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RAF man who refused to serve in Iraq found guilty

(Filed: 13/04/2006)

 

An RAF doctor who refused to serve in Iraq has been sentenced to eight

months in prison by a court martial for disobeying orders.

 

 

Malcolm Kendall-Smith believes the war is illegal

Ft Lt Dr Malcolm Kendall-Smith, who has announced his intention to

appeal, will also be dismissed from the service.

 

Justin Hugheston-Roberts, Kendall-Smith's solicitor, said outside the

court that his client was " distressed " by the length of his sentence

but did not regret his actions.

 

He said: " Quite clearly the decision of the board is most distressing

and the doctor is clearly upset yet resilient.

 

" However, he has asked me to state that now, more so than ever, he

feels that his actions were totally justified and he would not, if

placed in the same circumstances, seek to do anything differently. "

 

Kendall-Smith was convicted by a panel of five RAF officers of five

charges of failing to comply with lawful orders.

 

During his court martial he likened the invasion of Iraq to a Nazi war

crime

 

The 37-year-old, who has dual British/New Zealand citizenship, had

argued at the court in Aldershot, Hants, that the on-going presence of

American-led forces in Iraq was illegal.

 

Kendall-Smith told the military hearing that he refused to serve in

Basra, Iraq, last July because he did not want to be complicit with an

" act of aggression " contrary to international law.

 

He said: " I have evidence that the Americans were on a par with Nazi

Germany with its actions in the Persian Gulf. I have documents in my

possession which support my assertions.

 

" This is on the basis that on-going acts of aggression in Iraq and

systematically applied war crimes provide a moral equivalent between

the US and Nazi Germany. "

 

Kendall-Smith, who tutored in philosophy at a New Zealand university,

added that he refused to take part in training and equipment fitting

prior to the deployment because he believed these were " preparatory

acts which were equally criminal as the act itself " .

 

David Perry, prosecuting, said the case against Kendall-Smith was that

the orders were lawful and he had a duty to obey them as a commissioned

officer.

 

He added that the question of the invasion of Iraq was irrelevant

because it occurred prior to the charges which date back to last year.

And he said that at the time of the charges, the presence of coalition

forces in Iraq was unquestionably legal because they were there at the

request of the country's democratically-elected government.

 

The charges faced by Kendall-Smith were that on June 1, 2005 he failed

to comply with a lawful order to attend RAF Kinloss, Moray, for pistol

and rifle training, that he failed on June 6, 2005 to attend a helmet

fitting and between June 12 and 24, 2005 failed to attend a training

course.

 

He also denied failing to comply with an order to attend a deployment

briefing at RAF Lyneham on June 30, 2005 and failing to comply with an

order to replace a squadron leader for Operation Telic in Basra, Iraq

on July 12, 2005.

 

 

You can bomb the world to pieces

You can't bomb it into peace