A service member joining any one of our branches of the military has had to take an oath in one form or another since 1775. Today’s oath is as follows: I, (NAME), 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. Those joining the National Guard take a slightly different oath. Their oath includes the Governor and the state.
That part about "regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice" that’s the part that gets into the "legality" of orders. To paraphrase, a Service Member can refuse to follow an "unlawful" order. What does that mean exactly? This is where it starts to get sticky. Remember during the previous administration? It was against the law to torture people. What did the administration do? They found some political appointee attorneys to reinterpret the law, now torture is "enhanced interrogation".
I bring this up as it goes to the very crux of what the "Oath Keepers" (http://oathkeepers.org/oath/) are all about. From their website, "Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, veterans, peace officers, and firefighters who will fulfill the oath we swore to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Notice they left out the part about those appointed over me and the President of the United States? Our oath is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and we will not obey unconstitutional (and thus illegal) and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or to place them under martial law and deprive them of their ancient right to jury trial. We Oath Keepers have drawn a line in the sand. We will not "just follow orders." I want to direct your attention to the part that states "currently serving military." Those folks have already taken an oath, and it is very clear as to who and what orders they will follow. The oath keepers have a list of ten orders they will not follow:
- We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.
- We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people
- We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as "unlawful enemy combatants" or to subject them to military tribunal.
- We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a "state of emergency" on a state.
- We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.
- We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.
- We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.
- We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to "keep the peace" or to "maintain control."
- We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.
10.We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.
If you follow the link, these ten orders go into further detail, but if you look to the very left hand corner there is a date of 3 March 2009. This makes me wonder if they had no problem with following these orders if they had been issued by the previous administration, but have now found their spine and have "drawn their line in the sand." Order number three is interesting, because prior to March 2009, Jose Padilla, an American Citizen was held as an enemy combatant. I may have overlooked it, but I don’t see ANY reference to Jose Padilla anywhere on their site. Same thing goes for number two. No mention of warrantless wiretapping of Americans' phones during the previous administration.
The whole thing smacks of "Obama is going to take our guns and round us up into FEMA camps" meme. I have no idea of when this organization was formed, but I doubt that it existed prior to January 2009. If it did, my apologies, if it did not I think it is telling.
What concerns me the most about all of this, is this attempt to recruit active duty service members to their organization. Believe it or not, but the Manual of Courts Martial still lists mutiny as a punishable offense. In my opinion, that is what this organization is fostering, mutiny. Can you imagine the damage to "good order and discipline" this would have? President Clinton had the militias, President Obama has the Tea Baggers, Oath Keepers, Birthers, 12’vers, Secessionists, State’s Sovereignty, etc. The list goes on and on.