Articles by James Dao
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War and Conscience: Expanding the Definition of Conscientious Objection
James Dao – The New York Times,
15 Nov 2010
Since Vietnam, the military’s rules governing conscientious objector status have effectively required service members to declare themselves pacifists in order to qualify. Conscientious objection, as defined by military regulation (pdf) is “a firm, fixed, and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or the bearing of arms.” That phrase, “war in any form,” has meant that people who objected to war X, but not war Y, were almost certain not to receive objector status. In recent years, some service members filed for the status arguing that they were willing to serve in Afghanistan but not Iraq. Their applications failed.
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