Here, Lakin was ordered to do something perfectly legal, deploy with his command, by an officer with lawful authority over that activity. The reasons for disobedience do not, therefore, involve avoidance of participation in an obviously illegal act. Consequently, the unlawful order defense is not going to be seriously entertained.
We can’t forget that shoving Jews into gas chambers wasn’t an illegal act at the time. The Chancellor (Hitler) had decreed it to be perfectly legal. Once his regime had ended though, new laws were cited.
If LTC Lakin were to deploy and commit ant sort of violation of Iraqi law, even unintentionally, even under orders, he could be prosecuted as a war criminal... especially if the orders are later found to have originated from an illegal President.
Far-fetched? Yeah, but those guards didn’t think they’d ever be held accountable either. As I mentioned earlier, he’s between a rock and a hard spot. Michael New didn’t serve prison time but he didn’t “diss” Obama either.