摘要：The US/UK-led war against Iraq, and Germany's contribution to this war, met with gravierenden völkerrechtlichen Bedenken (grave concerns in terms of international law), as evidenced by the extensive judgement of the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (BVerwG – German Federal Administrative Court) from 21 June 2005. This is a landmark decision in at least two respects. First, it appears that the BVerwG's opinion is the first on the legality of the war on Iraq by a court of law. Second, the Court took a broad view regarding the question of law with which it had been presented: under what circumstances may an army officer lawfully refuse to follow the order of a superior on the grounds of his constitutional right to freedom of conscience?.
