On the whole, I'm not a fan of conscientious objectors; but given the need to directly defend their own country, I'm sure there would be a lot less of them. It's when people are given some tenuous link, between killing people in their own country; on the other side of the world and it being in defence of the INVADERS country........that people start asking questions as to the validity of the argument. One has to ask how we'd feel ( or more to the point the USA ) if countries from the other side of the Planet, came to fight on OUR soil; under the excuse that they were stopping us from terrorising them. So I'd hardly condemn Ali, for his moral stance........it was certainly far more logical than the alternative.........and considering the USA lost and withdrew from Vietnam, with their tail between their legs,.......they didn't learn much did they !!