Reflections on U.S. Army Basic Training

I entered active duty in the U.S. Army exactly 33 years ago today: 1 April 1975.
(I chose the date to be memorable!)

Among the classroom lessons taught to U.S. Army basic trainees at the time - among the first of the "all volunteer Army" - was the obligation of a soldier to refuse to obey an unlawful order.

The Viet Nam experience - the My Lai massacre, in particular - was still a recent memory.

For young Army recruits, this was a very difficult lesson. We were, after all, being drilled - being taught to respond quickly and without doubt or hesitation to commands issued by Drill Sergeants. Were we now being asked to hesitate, to consider whether or not the command constituted a "lawful order", before obeying?

I doubt that most of us were able to reconcile our duty to disobey an unlawful order with our operationally more immediate challenge to act without hesitation. Nevertheless, this particular lesson - the duty of the soldier to refuse an unlawful order - consumed many classroom hours, over several days.

Can the President - as commander in chief of the armed forces - issue an unlawful order? John Yoo's answer is clearly, "No!"

Is this opinion binding? Might some poor Private E-1 find himself court-martialed for obeying the President's command?

We've lost our moral compass in the Global War on Terror. We are putting ourselves - and our souls - in jeopardy by following the legal advice of John Yoo and his masters - Ashcroft, Gonzales, Mukasey... and W!

If we are not a nation of laws, what are we?
If the U.S. Constitution is not the supreme law of land, what is?

Stop the madness!