Uphold the President? I think not.

[athelind]

Former Bush aide declines to answer Senate questions
Excerpt:

Loyal to Bush even outside the White House, Taylor at first refused to answer questions that might violate Bush's claim of executive privilege and at one point reminded the committee that as a commissioned officer, "I took an oath and I take that oath to the president very seriously."

Seeing a chance to weaken Taylor's observance of Bush's executive privilege claim, Leahy corrected her: She took an oath to uphold the Constitution.

"Your oath is not to uphold the president," Leahy lectured her.

Damned right, Senator. It's about time that someone mentioned that piece of paper.

Laws, not men, dammit.

Comments

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd make the argument that it is men -- it's not ONE man.

"You took an oath, Jack. And I don't mean to the National Security Advisor of the United States; I mean to his boss. And I don't mean the President. I mean his boss. You gave your word of honor to the American people, Jack."
-- Admiral Greer, Clear and Present Danger

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

Sieg Heil to the President Gasman.



Nah, in all seriousness, I'm glad that someone finally said what needed to be said.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

The first good news I've heard out of Washington in a while.

Oath of Comissioning

[galis.livejournal.com]

"I, , having been appointed a seco9nd lieutenant in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God."

That's from memory, so I may have missed a word or two (Army and navy versions will be somewhat different of course, but not much)... but I doubt it. They drill that into your head over and over and over, and they explain WHY it differs from the Oath of Enlistment (which proclaims you will follow orders from superiors and the president). It's noteable that the Oath of Comissioning (to become an officer) does not have you swear to follow orders. This is certainly intentional; an officer is bound to uphold the constitution /only/, and that any order that goes against the constitution or military law is not a lawful order that the officer is bound to follow. Certainly, disobeying orders without good cause is not allowed, but neither are you sworn as an officer to obey without question.

That she could have forgotten that bothers me.

Re: Oath of Comissioning

[athelind.livejournal.com]

According to Wikipedia, the full text is:

I, {insert name here}, do solemnly swear, (or affirm), that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. (Note that the last sentence is not required to be said if the speaker has a personal or moral objection)

You didn't miss a syllable.

The Enlisted Oath is a bit more...specific:

"I, (state your name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Note that the last sentence is not required to be said if the speaker has a personal or moral objection)

I rather like the fact that Officers are beholden to nothing but the Constitution itself, and the dictates of conscience.

Obedience, alas, is a part of the enlisted oath; I opted not to re-enlist when I could not reconcile the contradiction of "defending the Constitution" and obeying the orders of a President whose devotion to the same I considered dubious.

And that was Bush's FATHER.

Wikipedia indicates that the oath taken by COngressmen and Senators is almost identical to the Oath of Commissioning. However, finding the oath taken by minor functionaries and appointees is proving difficult.