Scale of the crimes is different, but what the
American government officials and army staff
have spoken about the mistreatment of prisoners
etc in Afganistan and Iraq have an uncanny
resemblance with what the Nazis have said as
their defence in trials, over and over again:
"We just followed orders" and "We didn´t know
about the details, we just shaped the outlines"
and that they didn´t know what happened in.
Now the ordinary soldiers are singing in choir
that "We just followed orders" and the higher
ranking officers and government officials are
claiming that they didn´t know what was going on,
even if their job demanded it. Either they should
be sacked, because they don´t are up to the job,
or they should be prosecuted for war crimes -
and for the same reason that some high ranking
Nazis were hanged, for attacking another country
without a good reason.

The world has changed much since the days of
Nüremberg trials, but still no good excuses for
atrocities have been invented.