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Thanks to Mark Steyn over at The Corner on National Review, the Huffington Post has once again been exposed as a group of brainless boobs who lack the ability to put a coherent thought into a real blog post.
If you have never been to the Huffington Post, you should reall visit. It's like having a site of 100 Joe Albero's all the posting the same inane garbage in one place.
The target of my ire this sultry August morning is Martin Lewis, who suggests that General Peter Pace-- the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should relieve President Bush of his role as commander in chief. Martin Lewis is obviously just plain stupid, and does not realize how the law actually works -- as opposed to how he wishes it did work in the land where marijuna grows on roadsides like black-eyed susans.
Martin Lewis bases his new "revolutionary" theory on a few choice selections from the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
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.
You simply invoke the Uniform Code Of Military Justice.
Unfortunately, Martin Lewis puts his own stupidity on full display. How?
First, the President of the United States is not under the jurisdiction of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The President is not a member of the uniformed services of the United States. He is the National Command Authority, the civilian with ultimately responsibility for the conduct of those uniformed services. But he is not subject to the UCMJ.
The UCMJ is a federal law - specficially, United States Code, Title 10, Subtitle A, Part II, Chapter 47 -- enacted by Congress in 1950. It replaced a number of different and sometimes conflicting laws and manuals -- some specific to different services -- that became outmoded after the National Security Act of 1947 created the Department of Defense. As a federal statute, the UMCJ cannot limit the powers of the President as specified in the United States Constitution. Placing the President under the jurisdiction of the UCMJ would do exactly that. Only an actual amendment to the United States Constitution can statutorily effect the powers of the President.
I am amazed that Martin Lewis does not recognize this. Of course, if he did, he would not be able to write his column. As it is, he has only uncovered his basic stupidity for all of us to see.
Furthermore, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Peter Pace has little real command authority. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are the primary military advisers to the President of the United States, but they do not have statutory authority to issue independent orders to troops in the field. Orders to troops in the field go from the President, to the Secretary of Defense, to the nine unified combatant commanders. Yes, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (and the other service chiefs) still retain the command authority of their rank. General Pace can tell any service member subordinate to him to go paint rocks. But he lacks statutory command authority to order troops into battle.
And he lacks the authority to remove his civilian commanders from their roles.
Next time, Martin Lewis, you want to suggest a course of action, make sure that you have your FACTS straight before jump in the deep water.