Air Force doctor says US like Third Reich

Malcolm Kendall-Smith

A New Zealand doctor on trial for refusing to go to Iraq with the Royal Air Force because he thought the war was illegal said late last night that he believed the United States was the moral equivalent of Nazi Germany.

Malcolm Kendall-Smith, a flight lieutenant, is the only witness in a case that could land him in jail indefinitely.

"As early as 2004 I regarded the United States to be on a par with Nazi Germany as regards its activities in the Gulf," he told the court martial in Aldershot, England.

Prosecutor David Perry asked: "Are you saying the US is the moral equivalent of the Third Reich?"

"That's correct," Kendall-Smith replied.

The civilian judge in the case, Judge Advocate Jack Bayliss, has already barred the defendant from explaining why he believes the Iraq war is illegal.

He has ruled that orders for British troops to deploy to Iraq in 2005 were legal because the British presence was covered by a United Nations Security Council resolution.

The trial, the first of its kind in Britain over Iraq, led to ill-tempered exchanges after the judge refused to allow the New Zealander to read from a collection of documents.

"I am not going to allow diatribes on international law. I will not allow this court to be used as a grandstand."

"I am not grandstanding," Kendall-Smith replied, adding that he wanted only to correct "misconceptions".

"I have already ruled on whether they are misconceptions or not," the judge replied. "I am not prepared to be argued with by a defendant witness in my court."

Kendall-Smith said he initially tried to resign on learning he was being sent to Iraq, but later concluded it was his duty to remain in the Royal Air Force and refuse the order.

"For me to comply with an order which I consider to be illegal places me in breach of domestic and international law, something that I am not prepared to do," he said in a statement to military police which was read out to the court.

He told the judge advocate: "I love the Air Force today as much as the day I volunteered, sir."

The case, which is also being heard by a panel of five officers, is expected to conclude today.

- REUTERS