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Tom Roeper in the NY Times

A letter to the editor by Tom Roeper appeared in the April 23, 2009, issue of the New York Times. Here's the text of the letter, which concerns the editorial In the spirit of openness:

To the Editor:

When I was 12 in the 1950s, my mother made me promise -- if I were drafted into the Army -- not to do something stupid or wrong even if an officer told me to. She is a Holocaust refugee. That was the meaning of the Nuremberg laws, I was told.

If I could understand that at 12, shouldn't C.I.A. agents bear the same responsibility to judge the orders from their superiors?

I was astonished to hear that the Nuremberg rationale was invoked -- "I was only following orders" -- as an acceptable excuse in the current debate.

Where is that better America that President Obama calls upon us to heed?

Can we really live with ourselves if we fail to prosecute all involved under the real Nuremberg laws?

Tom Roeper
Amherst, Mass., April 22, 2009