# Who has been executed for incompetence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653 "2011-03-06T03:02:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/21 "2011-03-08T18:39:50Z")
Apparently the Commandant in charge of the P.O.W. camp where the great Escape happened was executed because of the escape. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/22 "2011-03-08T18:58:09Z")
Wow, this thread is illustrating the dark side of the Peter Principle. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/23 "2011-03-08T19:08:39Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > There’s conflicting reports on this one… in '87 during the Iran Iraq War, an Iraqi Mirage fired two Exocet missles into the USS Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 sailors. Initial reports weer that Sadam Hussein had the pilot beheaded. Later, an Iraqi ex-Air Force commander said that wasn’t true. Unlikely. Probably punished, but Air force pilots cost a lot, to train. ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/24 "2011-03-08T20:01:43Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Apparently the Commandant in charge of the P.O.W. camp where the great Escape happened was executed because of the escape. [This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III_escape#Investigations_and_repercussions) Great Escape? No, [he](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Lindeiner-Wildau) died a free man at age 82, per Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/25 "2011-03-08T20:04:51Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Unlikely. Probably punished, but Air force pilots cost a lot, to train. So? I can’t think of any examples offhand\*, but surely it’s common for officers to be thrown out of the armed forces for making that kind of mistake. At that point, you’ve lost the training cost anyways. \*Here’s one, although not a pilot: The guy who commanded the [sub which crashed into a Japanese fishing boat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville_collision#Court_of_inquiry_convenes) was discharged from the navy. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/26 "2011-03-09T11:26:09Z")
> [@from\_a\_to\_z](#): > > [This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III_escape#Investigations_and_repercussions) Great Escape? No, [he](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Lindeiner-Wildau) died a free man at age 82, per Wikipedia. Ignorance fought yet again, cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/27 "2011-03-09T11:40:32Z")
The doctor treating [Hephaistion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephaistion#Death_and_funeral) - friend and possible lover of Alexander the Great - in his last illness, was supposedly executed by Alexander after Hephaistion did not survive. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/28 "2011-03-09T14:31:23Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Unlikely. Probably punished, but Air force pilots cost a lot, to train. Yeah, I’m torn on this one as they obviously are a valuable commodity but at the time Iraq and the US really weren’t at odds. In fact, we were the enemy of Saddam’s enemy and the whole episode was presumed detrimental to the Iraqi cause. Just makes me all the more curious about what his fate really was, death or a wink and a slap on the back. When it came to Saddam, no strategy or deviousness was off the table. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/29 "2011-03-09T15:34:29Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > …When it came to Saddam, no strategy or deviousness was off the table. Or evil. Don’t forget the evil. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/30 "2011-03-09T22:56:14Z")
Oh, I’m sure there were lots of first basemen that played better, but execution seems a little extreme. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653/31 "2011-03-09T23:18:11Z")
Stalin routinely had people shot for not doing their jobs right. An investigation after several fatal crashes on the state railways in 1930 led to [two executions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_(1900%E2%80%931949)#1930) as well as 12 imprisonments. It’s suspected that [Konstantin Kalinin](http://ram-home.com/ram-old/x-kalinin.html), who was developing heavy bombers for the USSR, was arrested and shot in 1938 because Stalin wasn’t satisfied with progress on the project. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-been-executed-for-incompetence/573653.md?page=1)