Paul Rieckhoff Quotes
I am a combat leader. As such I am responsible for everything that is done in my unit. I just wish that our civilian leaders would accept the same kind of responsibility.
Paul Rieckhoff, National Guard Lieutenant, Veteran of Iraq War, Interview, ABC This Week, May 2, 2004
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The economy of Poland was in dire straits as the President resigned:
Few high ranking officers, or officials of civilian organizations, take the responsibility for subordinates not understanding instructions.
This quotation was an attack on President George W. Bush who had argued to a nation hostile about the Iraq War that the decision on whether to continue the war should be determined in large part by the report that was to be given by the commander of our forces In Iraq, General David Petraeus. He reported that he thought we should give the situation some more time and effort, and that was the policy decision. Clark and others thought this was not fair to Petraeus whose job it was not to make the policy but to implement it. It was perhaps the only time in history where a President abdicated a major war policy decision to a field officer. The President even argued to Congress that they should all wait for the General to return to Washington. He argued that he made the decision; he just wanted to hear the General’s recommendation. Most believed that he could have obtained that without the General returning to Washington to talk to Congress and the American people.
He was convicted as a War Criminal, sentenced to death, and then his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. His quote is important because this was the defense that was totally rejected by the Nuremberg Tribunal—a solder is not required to obey an order to commit a war crime and if he does, he is as guilty as the person who gave the order.
Paul (P.J.) Rieckhoff is an American writer, social entrepreneur, activist and veteran of the United States Army and the Iraq War. He is the president of Righteous Media Inc and the host of the Indepedent Americans podcast. Prior to that, he was the founder, CEO and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), a non-partisan non-profit founded in 2004. He served as an Army first lieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq from 2003 through 2004. Rieckhoff was released from the Army National Guard in 2007.
