In order to Save the United States We Were Forced to Destroy It

It's unfortunate when someone you dislike is elected. In the last few years, the political left in this country has let it eat at their souls, their hatred of the selected-not-elected Emperor Chimpy Dubya McHitlerburton having grown to a category-5 storm of sheer incoherent rage, so much so that there are some who would be perfectly willing to stick the US Constitution in a shredder if it meant they could be rid of him.

Case in point, "noted raconteur and Bon Vivant" (I'm not making that up... it's in his author page) Martin Lewis has a solution for the world's Dubya problem... have General Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "relieve the President of his command."

Yeah. That's right. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan.

Dear General Pace,

I just want to say, in opening, that I love your salsa.

I note with admiration your courage in making clear your private concerns about the safety of the US military and the longterm danger to US national security caused by the President's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the quagmire in Iraq.

Wow, first paragraph out of the box and we've already hit the lefty standard, "quagmire." We're in for a fun ride, folks.

Though you are Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President's principal military advisor - President Bush has shown his disdain for your honesty and wisdom. Though you are a decorated Vietnam war hero

BABY KILLER!!!

Isn't it odd how leftists suddenly become so pro-military when they want something?

- who has served his nation honorably for four decades - the President is dispensing with your services. You have one month left in your position before you are tossed out by the President.

The President has that authority, Lewis. The Chairman serves at his discretion... it's part of the whole "civilian control of the military" thing that, as we shall see, you don't quite understand.

President Bush is going to ignore your advice.

He's allowed to do that. Comes with the job.

Just as he has ignored the advice of other Generals who have had the courage to respectfully point out how terribly wrong he is in respect of the Iraq War and the safety of the US military he is sworn to protect. Highly-decorated colleagues of yours such as General Anthony Zinni (Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command), General Eric Shinseki (Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army) and General John Abizaid (Commander of the U.S. Central Command).

"Ignoring advice" is not a violation of the law, Mr. Lewis.

General Pace - you have the power to fulfill your responsibility to protect the troops under your command. Indeed you have an obligation to do so.

You can relieve the President of his command.

Not of his Presidency. But of his military role as Commander-In-Chief.

Impossible. The duties and powers of the President of the United States are clearly spelled out in The Constitution (you might want to look it up, Lewis) and there is no provision for taking away one power while leaving others. The President is the Commander in Chief. Article II, section 2. If he's not Commander in Chief, he's not President. You don't get to mix-n-match Constitutional powers and duties. If the military removes him from this duty then they are removing themselves from civilian control, a completely unconstitutional and insanely bad idea.

But, hey, if it weren't for insanely bad ideas the left would have no ideas at all. Let's continue, shall we?

You simply invoke the Uniform Code Of Military Justice.

Why, it's as simple as that!!!

The United States Code: Title 10, Subtitle A, Part II, Chapter 47, Subchapter X, Section 934.

I'd prefer to invoke § 2385. Advocating overthrow of Government. On you.

Article 134 reads:

"Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special, or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court."

The Posse Comitatus Act severely limits the power of the military to enforce laws upon civilians. They may police their own, but they have no, repeat no authority to arrest the President, a civilian.

Article 133 reads:

"Any commissioned officer, cadet, or midshipman who is convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."

A gentleman is understood to have a duty to avoid dishonest acts, displays of indecency, lawlessness, dealing unfairly, indecorum, injustice, or acts of cruelty.

President George W. Bush is not a commissioned officer, a cadet, or a midshipman. He (and I have to repeat this for the terminally stupid) is a civilian. As such, he doesn't fall under the very law you're quoting to try and get him arrested.

To be crystal clear - I am NOT advocating or inciting you to undertake any illegal act, insurrection, mutiny, putsch or military coup.

Yes you are. The military has NO authority to remove the President, relieve his of any of his duties, or anything else of the sort. Saying that you're not advocating a coup is laughable when that's clearly what you are doing.

You are an honorable patriotic man.

Stop kissing his ass, Lewis. Assuming he ever reads your post (and I'd be surprised if someone hasn't passed it along to him as a joke), you're not going to impress him by telling him how wonderful he is. You're asking him to step beyond the bounds of his post, violate the Constitution and the law, just so you can be rid of a man who you're going to be rid of in about a year and a half anyway.

If I were General Pace, I'd be insulted. In fact, I'd be calling the Secret Service right now, and asking those humorless gents to have a word with you, and perhaps explain the laws of this land to you before subjecting you to them.

I am NOT advocating or inciting you to interfere with any of the civilian duties of the President. That would not be a legal action by you.

That is exactly what you are doing. The power of the President as Commander-in-Chief can not be separated from his civilian duties... it IS one of his civilian duties, and as such is not answerable to anyone except Congress or the Supreme Court acting in their Constitutional roles. Congress may impeach, but the military may not simply decide they have had enough and arrest him, no matter how pissed off they may be.

However you have the legal responsibility - under Article 134 of the Uniform Code Of Military Justice - to protect the troops under your command by relieving the President of his MILITARY command.

So the Pace has a legal responsibility to violate the law? Oy vey, I need an aspirin.

