Rules of Disengagement

Rules of Disengagementexamines the reasons men and women in the military have disobeyed orders and resisted the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It takes readers into the courtroom where sailors, soldiers, and Marines have argued that these wars are illegal under international law and unconstitutional under U.S. law. Through the voices of active duty service members and veterans, it explores the growing conviction among our troops that the wars are wrong. While the Obama Administration's pledge to remove all American troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 is encouraging and in no small way likely attributable to resistance by our armed forces it continues to fight in Afghanistan, and the military may soon have a heightened presence elsewhere in the Middle East and in Africa. As such, Rules of Disengagementprovides inspiration and lessons for anyone who opposes an interventionist U.S. military policy.

Marjorie Cohn is president of the National Lawyers Guild, a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and a criminal defense attorney. The Stanford University and Santa Clara Law graduate is author of Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law (PoliPointPress). Her many awards include the 2008 Peace Scholar of the Year Award. Kathleen Gilberd is a GI rights counselor and veterans advocate. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, she co-chairs the National Lawyers Guild's Military Law Task Force. She is a nationally recognized expert on military administrative law and writes frequently for military law and counseling publications.