A soldier still retains the right to disobey illegal orders.
I didn't have any.
But I can think of some.....
- Murder everyone in that village.
- Torture that prisoner.
Great point, R, in fact, I think I heard that it was a soldier's
duty to refuse illegal orders. But, in application, this would be entirely impracticable.
As I understand it, despite the fact that this is covered in training classes, the rest of a soldier's training involves teaching him to obey instantly, without stopping to consider the legal implications of the order. Any tendency to hesitation is quickly weeded out.
I'm sure any soldier who actually had the temerity to question an order would not be happy with the results.
There's also the larger picture. For a war to be legal it must be sanctioned by the UN. The US is a signatory to this treaty. Therefore, wouldn't an order to deploy to an unsanctioned war zone be illegal?
Wouldn't a soldier have a duty to refuse to go to an illegal war?