ALDERSHOT, England, March 15 (UPI) -- A military doctor who refused to go to Iraq did so because he "honestly" believed the order to be illegal, a court heard Wednesday.
Flight Lieutenant Dr. Malcolm Kendall-Smith, who faces five charges of failing to comply with a lawful order, believed there was no legal reason to enter the country, his counsel said.
There was no imminent threat of attack on Britain or its allies, therefore the war was unlawful, he said.
The five-day pre-trial hearing in Aldershot is to center on whether or not the war was lawful. If the Judge Advocate rules it was, the officer will go before a full court martial next month.
A ruling that the invasion was illegal could have profound consequences for the British government.
"The flight lieutenant's case is that Iraq was and remains under occupation," Defense Counsel Philip Sapsford said.
"If the U.K. is not entitled in international law to use force against Iraq, the flight lieutenant is entitled to say to this tribunal 'I hold that belief honestly and in these circumstances it's my duty to disobey these orders'."
But the prosecution says that at the time of the alleged offenses the deployment of British troops in Iraq was and remains lawful, and that therefore the order should have been obeyed.
Government documents leaked to the media last year indicated that the British attorney-general, Lord Peter Goldsmith, had doubts about the legality of the invasion without a second U.N. resolution explicitly authorizing the use of force.
