To the editor:
There are six lawmakers urging members of our military to disobey unlawful orders. It is true that in certain circumstances disobeying orders is allowed. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (Article 92) states, “U.S. military members have a legal duty to disobey unlawful orders, those violating the constitution, U.S. law or international law.” Easy to make a decision if you have a law degree, but I don’t think the average military person has [one].
There is a clause in the code called “manifestly unlawful,” defined as: An order so clearly wrong that any reasonable person would recognize it as illegal.
The more complicated decisions in the military are usually decided by the chain of command. The chain of command was put in place for a reason. From the commander in chief to the lowest rank, there is a set of responsibilities attached to each position. Obviously, high-ranking officials are privy to information not always shared, for many reasons, by lower ranks. This passage of information is true at every level in the chain. The complexities of leadership dictate that “need to know” passed down the ranks is not always possible.
Our legal system, be it civilian or military, is very complex. Asking someone to disobey an order that falls outside the manifestly unlawful category can be dangerous. There are times when there is no room for arbitrary decisions. This is why trust in the chain of command in our military is so important. There is plenty of time after an event has taken place to debate legal or illegal conduct.
Walter Crean
Madawaska
