I agree with you that things can be turned around A=B so B=A and such, it's not why I made the thread though.
I know you didn't make the thread as an exercise in logic; but logic certainly comes into play. Unless, that is, you wish to dispense with logic in your arguments. Do you?
Yes, the soldiers are to be held somewhat responsible for what they did, but not put to death or sentenced to life in prison. Maybe you could of gotten out of a group like the Einsatzgruppen, but leaving the Wermacht was punishable by death.
But how many members of the Wermacht were on trial at Nuremberg for doing nothing more than following orders? I think the number is zero. We didn't try every surviving member of the German army. We tried the people who, apparently voluntarily, comitted attrocious acts against the Jews, Pols, Slavs, etc. The people who stood trial at Nuremberg were the high-ranking Nazis who were still alive, the mid-level officers who were entirely with the program, members of the Einsatzgruppen, and camp guards who were known to have committed attrocities. The German military was largely unaffected.
So, let me ask you: are you aware of anyone on trial at Nuremburg who was able to show that, had they not killed Jews, would have themselves been killed?
Remember this people who we call criminals would have been hailed heros had Germany won the war. Like I said before, it's hard to punish someone for doing something they thought was right because you think it's wrong.
Quite true, but not relevant. Everyone who murders, steals, rapes, kidnaps, etc. thinks that they have a good reason for doing what they're doing. That seems like it must be true by logical necessity--no one ever does anything for no reason at all.
So I don't know why it's hard to punish someone. I'm absolutely positive that Hitler was convinced that the Jews really were involved in some grand global conspiracy to eliminate the German people, and it was a case of us or them. So what? James Evander Couey was probably absolutely convinced that he had to kidnap, rape, and kill Jessica Lunsford, and that he was justified in doing so. Does this mean we should just let him go?