Sometimes it takes defiance by these members to make a difference. A stirring image was that lone man stopping a column of tanks in China. Honestly it wasn't that guy alone. The tanks could have easily run him over. He made them think and stop. They defied their orders. Too bad many others did not.
Or the Soviet military personnel who refused to fire on protesters during the coup against Gorbachev.
And the mutinies and acts of sabotage committed by US miltary personnel during the Vietnam War.
These are the two that come to mind -- I'm sure there are other examples in history of military personnel and/or entire units that violated not only their orders but the law itself.
It has become fashionable on the left and in Western Europe to compare the Bush administration to the Nazis. The comparison is not without some superficial merit. In both cases the government is run by a small gang of snickering, stupid thugs whose vision of paradise is full of explosions and beautifully designed prisons. -- Matt Taibbi
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