Site BLOG PAGE🔎 SEARCH  Ξ INDEX  MAIN MENU  UP ONE LEVEL
 OJB's Web Site. Version 2.1. Blog Page.You are here: entry237 blog owen2 
Blog

Add a Comment   Up to OJB's Blog List

Illegal

Entry 237, on 2005-10-18 at 13:16:45 (Rating 3, News)

Flight-Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, a New Zealander serving in the Royal Air Force as a medical officer, is refusing to return to service in Iraq and now faces a court-martial and jail.

Its not that he's scared, because he has been decorated for his service in Afghanistan and for two tours in Iraq. He doesn't want to go back because he believes the war is illegal. Of course, there's very good reason to believe that it is, but most people have conveniently ignored this up until now. And his opinion is based on legal advice, including that of the British Attorney-General Peter Goldsmith.

So should members of the military always obey orders, no matter what the circumstances? To ensure the armed forces work at maximum efficiency then the answer should be yes. But there are times when lack of efficiency in the military would be a good thing. For example, if Hitler's troops said "no, we don't want to invade Poland, this will end in disaster" the world would have been a much better place.

So I think this is a good thing, and its great that, yet again, New Zealand is prominent in a protest for peace - even if he was an Aussie originally! Maybe this will show other members of the military that they can stand up against what they know is wrong. If he successfully defends the charge others might refuse orders which ultimately come from corrupt politicians. Where there is protest, and media prepared to publicise it, there is always hope.


There are no comments for this entry.


You can leave comments about this entry using this form.

Enter your name (optional):
Enter your email address (optional):
Enter the number shown here:number
Enter the comment:

To add a comment: enter a name and email (optional), type the number shown, enter a comment, click Add.
Note that you can leave the name blank if you want to remain anonymous.
Enter your email address to receive notifications of replies and updates to this entry.
The comment should appear immediately because the authorisation system is currently inactive.

I do podcasts too!. You can listen to my latest podcast, here: OJB's Podcast 2024-12-04 Avoid Microsoft: If you don't really like computers much you could make things a bit better for yourself..
 Site ©2024 by OJBOJB's BlogWhy Macs are BestMade & Served on Mac 
Site Features: Blog RSS Feeds Podcasts Feedback Log04 Nov 2024. Hits: 55,485,107
Description: Blog PageKeywords: BlogLoad Timer: 14ms