So long as they can determine that he actually believes the war in Iraq is illegal, then by default his orders to serve there are illegal. You cant fault him for refusing to obey a illegal order. Ship him to Afghanistan and let him fight there. He's willing to fight, just unwilling to obey what he feels is improper orders.
Problem here for the President is, if he allows this soldier to disobey becuase he feels his orders are illegal, he opens the door to someone else saying the war truly IS illegal. That cannot be allowed. I'm not Bush bashing here, or second guessing the war. I'm just saying that we base alot of our authority in Iraq right now on the premise that what we are doing is right. Toppling Saddam, installing a new govt., supporting them until they have an army and police force ready to take over, etc. If our govt. allows one soldier to have that POV, legally they are admitting it is true. Or at least someone will argue that way. Now you will have families of dead soldiers suing the US, families of dead Iraqis suing the US ......................
What about the impact on Saddam's trial also? If someone can claim that the war is illegal, he can claim he was improperly removed from office, all sorts of ways that could mess up that trial. Nooooo, they cant allow that one. Unfortunately, this kid is going to prison, he'll be dishonorably discharged, and he'll be covered up as quickly as possible. Its a shame too, good family. I admire him for standing up for his beliefs, but they are going to earn him a deep dark hole with bars on the front.
