As a citizen of the world I think blind adherence to duty and loyalty above humanity is the refugee of the craven. It is a shallow excuse and was exposed as such at the Nuremburg trials, a war crime is never exonerated because it was an order.

The ends do not justify the means either. In the end of the day duty and loyalty are just a set of bongos those in charge will beat to rally others to fight for their cause. Just because a person chooses to march to that beat does not make his destination anymore virtous. It is both the method and the destination that are important.