To the editor:
In my opinion, Richard Kucksdorf’s recent guest column is begging for a critical examination.
Kucksdorf attacks six lawmakers, veterans all, for saying that military people should not follow illegal orders. Until recently, that statement would seem true and obvious. Is the author suggesting that soldiers and sailors should follow illegal orders or that illegal orders don’t happen because oaths were taken? I think Kucksdorf’s position is that illegal orders don’t happen because oaths are taken. He claims the oaths are checks and balances.
This is an obfuscation, a confusion of concepts in order to manufacture a defense.
Donald Trump often says,”It’s common sense.”
Oaths are just promises and are often violated. My Lai, Abu Ghraib, Kent State and a myriad of wartime events in Iraq and elsewhere over the ages prove Kucksdorf wrong.
A current Economist/YouGov poll indicates 46% of Americans approve of the veterans’ actions, 39% disagree. The poll also shows 29% support Trump’s call for sedition charges and 59% disapprove of charges It is likely that of the original 39% disapproving folks, many understood the truth of the patriotic veterans’ statement but didn’t want them to speak up
Back in 2020 when Trump was sliding in the polls, Kucksdorf had another guest column published in the Shawano Leader. On June 27, he criticized Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s Secretary of Defense, the most honored military officer in the country. Gen. Mattis had passed his Senate confirmation 93-5.
After Mattis, Gen. Mark Milley, Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly stated that he would not follow an illegal order from the president, per military.com.
Yogi Berra would describe the current threat of prosecution for sedition against the lawmakers as “deja vu all over again.” What beauty contestant will do the prosecution this time? The campaign of retribution is an abject failure.
The Democratic lawmakers have the power of foresight. Not two weeks after they spoke up the military “finished off” two shipwrecked sailors, possibly on an illegal order, resulting in murder. The failure of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to release the video prevents the public from ascertaining whether an illegal order was issued and by whom.
I agree with Richard Kucksdorf’s point that people shouldn’t be fooled. It just depends on who is trying to fool you.
Stephen Menard, Shawano
