Only a Dictatorship dares to insist that soldiers must obey every order without question regardless of morality or legality. For over a century, the world has had a category of military action that we call a "War Crime." While every soldier swears to obey all legal orders given by his superiors, it is explicitly stated that those orders must be LEGAL. If our American Senators want to go on record saying publicly that our soldiers have the right to refuse to obey illegal orders, that is their right, and they are absolutely correct. The POTUS has no business to castigate or threaten them for publicizing the Truth.
It has been a cornerstone of our military ever since Vietnam to give our troops the right to refuse illegal orders. Why? That is because we hold them accountable for their actions in carrying out those orders. Any soldier who performs an illegal act, whether in combat or not, can be prosecuted in a court martial.
Since saying, "I was only following orders" is not a valid excuse, it follows that any soldier must have the right to discern what constitutes an illegal order and decide whether he will obey. If he does not know the law, but his informed conscience rejects his orders, he can choose to run the risk of being court-martialed and defending his actions. But if he loses, he must accept punishment, and take solace from knowing he did not abandon his conscience. He cannot use religious faith as an excuse for pacifism, however, because that would have excluded him from accepting military service from the start.
Does no one remember Lt. Callie and the massacre of the village of My Lai? Come on, people! It has only been 60 years since we got a conscience. Back then, we had to look to the history of WWI and WWII to show why mindless obedience to any order, regardless of morality or legality, is wrong. The World outlawed offensive gas weapons and intentionally harming non-combatant civilians, as well as attacking wounded or surrendering enemy soldiers, as part of the Geneva Convention. Merely giving such an order is a war crime subject to disciplinary action or court martial. Certainly, no action can be taken against a subordinate who dares to adhere to his conscience and refuse.
The question has recently arisen in the kangaroo court of public opinion as to whether the Senators who have dared to support disobedience to illegal orders in the military should be shamed or disbarred or prosecuted for treason. The suggestion implies that the US President, as Commander-in-Chief, can give any order without exception, and demand that it be obeyed without question. That is the position taken by an authority that claims absolute power. Have you voted for a dictator?
I Did Not! And I vote Republican! Nonetheless, I support allowing our soldiers to decide what they believe is right or wrong. If you ever dare to prosecute them for disobeying an illegal order, you also deserve the firing squad. They not only have the right; they have an obligation to refuse when the order is illegal. Justice is Universal, and Morality is Absolute. He took an oath to obey. Yes, but he also has a conscience. Of course, he must follow orders, but you can't give an order to murder civilians, or any other war crime.
If you are looking for political scapegoats to blame for our present problems, we can discuss how the Democrat predecessors left open the floodgates to admit a million or more illegal migrants without vetting whether they were enemies of the State. We know for certain that drug smugglers and ideological terrorists used that opportunity to enter without being challenged. Do you dare to suggest that a Senator could be tried for treason? That failure to uphold essential Law and the Constitutional duty to protect the country could easily be construed as treason, ... by the Democrats' chosen President and his advisors, from the VP to the Cabinet and on down the line. That dereliction of duty was ordered and condoned by the entire Party leadership.
But that is not my topic. Military Justice is the point in question. I have brought this up, as a reminder of the laws of our Democratic Republic. The soldiers who have volunteered to defend our country have the inalienable human right to take counsel with their conscience and their knowledge of the Law to discern whether every order given them is proper and legal. They have the right to refuse any illegal order. They may have an obligation to try to thwart obedience to orders that would place the United States under the interdict of an International War Crimes Tribunal. But above all, they have the right to obey their conscience, and to defend their actions before a court martial if they are subjected to discipline. They can not be summarily prosecuted without full legal procedures being followed. That would be a Crime Against Humanity. We do not live under a dictatorship. Let's not be foolish enough to allow this great nation to become one.
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