Letters to the Editor
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New Deal Democrat: It's called international law
"It was their choice to join the military; now they seem to think they're civilians who can simply quit a job they don't like anymore."
The problem with this often repeated refrain is that it ignores the rights of soldiers under international law. I know Shrub has been taking an extended leak on international law, but it still applies to this situation.
http://www.notinourname.net/troops/hinzman-20apr05.htm
"Jeffry House is convinced that Jeremy Hinzman has a strong case for refugee status and should eventually be granted it. He cites the Geneva Conventions on War and the Nuremberg Principles, which maintain that it is a soldier’s obligation to disobey illegal orders or to participate in war crimes. The U.S. war on Iraq, being neither defensive nor approved by the U.N., is illegal. Therefore, orders to fight in Iraq are illegal. Soldiers who refuse these illegal orders are obeying international law and U.S. law too, since the U.S. Congress has ratified these international laws and treaties.
House also provided Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board with reams of documentation confirming that the U.S. military has engaged in a widespread pattern of systematic war crimes in Iraq. "If Jeremy Hinzman had gone to Iraq, he would likely have been put in a position of committing or supporting the commission of war crimes.""