Dean Esmay does an excellent job of summarizing the ending of Battlestar Galactica's first season.
He then asks the question: "Whose side are you on, the President's or the Commander's?"
My response:
That wasn't a coup. Not if you want to maintain parallels with our current society.
Now, I don't know if you've ever read -in full- the oath sworn by all those who join the United States military.
Enlistment oath:
I,[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.
Officer's oath:
I, [name], having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ 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 reservations 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.
President's oath:
I 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.
Emphasis added in all.
Note that neither oath is to any particular person, administration, or form of government. It is to support and defend the Constitution. Hell, these men and women don't even swear to support and defend democracy; recall that the United States was deliberately designed to be a republic.
What does this mean for the United States? Let's suppose that Bush started behaving like the religious lunatic the idiot moonbats think he is.
Bush starts discussing his recent personal chats with God, how God has told him how to win the GWOT, and then he start shuffling divisions around the globe. He decides to send 3ID (Third Infantry Division) to Israel, and issues directives which allow theater commanders authorize nuclear attacks, if they deem this necessary.
Now. Suppose the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Bowman Myers (AF) took action against Bush in the belief that he was an active threat not only to the US, but to the Constitution. That in fact General Myers removed Bush from office and confined him.
Is this action, in fact, a coup? Or is it a legitimate defense of the Constitution which is in accord with the oath that General Myers swore many years ago?
I believe -objectively- the regulars here would agree that any politician claiming a direct line to God, or having religious visions should be immediately locked up.
On the other hand, I've seen (while watching BSG) what President Roslin has seen, and I can understand both her faith and resolve in this.
That's one of the hallmarks of good writing.
Commander Adama isn't (as Dean characterized it) executing a coup in "blind fury," but isolating what he sees as a dangerous threat to what's left of humanity, and that's a helluva lot more important than "just" defending the Constition, although I don't doubt that the serving members of our armed forces considers that a "just!" Heh.
President Roslin isn't just a religious whacko. Ron Moore has taken pains to paint her as a woman with a brain, a heart, and cast-brass balls. She has -to her- good reason to have followed her recent series of decisions.
So both sides are three-dimensional, and both have good reasons for what they've done. I repeat: that's what makes a good story.
But later on Dean stepped into the doo-doo big time, when he wrote
I thought the coup was wrong the moment it was staged. No responsible officer stages a coup simply because he thinks the President has acted irrationally. There are several more responsible courses of actions to take, including simply informing his officers that he believes the President to be incapacitated and mentally ill and to temporarily disregard her orders while he informs the governing legislature of his concerns. Military operations can proceed apace under those circumstances, as strained as they are, better than they would mounting a coup--because, as young Captain Apollo said when he mutinied against the coup, if she's not the President then Adama's not the commander, there are no officers, and there are no lines of authority.
Um, WRONG. At least if their operations and chain of command remotely resemble ours, and recall that Moore writing this show as a mirror to our own.
It isn't a question whether Roslin "is" the president. The question is: is she competent? And -as I pointed out above- there are times when an officer is not only correct in removing someone from office, but is expected to, in order to fulfill his or her sworn oath.
Dean says that Adama should have merely "informed" his officers that Roslin was incapacitated, and ignore her. The only problem with this is that it violates chain of command. If Roslin is, prima facie incompetant it is Adama's responsibilty to remove her. If she is not incompetent, he should shut up and soldier. Very simple.
What Dean doesn't seem to understand is that you don't leave crazy people in the chain of command, if they are in fact crazy. You don't "just ignore" them.
The other problem is that Apollo's little speech that "if [Roslin is] not the President then Adama's not the commander, there are no officers, and there are no lines of authority. "
No. Roslin may be removed from office, and the next eligble representative may take charge. Recall that's exactly how she was handed the office in the first place, as she was 43rd in line. Think about that: 43rd in line. Surely there were others after her?
That's part of the chain of command. There's always someone else that may be bumped up a grade or two, then handed a new job. A general dies, the colonel gets the job. The colonel buys it, and a major is promoted.
All the majors are wiped out, and a captain gets lucky (although in this context I'm not sure "lucky" is the best adjective). Continue on down the line, if necessary, until a Sergeant First Class gets commissioned into a butter-bar 2LT.
So Roslin gets yanked, someone else picks up the reins, and Apollo gets spanked for being a young idealistic idiot. And yes, that's doubly redundant.
Too many people think that "civilian control of the military" means that the soldiers just shut up and ... soldier. What they don't truly understand is that the men and women in the US armed forces swear to defend the Constitution of the United States. And (and I repeat) "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
In other words, Commander Adama (given a strong similarity between our world and theirs) merely fulfilled his oath of office in removing President Roslin from hers.
In terms of the show: both sides have good and real reasons for taking action. I expect that Roslin will be reinstated (after Starbuck gets back with ... something), and since Roslin is a smart politician, and Adama a smart soldier with a legal background, they'll figure something out.
Comments (8)
I really hate it when you say unbelievably dumb things like this Casey.
I understand everything you're saying perfectly. Too bad you're too dumb and ill-informed about history to understand what I am saying.
Adama executed a coup--period, end of story. It was wrong the moment he did it, and there were several options far more becoming a flag officer in the situation he was in--including exactly what I described.
