THANK YOU
During what has been overnight in the UK, the number of you that have been kind enough to send encouragement to Malcolm Kendall-Smith on this, the first night of his jail term, has risen from 180 to OVER 300! Posted messages of support have also risen - all of which I will be sure to send him. You are also showing that you care for people who are prepared to make sacrifices in their lives to express their opposition to what should never have been.
I will not attempt to contact his lawyer until Tuesday,I will do so - and will arrange to forward your comments as quickly as possible in some type of bound form. Update Note: I have now contacted a local Welsh bookbinder in the hope that he can provide an elegant binding for your messages. EVEN LATER UPDATE: Spoke to the bookbinder (Good Friday even!!!) He will bind the comments next week!
If I say, personally, thanks, again, everyone, I feel cheap. My personal thanks are nothing because I have contributed nothing to his brave act - your own sense of purpose in your response to him and his stance is the greater accolade to you.
Reuters has just reported that Flight-Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith of the Royal Air Force who, as an earlier diary today records, was court-martialled for "refusing to obey a lawful command", is to be sent to jail:
British air force doctor who refused to go to Iraq was jailed for eight months on Thursday after being found guilty by a court martial of disobeying orders.
Australian-born Malcolm Kendall-Smith refused to go to Iraq in 2005, arguing the war was a crime. The judge ruled that the British presence in Iraq was legal and told the five-officer panel acting as a jury to ignore the officer's arguments.
The Times said of him:
He is the first British officer to face criminal charges for challenging the legality of war.
Kendall-Smith, 37, unit medical officer for RAF Kinloss in Morayshire, has been decorated for his role in support of military operations in Afghanistan and for two previous tours in support of the RAF in Iraq.
However, after studying the legal position, including the advice of Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, he decided this year that the war was unlawful and it would therefore be wrong for him to return....
A colleague said: "Malcolm joined the RAF out of a spirit of idealism. He felt he wanted to do something good, to make a difference. It was good old battle of Britain stuff, helping the good guys fight the fascists.
"When he first went to the Gulf in 2003, his awareness of the legal position was far less than it is now. He is now in no doubt that the war was illegal and that the government has spun its position on the evidence. He takes the view that this is something which is worth going to prison for.
"When he explained to his commanding officer that he thought the war was unlawful, he was told that the attorney-general had declared it legal. Malcolm simply replied that the attorney-general had said one thing, then later said more or less completely the opposite."
A central part of Kendall-Smith's legal case will be the manual of RAF law which states that a serving officer is justified in refusing to obey a command if it is illegal. His lawyers will also argue that his commission, granted by the Queen, requires him to act according to "the rules and discipline of war".
The judge had little option in this case if he was not to declare the whole actions of the British Government illegal and open the way to other refusals to serve from British troops. I hope that Kendall-Smith's lawyers will find some means to appeal to a higher court but he has been under no illusions about the difficulty of the stand that he is taking.
All that I have read about this man shows that he is liked and respected by his fellow officers and that he has taken his moral position based on great thought and careful assessment using much of the knowledge gained from the study of philosophy whilst a medical student.
As they have often done in the past, our UK military stand alongside your own, United States and United Kingdom, as comrades in arms. Your men and women and ours have many times faced injury and death together in combat.
Even in these times, I, as you, respect their beliefs and honour their service even if we do not agree the justness of the cause that they have been asked to serve on this occasion.
I would ask that we show the same respect for those brave enough to speak to their conscience about the Iraq war.
May I ask fellow Kossacks in the United States to also stand alongside Malcolm Kendall-Smith by recording respect for his exercise of honest conscience by simply rating the comment below. I will make sure that this diary, and the individual ratings, reach him wherever he is being held.
Kendall-Smith has not taken an action that endangers or exposes his colleagues in a war zone. Because I know, however, that some feel conflicted about his belief regarding the Iraq war and his duty as a serving officer, the mark of respect is simply for his excercising his conscience and is not automatically assumed to be an endorsement of how he has done so.