U.K. Airman to Face Court Martial for Refusal to Serve in Iraq
March 22 (Bloomberg) -- A U.K. Royal Air Force officer was ordered to stand trial for his refusal to serve in Iraq, after a military judge rejected arguments that the war was illegal.
Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, was charged with five counts of failing to comply with an order, after refusing to report for duty in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in June, an RAF spokeswoman said.
The judge hearing the case at an air base in Aldershot, England, today ruled that the orders to Kendall-Smith were legal, the spokeswoman said. Judge Advocate Jack Bayliss said U.K. troops were justified under United Nations resolutions to fight in Iraq and dismissed Kendall-Smith's view that he could disobey the orders because Britain had no lawful reason to enter the country, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Kendall-Smith, a physician, had served previously in Iraq and refused another posting to the country after studying legal advice about the war given to government ministers, the BBC said. His court martial is scheduled for April 11, the BBC reported.
Britain has about 7,800 military members in Iraq and is the second-largest contributor to the 160,000-strong coalition led by the U.S. The U.S. contingent numbers about 140,000.
'Il est bon qu'un soldat désobéisse à des ordres criminels.'
[It is right for a soldier to disobey criminal orders.]
Anatole France
It takes more courage, too.
Sherman said:Tell that to the Kurds, or the countless women raped by Saddam and his sons, or the countless families torn apart by his death squads...
So do we invade every country with a nasty little dictator?
Where's next - The Congo (1,000,000 dead), North Korea the list goes on and on.
Even human rights excuses for the war are beginning to wear a little thin now.
icantbelieve said:Neither, just foolish, its not up to soldiers to decide whether the war should be fought, an army does what the government tells it to do the whole thing would fall apart if individual soldiers were able to decide to do different things. You sign up and take orders.
Duplex said:I think that the easy course of action for this guy would be to do his tour, but he has chosen a principled stand.
Sherman said:Ideally, yes.
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