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Yet the law is clear and unequivocal, including standards in the US Army Field Manual (FM) 27-10 that incorporate Nuremberg Principles, Judgment and the Charter and The Law of Land Warfare (1956):
-- FM's paragraph 498 states that any person, military or civilian, who commits a crime under international law is responsible for it and may be punished;
-- paragraph 499 defines a war crime;
-- paragraph 500 refers to a conspiracy, attempts to commit it and complicity with respect to international crimes;
-- paragraph 509 denies the defense of superior orders in the commission of a crime; and
-- paragraph 510 denies the defense of an "act of state" to absolve them.
Two points are key:
-- these provisions apply to all US military and civilian personnel, including top commanders, the Secretary of Defense, his subordinates, and the President and Vice President of the United States; and
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