Look, pinhead, the UCMJ does not supersede the Constitution, except in the Bizarro World that you and most of the left lives in these days.

If you have reason to believe that the President is responsible for "disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces" and for "conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital" then you have the obligation to act.

Really? That's your criteria? If that was the case, the military could have relieved Bill Clinton of his power as CiC. Oh, and by the way, perjury is also a violation of the UCMJ, Mr. Lewis.

In addition to relieving him of his command as Commander-In-Chief, you also have authority to place the President under MILITARY arrest.

Jesus H. Cthulhu, do you even understand our laws? Short of a declared national emergency, the US military doesn't have the authority to place civilians under military arrest. If Congress impeached the President and he refused to step down upon being removed from office you might have a point, but barring that sort of profound national crisis what you're advocating is a military coup.

Article 7 of the Uniform Code Of Military Justice specifically says:

(b) Any person authorized under regulations governing the armed forces to apprehend persons subject to this Code may do so upon reasonable belief that an offense has been committed and that the person apprehended committed it.

(c) All officers, warrant officers, petty officers, and noncommissioned officers shall have authority to quell all quarrels, frays, and disorders among persons subject to this Code and to apprehend persons subject to this Code who take part in the same.

(sigh) THE PRESIDENT IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE UCMJ. He is a civilian. See that word? CIVILIAN. Someone needs to tattoo it onto your forehead in reverse letters so you can look it in a mirror every time you brush your teeth.

I understand that it would not be an action to undertake lightly.

Actually, if you believe that the United States military should arrest a President with only a few years left in his term simply because your hatred of the man has overwhelmed what little common sense you have, you "understand" nothing.

In all your 39 years of service you have shown total loyalty to the chain of command.

But, hey, feel free to throw that all away and spit on the oath you took simply because a pencil-dicked leftist "bon vivant" wants you to.

However, given the current imperilment of US troops, and the "Conduct Unbecoming Of An Officer And A Gentleman" of this President - you have a greater responsibility to your nation, your code of honor and to the US Constitution.

Goddamit, you don't show responsibility to your nation, your code of honor, and to the US Constitution by destroying them.

I wish you well as you prepare to undertake the most heroic action of your distinguished career.

You baby-murdering fascist killbot.

General Pace - please save the US.

By instituting a military coup and violating the Constitution. What's the old phrase... "in order to save the US we were forced to destroy it?"

Respectfully yours,

Martin Lewis

Do you TRULY want to go down this road, Mr. Lewis? Once you open that door there's no going back, ever. Every President will be subject to arrest and trial by the military should they decide to do so, based on the remarkably vague criteria you've established. Once the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has that power, it won't be given back. Ever. Rather than a military that is told what to do by the President, we will have a President that is told what to do by the military.

I'm a conservative, Mr. Lewis, but I'm not one of those screaming hate-filled Michael Savage "hang all o' them libruls" types. I've voted for Democrats on occasion (rarer and rarer occasions, granted), and have grown to loathe the Republican Party almost as much as I hate the Democrats. I want you to understand this clearly, because I'm going to say something to you that I've NEVER said to anyone regardless of how much I may disagree with them:

GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR COUNTRY.

Pack your things and go. You have no business being here. You're a twit who has seen too many military courtroom dramas and thinks that they apply to the real world. You clearly do not understand our laws, but that's never stopped a Huffington Post writer before. You have advocated the overthrow of our civilian government merely to remove a man from office who will be gone in a short time anyway. You have called on the military to overstep its Constitutional bounds and remove itself from civilian control. In more civilized times you'd be tarred and feathered. In these politically correct times you probably won't even be arrested.

Now I'm sure you're going to try and spin this as "A Modest Proposal," and make comments on just how upset we righties are getting over this.

Piss off. You're right we're upset. I'm sick of people like you, sick to my very black right-wing soul of people like you who understand so little of history, understand so little of just how precious and rare civilian control of the military is in human affairs, how important it is to maintaining the institutions we in the West hold dear. In the vast majority of human history it has been the military that has done the controlling, not the other way around. Have you given the slightest thought to the long-term consequences of your idea, Mr. Lewis? I doubt it. Your hatred of Bush trumps everything.

If Hillary Clinton wins the Presidency in 2008, how do you think the military is going to react? Do you think they're going to be happy taking her orders? They loathed her husband, and I'm guessing they'll be even less thrilled with her. Now give the military the power to arrest her for violating the UCMJ... how many minutes do you think it'd take them to come up with an excuse? Five? Ten? There's an old saying, Lewis, be careful what you wish for. You might get it. The weapon that you wish to use to remove the hated Dubya from power can easily be used against a President that you like as well. And it would, have no doubts.

Personally, I'm not cool with that, even if Lady Macbeth wins the election.

Fortunately, General Pace IS an honorable man, and will ignore your idiotic plea. You should be happy about that, Lewis, because in years gone by an officer like him, his honor insulted by someone like you, might have challenged you to a duel.

And dueling violates the UCMJ. You wouldn't want him to get in trouble, now, would you?