breaking the chain of command for war

Tuesday, January 7, 2020 — EMERGENCY breaking the chain of command for war

A proposal was announced this past Thursday for a way to interrupt the chain of command for illegal orders to start a war against Iran. It was widely predicted that Trump would start a new war in order to distract people from his impeachment trial. Now two days later he has started the war by assassinating a general in Iran. This is a flagrant act of war and a violation of international law and U.S. law. Though not in peril of our lives like so many Iranians and dark-skinned people around the world, the American people are hostage to a maniac. But we cannot simply wait for his impeachment trial to remove him. Instead we must address this new emergency with forceful action to interrupt the chain of command through which Trump acts.

Trump doesn’t perpetrate all his — his crimes himself. Whether he’s putting immigrant children in cages or blasting innocent confused people to bits, he does it by giving orders. If people refuse his orders, as many heroes and whistle-blowers have done, then Trump himself will not put those children in cages. He will not himself bomb those innocent crowds. So, we need to remind U.S. military officers that their oath is to the Constitution of the United States, and not to the president. We must remind them that their duty under the Nuremberg Principles is to refuse illegal orders. And we need to honor them and start a legal defense fund for them, and we need to do this NOW.

Wars are more than ugly enough, with civilians who know nothing about the conflicts that envelop them, and have no idea why fiery death falls on them from the sky, why they suffer for the conflicts between leaders of governments they don’t support, just as we don’t support this one. For such horrors conscience drives soldiers to insanity. Let’s help our officers act on conscience now.

Let us see our selectboard ASAP — Tuesday the seventh, 6:15 at Municipal Center — about emergency measures to boost our military officers, set up a defense fund, and establish an office of Justice Coordinator to supervise this effort. Actually BCS prepared petitions for this during the late Bush administration; how sad that such things don’t go out of date. Meanwhile contact the soldiers you know, so that they are not dishonored by unlawful orders from Trump. Tell them that they must resist such illegal orders, and that we have their back, for such a hero will deserve the thanks of the nation and the world.

Lawful_Orders_Ordinance_Petition_IP
Military_Oath.

Update: Lawful Orders Ordinance / Thompson Ordinance
BCS volunteer Bruce Clauson proposed the ordinance to the Brattleboro selectboard yesterday evening (January 8, 2020). After outlining the proposal Clauson suggested it be named for U.S. Major Hugh Thompson, who placed himself in the line of fire to end the massacre in the Vietnamese village of My Lai in 1968. Selectboard Chair Brandie Starr suggested Clauson submit a proposal to the town manager’s office for inclusion in the agenda. BCS is seeking colleagues to promote similar proposals across the U.S. before issuing a general press release or investing heavily in the ordinance. We believe the orientation of the new name is excellent and the project, with it’s moral support of military officers, simple enforceable mechanism and direct connection to the primary actor, is BCS most potent initiative to date.

6:15 PM Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Meet selectboard for public participation
request emergency action
230 Main Street, Brattleboro
802 490 9363 — info@BrattleboroCommonSense.org