Following Orders

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Tue, 2 Jan 2006 10:56:15 +0700

Following Orders

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mark_a___060102_following_orders.htm

 

 

Following Orders

Mark A. Goldman

 

 

January 2, 2006

 

 

http://www.opednews.com

 

If I have my facts straight, Hitler killed only one person in his

lifetime: himself. All the other atrocities that are attributed to him

were carried out by people who were only following orders.

 

If it is true that the war in Iraq is illegal, as I and others believe

it is—including the Secretary General of the United Nations—then all

the deaths and atrocities that have occurred to date, inflicted by our

coalition forces, are the acts of individuals who, knowingly or

unknowingly, with good intentions or not, have been willing to break

the law in order to follow the orders of superiors.

 

Each member of the US military took an oath to preserve, protect and

defend the Constitution of the United States. Each also took a pledge

to follow the legal orders of the Commander in Chief. Under the

Constitution, no soldier is required to follow an illegal order. But

that's what many Americans have been doing now for quite some time.

And this is not confined to our military personnel, but also to

members of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA (the folks who have been carrying

out those illegal wire taps), outsourced contractors, the media, and

perhaps most egregious of all— elected members of Congress, who for

all intents and purposes, put their conscience and oversight

responsibilities on hold as they get their marching orders from the

Oval Office or from party leaders.

 

I believe the reason that many of those who do follow illegal orders,

or otherwise fall into line under pressure, is that if they refused,

they would be subject to severe ridicule and/or punishment. They know

that if they subjected themselves to this ridicule or punishment, that

we would not do anything to protect them from that injustice.

 

And so, in pursuit of this war, we have suspended the Constitution.

Many members of Congress have supported the administration in carrying

out illegal acts, rationalizing that such behavior is in the name of

national security. That's what Hitler said too. Innocent people have

been killed, wounded, tortured, rendered, humiliated, had their

privacy invaded, and their lives dismantled all in the name of

national security. Anyone who objects can now be put under suspicion

and may be targeted for future intimidation or worse. According to

members of Congress, nothing this administration does is egregious

enough to qualify them for impeachment.

 

The stories of individuals who have been damaged by the illegal acts

of our government and their agents are beginning to filter through.

But the damage that's been done is far greater than the stories yet

told. Damage done to our Constitution and to our self respect will

likely take a heavy toll for generations to come.

 

And yet for most Americans their sensibilities are not disturbed by

what's been happening… many do not want to hear about it. Those who do

hear about it, make up their own rationalization of why it's ok. Many

simply don't know what to think or do.

 

This all leads me to believe that with every victory this

administration experiences, the light of liberty and freedom will dim

a little more. If we were to achieve the victory that Bush talks about

in Iraq, it would not help the cause of freedom, it would help to kill

it. It would only encourage his hubris, his arrogance. He doesn't want

democracy, he only wants stability. He wants the oil. He doesn't

believe in the Constitution or the rule of law. He has the

sensibilities of a despot.

 

Since the atrocities and illegalities for which his administration is

responsible have not been repudiated by Congress or the American

people, he and his conspirators will continue to conclude that there

is no limit to their power… all they have to do is take however much

they want... but do it just a little bit at a time. And there is no

reason to suspect that they will not do just that and use that power

for their own purposes, whatever that might be.

 

I say to you: the ends do not justify the means. If we do not

identify, explore, and repudiate the illegal acts of this government,

soon the fist of injustice will come knocking at every door… if

history teaches us anything at all, it surely teaches us that.

 

There is good reason for secrecy in the Bush administration. The

reason they don't want to conduct or discuss their activities in the

light of day is because eventually the American people would figure it

out: they would come to the conclusion that the reason the so called

terrorists are out to kill Americans is because secretly the American

government has been responsible for murder and the disenfranchisement

of decent people all over the world. The United States has been active

in destroying democratic institutions for a long time. We have done

this to satisfy American greed for resources that don't belong to us,

oil being supreme among them. We have caused people in middle eastern

countries to suffer tyrants like Saddam Hussein and the Saudi family.

 

American leaders favor tyrants. We help install them. We work very

hard to keep them in place. We like tyrants because we can buy them

off in a protection racket. We use our money and our military power to

support their illegitimate regimes in exchange for cheap oil, or

whatever the resource happens to be. In all countries it works pretty

much the same. And in these countries it is ordinary people who suffer

because of our policies.

 

When some of these people finally decide to strike out, fight back, to

get us to stop, our leaders call it terrorism and then they ask us to

send our children to die in battle fighting these 'bad' guys. They

tell us that we are being attacked for no other reason than that they

hate our freedom and our democracy. And we believe them; and we send

our children to die and to kill because we don't have the knowledge or

courage not to believe them. We are so afraid, we are even willing to

send our beautiful children to die and to kill. What a price to pay

for ignorance and blind faith.

 

No one in Congress has been willing to stand up and say what I just

said. It is only the truth that will save us. Nothing less will do.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

 

Stand up. Speak out. Remove the traitors from their perches or they

will take our children and turn them into criminals like themselves.

 

http://www.gpln.com/therealterrorists.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1208-28.htm

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121905h.shtml

http://www.gpln.com/constitutionincrisis.htm

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122505y.shtml

 

Mark A. Goldman is a financial planner who lives on Vashon Island, WA

.. He has written three books of political commentary since Bush took

office in 2000. Additional information and commentary can be found at

his web site: www.gpln.com. You can email Mark at: mark