Suppose the Holy Father the Pope and the Chaldean Patriarch say the war is unjust? Is it OK to fight in an unjust war?
Could you explain how you arrived at the statistic of .0001%. I fear that it is much higher than that. There are so many possible examples such as German soldiers in WWII.
There is a problem. First of all the soldier has taken an oath to obey? Correct? Secondly, suppose his commander says the order to place people in gas chambers is moral.
That is where (in the case of the US) the UCMJ comes into play. The same laws which oblige the enlisted man to not obey an unlawful order also oblige the commander to not issue unlawful orders. The commander can say it’s moral all he wants. He has no authority to make someone do it, however.
To obey lawful orders, yes. Not to blindly obey like a robot. If the commander says that murdering innocent people is moral/lawful, then the commander is wrong and shouldn’t be obeyed.
When and If it happens, we will deal with it. I don’t do “Supposes”.
It already happened in the Iraq war.
Well, it’s not WWII anymore. Wars aren’t fought on the front lines, they’re fought from the rear and the sky. Look at it this way, about 1% of the actual military is combat arms, and less than 10% of them will actually see combat (so less than 1% of the military). At that point, odds are, if you’re going to see combat you willfully signed up for an MOS that will put you in said position.
Like @Fauken said, UCMJ does come into play. Not only that, but we are also bound by the Geneva Convention. The order above laid out in bold, the officer could NEVER say it is a moral or lawful order as it is strictly forbidden by the Geneva Convention, which like I said, as a soldier we are bound to adhere to.
A lot of people have died in Iraq. And did not the Church say that the war was unjust?
www.latimes.com
And training about our duties with respect to the Geneva Conventions begin in basic training and continue at least annually thereafter, and also prior to any deployment outside US territory. And general training regarding lawful vs. unlawful orders is regularly repeated as well.
And if you can’t in good conscience fight in Iraq, then you should refuse to do so. You seem to have this idea that when people join the military they become mindless robots. It makes me wonder if you’ve ever actually known any servicemembers.
^^he’s right.
Sure, many did give the ultimate sacrifice.
Start the process of becoming a Conscientious Objector… I’m not sure how many times someone needs to say this. I would also say, anyone who is going to put them in a combat arms/combat facing MOS, isn’t one who’s going to be a Conscientious Objector either…
Are they giving their opinion or is a binding declaration? Keep in mind a Catholic is not bound to agree with everything a pope says, especially on non-doctrinal issues. Some Catholics believed the Iraq war was just. Some did not.
Agreed, good way of putting it.
If you are referring to the official designation of “Conscientious Objector”, that is a status that is granted at the discretion of the military (or draft boards, if the draft ever comes back). It is not automatic. If they need bodies, like they did in Vietnam, they will find ways to deny any such application. I know. I tried, and was denied. I even drove to our state capital and tried to speak to the director of our state’s draft boards for an appeal, and got only a delay. As it happened, the draft ended just before it became an issue. One thing I do remember from that time was that they were only considering applications from people who claimed to have opposition to all wars. If you said participation in World War II was OK, they immediately classified you 1-A. So someone coming to this position late in life, especially after joining the military, would not be allowed Conscientious Objector classification. I guess this is what you meant by:
But are you an expert in Catholic theology as was His Holiness the Vicar of Christ who was given the keys to the kingdom by Our Divine Lord?
Was he invoking his special teaching authority as the Vicar of Christ or was he just giving his opinion?