Crimes of Obedience

Download or read book Crimes of Obedience written by Herbert C. Kelman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sergeant William Calley's defense of his behavior in the My Lai massacre and the widespread public support for his argument that he was merely obeying orders from a superior and was not personally culpable led Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton to investigate the attitudes toward responsibility and authority that underlie "crimes of obedience"--not only in military circumstances like My Lai but as manifested in Watergate, the Iran-Contra scandal, and the Kurt Waldheim affair. Their book is an ardent plea for the right and obligation of citizens to resist illegal and immoral orders from above.