Hhhmmmm…………………………………………………
Where to start?
I suppose it all depends on what the guys defence is going to be; that he was asked to carry out an order that he considered illegal, that he was asked to carry out an order which he thought would then involve him in a war he thinks is illegal, or that he cannot carry out an order that would commit him to an action that he believes will involve him in something that is morally unsupportable?
If I were defending such a hypothetical case there would have to be a very clear definition of the above, if I were prosecuting and no such definition existed then, hypothetically, the task would be extraordinarily straight forward.
Any case that depends on the “legality” of a war would be fraught with difficulty, war as such is not really a state of affairs that is easy to define in the modern post war world, “fighting between structured armed groups” tends to be how the UN describes it nowadays, nobody “declares war” these days, despite what Bush said about declaring war on Global terrorism he did not formally declare war against another state, Roosevelt was the last US president to do such a thing.
So Impiger, the state of affairs existing in Iraq now is precisely the same as that when we invaded, it wasn’t a “war” then, it isn’t a “war” now but it is very much the same.
There is a lot of tosh on this thread so far about illegal wars, just wars, unjust wars and what can or cannot happen to a participant be they rank or file or the leadership. If half of what is being trotted out was true then Nuremburg would not have happened and the Hague would not be the centre for the activities it currently is!
This chap has done a very brave thing, there is a very thin line between bravery and stupidity.
Stafford,
Totally amazed that you appear to blame Tony Blair for the cult of instant 15 minute fame, did that not exist prior to 1997? Just what planet do you inhabit man? Truly amazing…………………..
Squirrel 41
Your attempts to identify and classify the various kinds of war ignore one rather large and important fact, there actually hasn’t been a declared war since 1945, the UN has made it rather difficult to justify any armed aggression be it legally fought or not, it’s no coincidence that we now fight conflicts or participate in incidents rather than fight wars.
The UN charter identifies three scenarios where armed action is permitted, but this in no way condones a declaration of war, it permits self defence and intervention, it does not permit you to declare war.
Afraid I cannot see how GW2 is covered by any of the UN charter scenarios or Security Council mandated actions.