The Democrats’ “Illegal Orders” Video Isn’t About the Law.
It’s About Undermining the Military’s Trust in Trump and the Chain of Command.
"But we were just trying to educate the troops."
By John A. Lucas
These six Democrats claim that their now-infamous video is nothing but an innocent effort to remind the troops that they don’t have to obey illegal orders. Who could object to that?
Their story is rotten nonsense. It is an effort to create plausible deniability as a misleading subterfuge. Their slick video production is not an innocent civics lesson for ignorant troops who somehow need additional instruction in military law. It is, in fact, an effort to undermine the President, to encourage disobedience of his orders, to sow chaos in the ranks, and to promote continued lawfare and turmoil in the military, all of which is intended to hamstring this President because they disagree with his policies.
The false justification
The Democrats claim an innocent – even praiseworthy – motive. They just want to educate or remind the troops of their duty to refuse unlawful orders. Rep. Houlahan, for example, claims that the video was akin to a public service announcement by “reminding our military of their constitutional obligations and reassuring them that, if they are ever given an unlawful order, they do not have to carry it out.” Just carrying out their civic duty as public servants, you see.
Despite their claim that the troops need additional instruction from them on the topic, it is a fundamental tenet of U.S. military law that unlawful orders must not be obeyed. The “I was just following orders” defense has been soundly rejected – with fatal results for some who invoked it – from at least the Nuremberg war crimes tribunals. Everybody knows about it. Additional instruction by senators and representatives was not needed. That excuse is a sham, a lie.
https://johnalucas6.substack.com/p/the-democrats-illegal-orders-video