Military Accountability Quotes

The American Army has supplied, assigned a very capable man to me, to help me, bring me to military justice. I don't think I need no civilians. All I want to do is clear myself with the American Army.

According to the laws of war, a warring party can just walk away from civilian harm that they have caused.

Civilian control of the military is an inviolable principle, which means that civilians should bear the chief responsibility when the military is misdirected.

I think the International Criminal Court could be a threat to American security interests, because the prosecutor of the court has enormous discretion in going after war crimes. And the way the Statute of Rome is written, responsibility for war crimes can be taken all the way up the chain of command.

Military investigations are designed not to find anyone guilty. And you can't investigate up the chain of command, which is a huge impediment.

WikiLeaks exposed corruption, war crimes, torture and cover-ups. It showed that we were lied to about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; that the U.S. military had deliberately hidden information about systematic torture and civilian casualties, which were much higher than reported.

WHEN we don't get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don't blame the soldiers.

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.

The emotions suppressed during the long, tense period of global warfare were released by peace, and erupted into a tornado-like explosion of violent feelings, abusive criticism of the military, and aggressive pressures on Congress for fundamental reforms in the court-martial system.

Our men and women fighting in Iraq are held accountable for their performance and their conduct. On duty and off, twenty-four hours a day. They're fighting for us, for our safety, our rights, and our freedoms.

The failings in Afghanistan don't fall on the shoulders of the American service personnel trying to complete their mission. The failure falls on military leadership unable to adapt to irregular warfare, and a Congress that blindly continues to fund failure.

An apology for the actions of some troops who, of course, are not representative of the majority of the armed forces here, I think that would have been useful and it would have helped to some extent.

When former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote his recent book, 'Duty', it was full of tough assessments and candor.

I accept responsibility for U-boat warfare from 1933 onward, and of the entire navy from 1943 on, but to make me responsible for what happened to Jews in Germany, or Russian soldiers on the east front it is so ridiculous all I can do is laugh.

In conflict zones in particular, we need personnel who wear the badge of the United States, are a part of our official military command, and are always held accountable for their actions.

I can stand by no longer and see these disgusting performances by the Navy and War Departments at the expense of the lives of our people, and the delusion of the American public.

I don't need a U.N. report to tell me whether my army... operates according to the international law guidelines.

The highest levels of the U.S. military, the Defense Department, and the White House must be held accountable for putting our troops at greater risk and diminishing Americas moral authority across the globe.

The framework of a democratic army has been established by President Truman’s Executive Order.

I think the International Criminal Court could be a threat to American security interests, because the prosecutor of the court has enormous discretion in going after war crimes. And the way the Statute of Rome is written, responsibility for war crimes can be taken all the way up the chain of command. This is the sort of investigation that some people who live in Fairyland might like to undertake, but which bears no relationship at all to conditions in the real world.

We should change our attitude toward the United Nations. There has to be some power in the world superior to our own. We should not have attacked Iraq without the okay of the United Nations. Now we have to live with that mistake. We're living with it, and too many of our guys are dying with it.

A military without political training is a potential criminal.

We pretended there was no problem with Agent Orange after Vietnam and later the Pentagon recanted, after untold suffering by veterans.

A general who allows himself to be decisively defeated in an extended mountain position deserves to be court-martialled.

It is of first importance that the military be subordinate to civilian government