In germany we have something which is vaguely translated to “inner leadership” – the process in which a soldier is expected to quickly mind-check every order he/she gets for compilance to german basic law, human rights, international laws and his own conciousness.
If he deems the order violates any of those in a ” we’re not supposed to shoot children” way, he is expected to refuse it and will get away without prosecution if there is the slightest chance his interpretation could have been right, even if proven wrong later.
Of course there can be no internal suffrage among the military about wether a war is right or wrong, but i wonder how the war in iraq could be going on for several years without anyone in the armed forces questioning it in such a way until now.
