Posted on 04/01/2011 5:37:24 PM PDT by Nachum
Army doctor half done with prison term for questioning Obama eligibility
A military doctor who was court-martialed and sent to prison after questioning Barack Obama's eligibility to be president and refusing to follow orders that descended from the commander-in-chief is more than halfway through his sentence.
And now he has asked the nation in his writings to ponder the question of whether it is bound by the Constitution.
Dr. Terry Lakin, an Army doctor who refused to deploy again to Afghanistan when his chain of command refused to verify that Obama legitimately is president, is serving a six-month term at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas.
He remains under the Uniform Code of Military Justice but has been allowed to post online a series of observations he's made while serving his time. Those private communications to the Terry Lakin Action Fund suggest that his focus remains on the foundations of the nation and the rights and responsibilities of its citizens.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
The weird thing is here you are living on a farm in Kansas, God's country and all your friends have a low opinion of Col. Lakin. And here I sit a few miles from Seattle, a liberal hot-spot, but with big military bases nearby and my wife and I are very active in the military community also and nearly all of our friends all of our friends have a very high opinion of Col Lakin. I just got through apologizing, so I am not saying anything bad about you. I just think it is weird. Maybe we are both just highly opinionated and most people don't want to contradict us? Or maybe we are so highly opinionated that we don't acknowledge it when someone does disagree. Just wondering...
You clearly do not understand the role of the military in our society or the dangers to our freedoms and liberties if the military were ever to do what you suggest.
In most countries, the military either holds power directly or is the essential element of political power. We have never gone down this road, thanks in large measure to the efforts of General Washington to impart the legacy of Cinncinatus to the Officer Corps. Officers wishing to enter the political arena must surrender their military power, remove their uniforms, and compete with their fellow politicians. God help us should any President ever wear a uniform.
Military Officers perform their Constitutional duty by supporting the legitimate Government of the United States. Its sheer lunacy to suggest that Obummer was not elected President and does not currently serve as the legitimate Commander-in-Chief. Whatever flaws there may be in the qualification process need to be corrected by the politicians, and if they fail to do it, by the electorate. I’m not holding my breath.
“Folks can disregard any order they want, if they don’t feel that it’s legal.
That kind of thinking will get someone a free trip to Leavenworth. Ask a military lawyer.”
So will obeying any order from any superior. I guess if an officer orders his troops to kill civilians, it should be done without question. :)
I suspect the difference may be that my circle are almost all retired professional officers, or the children, nephews, nieces, or neighbor children of those professionals. That crowd makes a distinction between the behavior of Obama, who is roundly detested, and the proper behavior of a professional serving officer.
What does the Lewis/McChord crowd think of Lieutenant Watanda?
See my earlier comment, obeying that order will get you 30 years, at least. Disobeying a deployment order will only get you six months. Life's a bitch.
You do realize the Constitution gives the power to the Congress, not to the military, don’t you? And that the Founders feared a politically active, standing military?
Just a question. Do all the men you cited have the same opinion as you have? If so it points out to me that our military today has various ideas of what service is all about. As a vet of WWII , no combat but was very close to invading Japan and a lone brother killed on Okinawa, I too believe in the sanctioning of obedience to orders down to the buck private. However, the military exigency of my war was not the same as today’s wars insofar as National interest. And above all, then and now, the Constitution of our Nation is above all considerations. As such I can accept someones argument that with due consideration for other obligations they believe that obedience to the Constitution is paramount to any lower level of requirements.
Just a question. Do all the men you cited have the same opinion as you have? If so it points out to me that our military today has various ideas of what service is all about. As a vet of WWII , no combat but was very close to invading Japan and a lone brother killed on Okinawa, I too believe in the sanctioning of obedience to orders down to the buck private. However, the military exigency of my war was not the same as today’s wars insofar as National interest. And above all, then and now, the Constitution of our Nation is above all considerations. As such I can accept someones argument that with due consideration for other obligations they believe that obedience to the Constitution is paramount to any lower level of requirements.
You are also profoundly mistaken on what constitutes a legal order and suffer from a delusion that Odumbo is not the legitimate President of the U.S.
I have not argued Lakin’s orders were illegal, only that he challenged potential corruption in the chain of command.
I have not argued that O is not the legitimate president.
And I assure you, I do not suffer from delusions, but thank you for your concern.
Well, since you have accused me of lying and fraud,
Please point out for the readers where I did so. It is possible you may have me confused with another.
Re: walking in combat: Your accusatory argument is based on an entirely false premise and is not what I said.
When I talked about this point, I spoke in the 3rd person and did not refer to you.
Your thrusts above may have been warranted by the tone of my earlier posts; let's move forward.
Usually our anonymity on Free Republic is an advantage, but until your post to me it was a disadvantage to most of us as it relates to you. Now many of the readers have a much better understanding of your background. On that basis you will have earned even greater respect on FR and I submit your views will be given greater weight. It was a hell of a story and much too short. Frankly, if it was limited to only being a third stringer in the recon business in country, it would have sold me
(Hand salute to you and your neighbor)
P.S. Nonetheless, if we were neighbors, I might ask over scotches what the military should do if by non-action Congress certifies Mickey Mouse as CinC?
Where is the evidence that our highest military ( who told LTC Lakin that they did, indeed, have serious concerns about Obama’s eligibility) seek clarification and certified proof that their Commander in Chief was legitimate?
You are both advocating that our military IGNORE corruption, destruction of our Constitution, and abandonment of our troops to the will of a likely usurper. This is a possible usurper who is now using our brave troops to establish the very enemies who have sworn to destroy them!
