Originally posted January 24th at: www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2025/01/24/veterans-peace-celebrates-gaza-ceasefire-and-pledges-defend
[From BAJ February 11th; I meant to post this elsewhere before the evening of the 13th:
"7:30 p.m.WEDNESDAY, February 12,
at the Community Church of Chapel Hill
106 Purefoy Road
Balance and Accuracy in Journalism presents
SOLIDARITY / RESISTANCE / ACTION
We will hear from Triangle Free Press editor Carl Hintz
on the work of the paper to bring together Triangle
communities for humane policies.
First they came for the immigrants….
The defense of immigrant families from the scapegoating
of the new administration is getting much merited attention,
and local groups are working together.
White House disruption of Congressional process seeks to silence public
engagement, blocking real world functions and practical compromises.
Can an informed public assert itself? Continuing calls and messages
on an unprecedented scale takes info, strategy and determination.
A neighbor has shared material for calls to Congress.
For those of us deeply disturbed by the current state of affairs -- my antidote to this is to take some action.
I just called our US Senators, about the Musk security breaches of the Treasury Dept. and USAID.
I called US Representative Valerie Foushee (district 4) for her help about the security breaches.
And I called our NC Attorney Jeff Jackson to thank him and ask for his help on this matter.
Telephone numbers are below, as well as a link to Heather Cox Richardson on the security breaches.
This is very serious, folks.
Senator Thom Tillis:
202-224-6342 (Washington DC ofc)
919-856-4630 (NC ofc)
Senator Ted Budd:
202-224-3154 (Washington DC ofc)
984-349-5061 (NC ofc)
Representative Valerie Foushee:
202-225-1784 (Washington DC ofc)
919-967-7924 (NC ofc)
NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson:
919-716-6400
Wages in the U.S. have lagged significantly and labor actions
are increasing. An Amazon union vote is in progress through Feb.15
near Raleigh. Are other local struggles emerging?
Veterans For Peace have announced, "As veterans of illegal,
immoral U.S. wars, we support military members who refuse
illlegitimate orders: "When you follow your conscience
and stand up for what is right, you will have VFP support."
Uncertainty threatens Medicaid and Social Security funding,
and firings and layoffs now impact Triangle area researchers.
Are many of us, like the people of Palestine, now deemed disposable?
President Trump claims Palestinians will be “cleaned out” of Gaza.
Longtime British diplomat Alistair Crooks assesses President Trump’s
tactics versus realities in the region. 25 minutes (skip 2 minute ad)
People are rallying!
Bring your ideas and information to share."]
Veterans For Peace Celebrates the Gaza Ceasefire and Pledges to Defend It
Veterans For Peace joins the people of Gaza in rejoicing at the Ceasefire that has brought a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Palestinian children, women and men, and their churches, their mosques, their schools and hospitals. At least 50,000 have been killed in a cold-blooded massacre and over 100,000 injured, many losing their limbs. But the huge smiles on the faces of the children of Gaza and their shouts of joy since the ceasefire went into effect were a deeply profound thing to witness.
But just how real is the Gaza ceasefire? How enduring will it be? Many close observers of Israel are skeptical. In his recent article, The Ceasefire Charade, Chris Hedges, renowned war correspondent and VFP Advisory Board member writes:
“Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game. It signs a deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The first phase gives Israel what it wants — in this case the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza — but Israel habitually fails to implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and equitable peace. It eventually provokes the Palestinians with indiscriminate armed assaults to retaliate, defines a Palestinian response as a provocation and abrogates the ceasefire deal to reignite the slaughter. If this latest three-phase ceasefire deal is ratified it will, I expect, be little more than a presidential inauguration bombing pause. Israel has no intention of halting its merry-go-round of death.”
While we rejoice at the pause in the US/Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people, we recognize that the following underpinnings of the genocide remain unchanged:
1. U.S. provision of weapons and services for those weapons to Israel in violation of a variety of U.S. laws, including the Leahy Law;
2. U.S. deployment of military personnel in support of the genocide through servicing weapons provided to Israel, flying air attacks against Yemeni and Syrian people; flying MQ-9 Reaper drone surveillance missions to aid Israeli air attacks against Palestinians, Yemenis and, likely, Lebanese;
3. Repression by US colleges and universities against students and faculty who have acted so courageously and effectively to educate the US public about the US/Israeli genocide and have led in calling for divestment from Israel and from US weapons makers who have been making billions in supporting the genocide;
4. The silence of US hospital systems about the genocide and repression of their staff members who are speaking out in solidarity with their sister and brother Palestinian medical workers who have been killed, jailed, humiliated and whose hospitals have been destroyed and deprived of fuel, medicine, food and safety. Evidence of this silence is the formation and growing popularity of Doctors Against Genocide; and 5. The cooperation of major US press organizations with genocide in failing to report fully on the suffering of the Palestinian people and accepting without significant critique the narrative of the Israeli government.
6. The constitutionally-protected ability of weapons makers and other corporations to exercise dangerous influence in every segment of society and public opinion by lobbying legislators at every level of government, writing legislation, advertising, plying educational institutions with desperately needed funding, contributing to community events, keeping information hidden from the public and investing in electoral campaigns.
Ominously, on his first day in office, President Trump removed the sanctions on West Bank settlers who have attacked Palestinian civilians, and reversed Biden’s “pause” of sending 2,000 lb. bombs to Israel. And then there are these recent statements from Trump’s inner circle:
During his confirmation hearing for U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio strongly defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza while sharply condemning the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a Senator, Rubio was a strong supporter of the criminal actions of Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
During her confirmation hearing on January 22, 2025, Trump’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik that while Palestinian people deserve human rights, Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank. She would not answer whether the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination.
