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Today someone brought up the local officer who's refusing to go to Iraq. One of my co-workers though the whole thing was about personal publicity (I'll bring up the subject with her another time. I don't think she's an idiot, at least--maybe she'll listen).
The other guy, a 21 year career army veteran, thinks he's a freeloader. He joined up, took advantage of the army, and is now refusing to do his duty. I pointed out that he may just think the Iraq war is an illegal war, and (believe it or not) his comment was "who says so? Did the U.S. government call it that?"
I replied, "of course not. Why would they?"
His response? "My point exactly."
He was getting a bit riled, and I was flabbergasted by his responses. He said that "your oaths bind you to follow the Commander-in-Chief's orders."
I asked. "Even if they're illegal?"
"Yes."
"That's exactly the situation the German soldiers had during WWII. Soldiers have a legal and moral obligation to refuse unlawful orders."
He was winding up like a spring-loaded toy about this point, so I agreed to let the matter drop.
I know that ALL career military people aren't brainwashed, but I find that a lot of them sure as hell seem to be. What's the dividing line? Education?
It's easier to get in the pointed comments in writing--people actually have to take a moment to think of a response. In spoken conversation, if the other person shuts down their listening apparatus, you're just wasting your time. This guy didn't want to hear anything that didn't correspond to his beliefs.
SOLDIERS HAVE A LEGAL AND MORAL OBLIGATION TO REFUSE UNLAWFUL ORDERS. And the only thing they have to go on is their own conscience. They can't look outside themselves for this determination--certainly not to the very government that's asking them to do these questionable things.
:banghead:
Why is this so hard to understand? This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that makes some of us very suspicious of the military. "Just following orders" is a STUPID FUCKING EXCUSE.
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