'I was only following orders." With these words, that have entered our language as a cliche reeking of bitter irony, SS-Obersturmbannfurer Karl Adolf Eichmann (1906-62) defended his part in the murder of innocent prisoners in Nazi death camps. The court in Jerusalem, where Eichmann was put on trial in 1961, did not accept "only following orders" as a justifiable defense.
On Sept. 27, 2005, U.S. Army Pfc. Lynndie England, was found guilty by a military panel of maltreating detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Photos of England grinning, her finger pointed at naked men, shot around the world in 2004, revealing the physical and psychological torture that the American military practices on people who oppose the occupation of Iraq and its global "war on terror." Needless to say, England is not Adolf Eichmann. But her comment to the media in May 2004 recalls Eichmann's famous statement and brings into question the very important issue of responsibility in war.
"I was instructed by people in higher rank to stand there and hold this leash and look at the camera," England said. "We were doing what we were told."