I can't believe I'm even going to answer this....Do you understand that Misprision of felony requires you to have first-hand knowledge of the felony, or a felonious conspiracy. Whatever Lakin alleges Obama to have done, and whatever evidence he would provide - it would still be an allegation of crime. Could the judge refer such allegations to the appropriate authority - sure. Is he under any kind of legal obligation, probably not. Can he be prosecuted if he is, but still doesn't? No.
"And regarding the chain of command, why was anybody looking up the chain of command to see if the Abu Ghraib behaviors were either condoned or commanded higher up the chain of command - if the only link in the chain that matters is the one directly above the behavior in question? Wouldnt the judge say - as you say any judge would say in Lakins case - that the higher links in the chain are absolutely and totally irrelevant and nobody can be allowed to go on a fishing expedition"
Because the defendants were claiming that they were following orders. No, that doesn't necessarily shield them from criminal liability for their actions, because even if they were ordered to do what they did, they should have known that what they were doing was plainly illegal.
But, if they did receive those orders, then whomever issued those orders was violating the UCMJ and international law, as well. That's why you had an investigation.
The military has no legal authority to investigate the civilian command of the military. The civilians oversee the military, not the other way around.
So unless a person was right there watching the Factcheck people C&P the seal on the forged COLB they don’t have to do a darn thing?
Wow. Just wow.
I asked why they went looking up the chain of command regarding Abu Ghraib. Clearly the only link in that chain that mattered was the one directly above the people who took those photos.
But ya know what? According to what you’ve just said, the only people who had any responsibility to do anything about Abu Ghraib were the people who did the actions, since they were the only people who had first-hand knowledge. And the only orders that mattered were the immediate superiors of the people who did the actions.
So - again - why did anybody look up the chain of command?
Why was Wuterich’s immediate superior put in trouble because he didn’t investigate the Haditha allegations (in the way Time Magazine thought he should have)? He didn’t have direct knowledge so he had no legal responsibility for anything. And he wasn’t the immediate superior of the guys who did the shooting so anything he did was irrelevant. Right? That’s what I hear you saying.
The military has no legal authority to investigate the civilian command of the military. That is correct. The UCMJ is understandably ill-suited to allow for an investigation of the qualifications of a CinC. If the Judge decides to subpoena a CERTIFIED copy of the Certification of Live Birth (as depicted on FactCheck) directly from Hawaii, that will be a game changer in that a true prima facie copy of Obama's COLB has never appeared in Court. At that point, the action shifts hard to other Eligibility cases as there's now PROOF POSITIVE prima facie evidence that Obama's father was a British subject. We all know this is the case, but a certified hard-copy would represent the FIRST time that such prima facie evidence would appear in a Courtroom. Such a twist would jeopardize Obama later ... it would certainly not redeem or help him. However, unless something very unexpected happens, Lt Col Lakin WILL in all likelihood be successfully prosecuted and sentenced by the US Army under UCMJ Articles 87 & 92. Although he does not WANT to be found guilty — and his attorney will argue tooth and nail against it — it will most likely happen and Lakin is ready for it as it leads to the ultimate conclusion. Again, Lt Col Lakin is FULLY aware what the Military Court system has in store for him, and thus why he knows the Relief he seeks can only be delivered from the Federal Courts. He won't find such relief in the Army Court of Criminal Appeals or the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; consult Articles 66(c) and 67(a) for more on that. However, although the US Army JAG will prosecute this case as just another set of Article 87 & 92 violations, it's anything but SOP. A field grade officer physician is questioning the SPECIFIC and UNIQUE Eligibility requirements of the POTUS under Art II, § 1, Clause 5 of the US Constitution, not his Commanding Officer's, Colonel Roberts. Although the Constitution Eligibility of the CinC matters not to the US Army, Lt Col Lakin’s questions of his POTUS is NOT an everyday Court Martial occurrence and I'm hard-pressed to find strikingly similar examples. Just 4 years ago, US Army 1Lt Ehren Watada was ALSO charged under UCMJ Article 87, for refusing to deploy to Iraq. His first trial ended in MISTRIAL after the military judge ruled that the military justice system was unable to decide if the question of whether the deployment order to Watada was unlawful; Watada's argument would thus be deduced to an admission of guilt. Although the Army tried again, in the end a District Court Judge intervened and stayed all but his Article 134 charges until the ENTIRE trial was dismissed under the 9th Circuit by Obama and his Justice Department request last May. Although Watada’s grievances was more like that of a “conscientious objector”, his attorneys argued that Command Responsibility placed the Army O-2 in jeopardy of War Crimes, in essence, from a de facto President and an illegitimate war. In that regard, Watada’s and Lakin’s basic rationale is similar. One final thought about Venue ... IF the Army DID want to investigate Obama’s Eligibility, HOW would they eventually DEFINE “natural-born Citizen” for the purposes of Art II, § 1, Clause 5 of the US Constitution? THEY CAN'T. Congress has TRIED nearly 30 times since the 1870s to define such a Constitutional definition and have been unable to do so. A Constitutional Amendment is CERTAINLY unattainable in the current political environment. SO WHO'S LEFT? The Supreme Court, using the language that the Framer's used at the end of the 18th Century — chiefly Vattel and Blackstone. Unless something else happens, like Obama is undone by old Chicago buddy Blaggo or some other scandal, Lt Col Lakin’s Relief lies only in the US Supreme Court.
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