[Grovenet] The law

[Phoenixacm at aol.com]

No, allegiance is not the issue.   I have seen the Uniform Code of Military 
Justice, it is about five inches thick.   Needless to say, I have not read it 
(that is to say, I have not read all of it, just parts that were immediately 
relevant).   

How many laws (of any kind, federal, state, etc.) would you feel confident of 
interpreting without the advice of legal counsel?   The Justice Department's 
memo is the advice of legal counsel.   The service members doing the 
waterboarding would not have allegiance issues, but, of course, some would have 
conscience issues.

Jane B-P


> News reports today offer the following little tidbit:   "The Justice
> Department
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Department+of+Just
> ice?tid=informline>  sent a legal memorandum to the Pentagon
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+Pentagon?tid=inform
> line>  in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming
> and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned
> al-Qaeda
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Al+Qaeda?tid=informline
> >  captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in
> chief overrode such statutes."
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmmm...but here's the standard military enlistment oath for enlisted
> personnel and officers:  "I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I
> will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against
> all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and
> allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President
> of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me,
> according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So
> help me God."
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm...let me see...the constitution comes first in line...the president
> only later...and the Uniform Code of Military Justice does not permit
> torture (waterboarding having been a prosecutable war crime in US
> charges against Japanese war criminals)...
> 
> 
> 
> One wonders if this created an allegiance issue for those who received
> the memorandum?
> 
> 
> 
> --Mike
> 




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