“I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” testified Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, at his Senate confirmation hearing. And Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz declared that he is committed to the complete defeat of Hamas. That sounds very much like the failed logic of the Biden Administration and Israel’s war on Gaza. When will they ever learn?
Despite its uncertain fate, the Gaza ceasefire is nonetheless a precious victory for the Palestinian people, and must be defended. Just look again at the joyous faces of the Palestinian children. This is another stage in the Palestinian struggle for liberation from colonial oppression and genocide. Peace-loving people everywhere must therefore remain vigilant. We must push for successful completion of all three phases of the ceasefire agreement. We must remove conditions within the U.S. that have enabled the genocide.
Veterans For Peace has consistently called on the US government to stop sending US bombs and war materials to Israel. We have encouraged legal action against the Biden administration for violating US and international laws when it sends weapons to a country that is committing gross human rights violations. We believe that the quickest, most effective way to stop the genocide in Gaza – and to preserve the ceasefire -- is to cut off the flow of US weapons to Israel.
Furthermore, we stand ready to give our full support to U.S. military personnel who choose not to be party to genocide. We will continue to support students, teachers, medical workers and others who are compelled by their consciences to take stands against genocide and for freedom for the Palestinian people. We call on all reporters and editors to report fully on the experience of the Palestinian people.
We demand that the Trump administration and the Israeli government respect the hard-won Gaza ceasefire, that they permanently end the carnage in Gaza and the West Bank, that they cease the occupation of Palestinian land, and that they end the oppression of the Palestinian people. We call on all peace-loving people to join us in defending the righteous struggle of the Palestinian people for their freedom and sovereignty.
Never Again Genocide! Free, Free Palestine!
Originally posted January 27th at: www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2025/01/27/bruce-fein-and-ralph-nader-say-disobey-orders
Bruce Fein and Ralph Nader Say DISOBEY ORDERS
300 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20001
Phone: 202-465-8728
DUTY TO DISOBEY CLEARLY ILLEGAL ORDERS
The law is clear.
Government officials, including members of the military, are saddled with a duty to disobey clearly illegal orders. The charter of the International Military Tribunal for the trial of the Nazi leadership, which established international law, provided in Article 8, “The fact that the Defendant acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior shall not free him of responsibility….”
The Court of Military Review in the prosecution of Lt .William Calley for the My Lai massacre added, “The acts of a subordinate done in compliance with an unlawful order given him by his superior are excused and impose no criminal liability upon him unless the superior’s order is one which a man of ordinary sense and understanding would, under the circumstances, know to be unlawful, or if the order in question is actually known to be accused to be unlawful.”
The risk is substantial that President Donald Trump will issue clearly illegal orders during his second stint at the White House. He voiced enthusiasm for torture in 2016 but then backed down when he confronted push back. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was explicit: He would disobey an order to torture, including waterboarding. Moreover, Mr. Trump has displayed equal exuberance over the possibility of ordering the crime of aggression, i.e., wars not in self-defense, against Panama, Denmark, or Canada. The prevailing political hysteria shared by President Trump and Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio makes thinkable an illegal presidential order to initiate the crime of aggression against China over Taiwan or the South China Sea.
Mr. Trump will be more emboldened in his second term than in his first. The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Untied States (July 1, 2024), conferred criminal and civil justice immunity on the President for any action taken in his official capacity. Moreover, Secretary of Defense-designate Pete Hegseth, during his confirmation hearing, refused to echo Mr. Mattis. Instead, Mr. Hegseth equivocated—an earmark of subservience.
The legal duty to disobey a presidential order to undertake aggressive war attaches to officials who occupy policymaking positions, de jure or de facto, controlling or directing the political or military action of a State. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg elaborated, “Somewhere between the dictator and supreme commander of the military forces of the nation and the common soldier is the boundary between the criminal and excusable participation in the waging of an aggressive war by an individual engaged in it.”
American wars not in self-defense, i.e., not response to actual or imminent aggression against the sovereignty of the United States, are clear international crimes, for example, the
1
United States invasion of Iraq in 2003 or attack on Libya in 2011. They were indistinguishable from crimes of aggressive war undertaken by leaders of the Third Reich against Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.
Moreover, Article I, section 8, clause 11 of the United States Constitution entrusts the war power to Congress. The President is prohibited from using military force without a congressional declaration of war except in self-defense in response to a sudden attack which had already broken the peace. In other words, a presidential order to use military force in other circumstances without a congressional declaration of war would be clearly illegal and compel disobedience by principal officers of the United States with material influence over military or political policy.
President Trump may also issue clearly illegal orders under the Insurrection Act during his second term. It confers on the President virtually infinite discretion to displace civilian with military rule by declaring obstructions to the enforcement of federal law (10 U.S.C. 333):
“The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it… (2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”
President Trump may invoke the Act to suppress by military force any political dissent by fact-free declarations that his detractors are obstructing the enforcement of federal laws by resorting to mob violence. A presidential order in such circumstances would be clearly illegal and compel disobedience from all principal officers endowed with material influence over political or military decisions of the President.
The duty to disobey clearly illegal orders is the last guard rail against dictatorship. Courage should be forthcoming accordingly.
Bruce Fein
Ralph Nader
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