Editor,
In a recent letter to the editor, Terry Sparks asserts that the U.S. military is a dictatorship. On the contrary, our armed forces are composed of free citizens who swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. They swear no allegiance to any individual, but to the law. They also assume the obligation to obey the orders of their seniors. Those seniors have sworn the same oath and are constrained by the laws of our country and the uniform code of military justice.
The vast majority of orders are legal (if not always wise) and, therefore, obeyed. Since the post World War II Nuremberg and Tokyo trials against genocide, in which the U.S. played a leading part, it has been firmly established in both U.S. and international law that all service members have an affirmative obligation not to obey illegal orders.
“I was obeying orders” is specifically not a defense in a war crimes trial. This protects the citizen in service to his country from being forced to carry out crimes repugnant to his conscience. It also should protect our country from the kind of opprobrium attached to countries that are known for barbaric behavior.
Since our current president has been in power, most of the legal expertise of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) corps of the military has been fired, silenced or sidelined. Thus the non-legally trained line officers must do the legal analysis and formulate the rules of engagement for themselves. However, it is clear that some actions are illegal (rape, pillage, killing civilians, unarmed prisoners or helpless survivors, etc.). To suggest that it is wrong or unpatriotic to remind service personnel that they, like all of us, are forbidden by our laws from committing crimes is Orwellian, yet obviously is an attempt to emulate President Bone Spurs’ relationship with facts and the law.
Patrick Henry stated in regard to statements like ours: “If this be treason, make the most of it.” If stating that “illegal killing is an illegal act” makes someone regard us as treasonous, then we are living in a make-believe country where black is white and white is black.
John MacNamee, Colonel USMCR retired, infantry
David Sullivan, Lt. Colonel USMCR retired
