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A military note.
I'm following a lot of discussion threads about the resignation of General McChrystal. One of the common complaints is that this somehow violates Gen. McChrystal's freedom of speech.
The military operates under a special set of laws called the Uniform Code of Military Justice. These laws are just like any regular law, passed by Congress as a package and signed by the President, but apply only to members of the US military and to military installations. The relevant code here is Article 88:
There is a separate Article covering enlisted troops.
We live on discipline in the services. We require it. An army depends on mutual lines of respect up and down the chain of command, and that includes the civilian power structure. Especially the President in his role as Commander-in-Chief. We are also trained to be polite to officials, no matter what we think about them. That training served me well when Vice-President Bush shook my hand in Hawaii.
That Gen. McChrystal and his immediate staff were so contemptuous over multiple encounters with a reporter shows that McChrystal had fostered a climate of disrespect for the National Command Authority. That is unforgivable.
The military operates under a special set of laws called the Uniform Code of Military Justice. These laws are just like any regular law, passed by Congress as a package and signed by the President, but apply only to members of the US military and to military installations. The relevant code here is Article 88:
“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
There is a separate Article covering enlisted troops.
We live on discipline in the services. We require it. An army depends on mutual lines of respect up and down the chain of command, and that includes the civilian power structure. Especially the President in his role as Commander-in-Chief. We are also trained to be polite to officials, no matter what we think about them. That training served me well when Vice-President Bush shook my hand in Hawaii.
That Gen. McChrystal and his immediate staff were so contemptuous over multiple encounters with a reporter shows that McChrystal had fostered a climate of disrespect for the National Command Authority. That is unforgivable.
no subject
Freedom of speech just means that the government can't pass laws or take actions to *prevent* you from speaking your mind. It *can* pass laws mandating penalties for saying things that cause harm.
And as Elizabeth Moon points out here saying the sorts of things he said *does* do harm.