Re: US soldier refuses to serve in 'illegal Iraq war'

Info Junkie <bondrock@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in 
news:k4st24p1m96pa7d58o8la7ev6lj1p9o54i@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Sat, 17 May 2008 07:29:35 -0500, z <z@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 
>>cmdr buzz corey <cmdr-buzz-corey@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
>>news:c475899d-3ac9-414f-b1d4-745ecec7007e@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
>>
>>> On May 16, 10:13 pm, Mike Roberts <M...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>>> US soldier refuses to serve in 'illegal Iraq war'
>>>>
>>>> May 16 10:49 AM US/Eastern
>>>> Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American US military recruiters
>>>> love. 
>>>>
>>>> "I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in
>>>> school," the now 24-year-old told AFP.
>>>>
>>>> "I was 'filet mignon' for recruiters. They started phoning me when I
>>>> was in 10th grade," or around 16 years old, he added.
>>>>
>>>> Chiroux joined the US army straight out of high school nearly six
>>>> years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant.
>>>>
>>>> He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines and 
was
>>>> due to be deployed next month in Iraq.
>>>>
>>>> On Thursday, he refused to go, saying he considers Iraq an illegal
>>>> war. 
>>> 
>>> Unfortunately he doesn't have the authority to make the decision of
>>> whether the war is illegal or not, or whether he serves even if he
>>> does think it is illegal. He should have thought about all that 
before
>>> he signed the dotted line.
>>
>>It is his duty to refuse an illegal order
> 
> All soliders do indeed have a "...duty to refuse an illegal order".  
> 
> "...However, the dictates of a person’s conscience, religion, or
> personal philosophy cannot justify or excuse the disobedience of an
> otherwise lawful order."
> http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/law/mcm.pdf
> 
> The posted article shows no illegal order given to the sergeant. Ergo,
> your comment is non sequitur. 
> 

The soldier has a different opinion apparently.