I did my BCT shortly after the My Lai “Massacre” become top news.Perhaps for that reason we had a class lasting several hours,conducted by an O-2,which focused on “lawful” and “unlawful” orders.I must admit that I wasn't fully awake through the whole thing (many Freepers understand what I'm sayin’) but the instructor stressed that a soldier is not obliged to obey an “unlawful” order and he went on to give some examples of what might represent such an order.
I seriously wonder if the orders given to this Marine might qualify as such.