I certainly can’t speak for every soldier and officer who currently serves or who has served. You can see some of the differences on this forum. But, if you were to peruse all of the Lakin threads over the past several years, you will see a pattern that the overwhelming sympathy of professional veterans did not care for Lakin’s political stunt, however much they may have had sympathy for his disgust for the CinC.
If you were to cruise up to Leavenworth one day, you might see some of us lingering over breakfast at the Santa Fe Depot.
The bar for military intervention in national politics has been set quite high. I would have said too high to ever imagine a circumstance that would justify such action, but recent events have caused me to reconsider. The current administration is perfectly capable of committing offenses that would justify action, but they haven’t had the means or the guts to do so yet. Keep a weather eye.
The birth certificate issue isn’t even close. If rock solid proof were to come over someone’s transom tomorrow, the Constitutional remedy would be impeachment. I don’t think that the military plays any role in the impeachment process.
I would have to admit that my brother-in-law who is an active Colonel is tight lipped about anything to do with Obama. He has sometimes given less than subtle hints that he despises him, but it seems to be a sensitive topic, so I haven't tried to drag his opinion about Col. Lakin out of him.
My sister-in-law who was in the air force for 28 years and retired as a Sr. Master Sgt. is a strong Lakin supporter and emails a lot of info about it. She is married to the Colonel; she likes to say that his brains fell out when he got his commission. They have been through some interesting times.
My coworkers are very willing to share their opinions, and they are mostly are supportive of Col. Lakin, except my third man who was in the Coast Guard and has been a strong Obama supporter from day one.
We come into contact with a lot of veterans and most seem to share our opinion, but it is a different type of relationship than what you have described and like I said most are noncom, although I have discussed this with officers who have seemed very supportive of Col. Lakin.
I personally have never met anyone who said they were supportive of Watanda. I believe that most of the protesters who showed up in my home town of Tacoma back then were the same old leftist anti-military protester groups. They seem to come from out of town mostly.
They remind me of some guys we had to help down from a giant peace banner that they strung off of a giant conveyor belt on the port. They had atttatched themselves to the bottom of the banner to keep us from cutting it down. When we finally got them down we said, “It looks like you'll be having to go back to work on Monday after all.”
They replied that they had to get back to their tree houses in Oregon to keep the timber companies from cutting them down. But they said that they were thinking about getting jobs because collecting welfair didn't pay very well. I think they were just trying to get a rise out of us.
And if your sister-in-law had told a junior airman to work over the weekend and his reply was, "I refuse to obey your illegal order because I believe Obama is ineligible to hold the office of President of the United States" then what would her reaction have been?
Oh I forgot to mention that most base personnel seem to now call it Joint Base McLewless.
Col. Lakin had a simple and reasonable request of his Commander and Chief to address his and other uniformed personnel over valid concerns about the constitutional legitimacy of the chain of command. He asked to see Obama’s actual Birth Certificate.. This was discussed at length with his superiors, and did everything that he and they knew how to get a response through proper channels. No response was forthcoming and he missed his deployment.
This wasn't a simple case of Col. Lakin deciding out of the blue to disobey his orders one day. It is difficult to believe that Obama did not receive the request and made the conscious decision not to honor the reasonable request of a subordinate through the chain of command.
Obama chose to have destroy Col. Lakin’s career in the military rather than take a minute or two of his time to have one of his other subordinates obtain the requested document. Obama doesn't feel the life of one of his subordinates is worth any of his time or any of his consideration. It is disgusting that a person with that mentality is Commander and Chief of even a group of performing dogs. Politics aside... with that kind of disregard for the well being of his subordinates it is surprising to me that anyone follows any of his orders.
At least Bill Clinton pretended to show some emotion and feel our pain. George Bush Jr. called the families of many of those killed in Iraq and Afganistan. What does Obama do to show his concerns for those of us affected by his actions? We are all just play things to the great one.
Because I don't share your hero-worship of Terry Lakin?
Col. Lakin had a simple and reasonable request of his Commander and Chief to address his and other uniformed personnel over valid concerns about the constitutional legitimacy of the chain of command. He asked to see Obama’s actual Birth Certificate.. This was discussed at length with his superiors, and did everything that he and they knew how to get a response through proper channels. No response was forthcoming and he missed his deployment.
And if the junior airman I mentioned in my earlier reply had presented the same simple and reasonable request to your sister-in-law before he would accept her orders as lawful then what would her reaction have been? Surely you can speculate on that? Would she have said, "Your request is simple and reasonable. I'll have to find someone else to stand duty this weekend until such time as Obama responds?" Or would she have told him to have his ass in the office at 7 AM Saturday as she ordered him to?
Obama chose to have destroy Col. Lakin’s career in the military...
Lakin chose to destroy his own career. Obama may have been the excuse. He wasn't the cause.
George Bush Jr. called the families of many of those killed in Iraq and Afganistan.
By your standards, George Bush, Jr. chose to destroy the career of Ehren Watada by refusing to prove that the Iraq war was legal. Likewise his father destroyed the career of Yolanda Huet-Vaughn by refusing to do the same for her.
I guess I should have inserted a smiley face behind my troublemaker response because that is the spirit in which it was written.
Your other speculation about my sister-in-law is pure nonsense. If one of her subordinates had a reasonable request of her or if one of my subordinates had a reasonable request for me; I would do my best to acknowledge their request and take some type of action. Depending on the circumstances it might be to accomadate their request.
There is no meaningful comparison between Watada and Col. Lakin. Watada made no reasonable request of George Bush through the chain of command. He might has well have asked George Bush to swim the Atlantic. You are starting to show your true colors here.
Only a legitimate president can be impeached. If he is a usurper, he isn’t president. He is a criminal fraud and trespasser and would be evicted and arrested.
Gee! You type that with such certainty.
What proof do you have that he is a legitimate Commander in Chief and not a usurper? ( Just wondering.)
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