If the situation were not so dire, Adama should of course be hung by the neck until dead after a summary court martial. Lucky for him he's got the power to avoid that, but that doesn't change the fact that what he did was absolutely unnecessary and absolutely wrong.
And Lee was right.
I guess we understand now why you'd never make it as an officer in the military. Heh.
Posted by Dean Esmay | July 24, 2005 9:39 AM
Posted on July 24, 2005 09:39
By the way, any general who did that to Bush would also be a traitor to the Constitution and to his oath. Period, end of story.
The only way an officer gets away with that kind of flagrantly dangerous behavior is if there is an IMMEDIATE and UNQUESTIONABLE threat--and that clearly was not the case, sorry. Presidents can be religious wackos--nothing says they can't. At best Adama should have informed his officers of his concerns, and IMMEDIATELY CONTACTED THE CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES--in the case of Bush, that would mean the cabinet, and in the case in Galactica universe, it would mean the Council of 12. And inform them that until they gave him an answer he was disregarding the President.
He had NO authority, NONE WHATSOEVER, to arrest the President. He executed a coup, and should be ashamed.
I guess it's good that I understand these things better than you. :-)
Posted by Dean Esmay | July 24, 2005 9:43 AM
Posted on July 24, 2005 09:43
Reminder line by the way: "I'm terminating your Presidency."
Yeah, on whose authority, General?
Posted by Dean Esmay | July 24, 2005 9:44 AM
Posted on July 24, 2005 09:44
I refuse to let you two bassids drag me into watching the newest verson of Cattlecar Galactica. My life simply doesn't have room.
Um, both of you *do* realize that the US Constitution provides for the removal of a President who is incompetent to serve (as in being insane - impeachment or the next election is for All Other Problems)? Implemented, I believe, in response to the issue of Presidential control of nukes.
Essentially, the Cabinet, and, I believe, the Chief Justice, Speaker of the House and President Pro Tem of the Senate are involved.
But, Casey - I'm with Dean. The Generals can refuse orders and resign/get fired, but it just isn't their place to take over, or ignore orders.
I have no idea what the Cattlecar Galactica constitution sez, and I recognize you are postulating Dire Circumstances, Casey... but when you dragged it into the context of *my* oath, well, I'm standing here on terra firma.
It is *not* the place of the Generals to act in that fashion. Nn matter *how* deep in the line of succession established to re-establish governance in the event of a decapitating attack on the USGOV you go... you won't find a General.
It's not a General who is kept at a secure location during the State of the Union address, for example... it's someone in the Top 5 in the line of succession.
For a reason.
Posted by John of Argghhh! | July 24, 2005 10:02 AM
Posted on July 24, 2005 10:02
Well, John, the reason I picked the doomsday scenario was that I was trying to find something parallel with what's been happening in BSG.
I was going on stuff Jerry Pournelle (among others) has written over the years.
If I understand what you're saying, then, in a milder case (say, POTUS orders the Iraq theatre commander to attack Iran, and yes, that's only relatively milder {g}), the General should just refuse the order.
What then? This isn't argumentative, but a request for information. Does the General just say "no," or does he report the order back to D.C.? I suspect the latter.
How, then, do you intepret (or implement) defending the Constitution against domestic enemies?
And yes, it's all supposition what the BSG oath "actually" says. :)
And yes, you SHOULD start watching the series. I think you'd like it. While most of the air time is devoted to the fly-boys, the Galactica now has rail-guns as her primary AA batteries.
Posted by Casey Tompkins | July 25, 2005 11:52 PM
Posted on July 25, 2005 23:52
Dear "I was never in the military either, but -hey- I own a shotgun" Dean:
Bite me. :)
I will, however, bow to the personal expertise Mr. Argghhh! And yes, I ignored that little detail about President of the Senate, etc.
Well, that's if BSG actually has said officers, considering how chaotic the original attack was, and that it's only been two months later.
Posted by Casey Tompkins | July 25, 2005 11:57 PM
Posted on July 25, 2005 23:57
Casey, the oaths aren't relevant, military protocols aren't relevant and the chain of command is most certainly not relevant. The relevant stuff is the impeachment clause and the disability clause. Military officers (like every other officer of the US) honour their oaths by following the laws. The absolute most Adama could do legitimately was question the president's capacity and ask his people to disregard her orders until her status was resolved according to the constitution.
Defending the constitution against domestic enemies means taking orders from the civilian government, not seizing power and making yourself one of said domestic enemies.
That assumes, of course, that Moore's performed better than he usually does in constructing a coherent back story and actually thought about the issue beyond wouldn't it be cool if we had a military coup.
Posted by Alan | July 28, 2005 12:34 AM
Posted on July 28, 2005 00:34
John has been kind enough to do some more explaining some of those details in email, after I asked him.
He did a nice job. I can see where I got my earlier impressions wrong.
I wouldn't call what Adama did a putch, or coup, but a couple folks (you included) have properly pointed out that what he did was -at the least- irregular, if not illegal.
So let's all give Mr. Moore a big hand, for doing a great job of entertaining while stimulating.
Posted by Casey Tompkins | July 29, 2005 9:20 AM
Posted on July 29, 2005 09:20