Whoo, boy, what an emotionally charged subject.

On the one hand, there is the 'war atrocity' argument: that the excuse of 'just following orders' was what was used by the Nazi underlings responsible for the mass murders and genocide druing the Second World War. Therefore, it is no excuse at all.

I must point out to those who would make this argument, however, the the US Military has an explicitly worded legal document to deal with this. Members of the US military, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, are required to follow all *lawful* orders of their superior officer. If a person in the field can show justification that the order issued is not lawful, then there is procedure outlined, which must be followed in order to avoid carrying out that order. In this particular case, the burder of proof is on the complaintaint to show the order was not lawful.

It is very difficult to do so. The US military can, does and has prosecuted members both for carrying out unlawful orders, and (more frequently) for failing to carry out lawful ones.

Even if you feel that the prosecution of the impending war against Iraq is wrong, please therefore, carefully direct your complaints, and possible anger where it belongs: at the current US administration, not at the soldier, sailor, or airmen in the field.

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