@Earnest: That’s anal? No, that’s fact, read the Elder handbook. The WTBTS wanted to get a more corporate friendly image, they implemented lots of rules that copied other large corporations in the 90s and quickly wanted to forget the image they had built for themselves in the 1940s-1980s. Having former criminals which were already seen in the community as traitors as their leaders, they feared would ‘bring reproach’ on the organization.
Note that people in Mexico were actually allowed to bribe the officials, which was another debacle that came to light later.
You claim the principles have not changed, I challenge you to explain that, the principle before was that you could not do any demanded service for government either in service of the military or in civilian duties except if you voluntarily went into civilian service. Now it is a matter of personal decision. How is ‘NO’ to ‘do as you please’ not a change in principle? It was clearly claimed to be a matter of scriptural mandate, you can read the articles that told people not to do it, then later, as you correctly say, the WTBTS blamed these men that made the sacrifice for ‘misunderstanding’ them. I lived in that time in a country that still had mandatory service, I was trained from a young boy to refuse and go to jail, with articles from the WT publications and scripture, this would be a matter that was brought up during ‘local matters’ and people were disfellowshipped for not going to jail.