Each individual has a conscience. Each individual is personally, directly, and completely responsible for every action he takes. That is the meaning of the word “karma.” Karma is yours individually. Actions have consequences.

To say that someone is misled is to attempt to exculpate that person for the wrongdoing which they individually choose to undertake. I don’t accept the conclusion you reach that people can do evil things and not be evil if they were only following orders.

Nor is such behavior condoned in our history and tradition. That defense is called “the Nuremberg defense” named after the war crimes tribunals that followed the atrocities of World War Two. The simple and concise response is stated, “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”

Ehren Watada and others have shown that there is a moral choice available. The troops can prove they are on our side by not doing evil things. They can, in fact, refuse to deploy, refuse unconstitutional orders to participate in warfare without a Congressional declaration of war, and they can take conscientious objector status. They can also go absent without leave, desert, or resign their commissions. These are not necessarily their best choices, but they are moral choices that are possible.

Therefore when someone engages in evil acts, drops bombs on a village, turns his automatic weapon on a crowd of civilians (“going cyclical” was the term in Mogadishu in 1993; I’ve no idea what clever term they use now), or kills a freedom fighter who is defending his own country from foreign invaders, that individual is personally and completely responsible for his entire action. He cannot say he was misled and expect exculpation. He continues to have the entire blame for his particular action.

If the troops are on our side, then they should quit. Stop. Refuse orders. Lay down their arms. Desert. Return home. Apply for conscientious objector status.

Ending the war takes a whole series of these actions. It may require that you sell the stocks in your portfolio relating to defense contractors. It may mean boycotting companies that sell to the military. It may require serving time in the stockade because you refused an order to deploy.

I am not saying it is easy. The path of anti-war is not easy. It is hard. It is confronting. It is difficult. It is fraught with peril. But at the end of the path is peace.

And peace is in fact worth a lot.

John
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