Thou Shall Obey

An RAF doctor who refused to serve in Iraq has been sentenced to eight months in jail and dismissed from the service.

This is a chap called Malcolm Kendall-Smith, who's a flight lieutenant in the Air Force. During his trial, he aroused the anger of lots of people by comparing the U.S invasion of Iraq with the actions of Nazi Germany. In fact, he actually used the words "moral equivalent".

He pointed out that Nazis were tried for complicity in "wars of agression" at the Nuremberg trials and that the invasion of Iraq also qualified as such - therefore any orders associated with such a venture would be de facto illegal, and he would be required not to follow them.

Sadly for him, the notion of the "law" is unimportant when compared to the needs of the army. We can't allow bad precedents. So tonight, Doctor Kendall-Smith will be languishing in a military jail.

May I suggest he watches this.