion on this site about this guy anyway?

I don't know, there might be a thread for it somewhere though

[Sergius]

I seem to recall most of the lower level nazis put on trial getting away with the argument that they were just following orders, and to refuse would have left them dead. It was only those who were of either political importance or behind the orders in the first place who didn't get away with it. Which is as it should be.

Soldiers are pieces of a machine, and they cannot question what the machine is doing. As much as you like arguing "The machine is evil and bottom-rung soldiers are obviously better equipped to deal with the complex moral clusterfuck that is war than officers because... uh... they're not part of the machine, man... or something...", what about when the soldiers come to conclusions you don't like? Think of the squad that made a game of killing civilians that wound up court marshaled when someone else in the platoon ratted them out to a higher officer (note that if they must break normal procedure to reveal blatant wrongdoing, going up their own damn ladder is the way to do it; still frowned upon, but not, you know, treason). That was also a case of soldiers thinking for themselves, and drawing their own conclusions. How about the soldiers that snap and start shooting their comrades? Thinking for themselves. While the Manning case is rather mild, especially compared to those, it is only so because of the general unimportance of everything leaked; he accomplished nothing of value, and left his head on the chopping block.

Ehh. Thousands were put on trial after Nuremberg, from secrataries to guards. A lot of them hanged. The "just following orders" line was explicitly established as an invalid defense and that principle was made international law afterwards. Soldiers really are responsible for their actions, and not objecting to an illegal order is a criminal offense, even in US military code. There's plenty of court cases and other references I can dig up if you really want them.

In the case of Manning, he claims to have reported to his superior officer that iraqi police were arresting people who were handing out pamphlets criticizing PM Maliki. He was told to go help them round up more political opponents.

Shhhh! You're ruining the historical revisionism!

[Duke 2.0]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We need more amusing takes on the whole thing to liven things up around here.

[Urist is dead tome]

I wish!

[ed boy]

Funny, funny, stuff.

But what nationality is the bloke with the monocle supposed to be?

[Urist is dead tome]

England.

[ed boy]

I would have thought that the union jack would be used, then.

[Jreengus]

The English flag is just St George's Cross. The Union flag is actually a combination of the crosses of St George, St Andrew and St Patrick.

[ed boy]

But how often do people consider england alone? Although the name "England" is bandied around a lot, in practice people tend to mean great britain or the UK.

[Leafsnail]

But how often do people consider england alone? Although the name "England" is bandied around a lot, in practice people tend to mean great britain or the UK.

Perfectly true outside the UK.  Within the UK, it's pretty important for sports and politics (although you don't see the St George's flag much outside of football fans and racists).

[Urist is dead tome]

Do you mean Soccer? or Foot ball?

[Leafsnail]

I shall call it by its proper name when I am talking about England, thank you .

[Urist is dead tome]

If you stop calling it Football I will stop saying England is a backward, apocalyptic wasteland .

[Earthquake Damage]

I shall call it by its proper name when I am talking about England, thank you .

I think the unambiguous "proper" name is association football, not just football.

[Sergius]

And the unambiguous, "proper" name is american football, not just football.