It is somewhat serendipitous that the blunders of General Stanley McCrystal should surface at the present time. As a point of interest, they are profoundly emblematic of this Country’s internal conflicts both as to form and function. We have lost our National sense of clarity as to both of these, that is, as to form and function. In other words, what is our form of government and to what extent is it intended to function.
Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address (1801) may provide a bit of understanding on the subject:
“The supremacy of the civil over the military authority I deem one of the essential principles of our Government, and consequently one of those which ought to shape its administration.”
Civilian control of the Military is part of our national character, the very essence of the historical mapping of what becomes the very essence of freedom. It is the subtle admonition that liberty must never be challenged by a force whose very existence is derived from its ability to attend to itself the power to impose.
Let us, for a moment. consider a few conspicuous points taken directly from our own Declaration of Independence:
- He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
- He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
- For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.
- For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.
When we look to our own history and the circumstances that gave rise to these four, select, grievances then we also simultaneously view their culpability, or our own, should we ever choose to ignore the lessons which gave them life. With consideration to these issues alone, one might better understand the importance of the Posse Comitatus Act (passed in 1878) which general prohibits the use of Federal Military resources in law enforcement capacities within the United States.
It is the artifice of abuse of power that ultimately claims as its captive the very mechanisms that enabled it to do so and thus, this abuse of power must never be permitted to occur.
It is true that Mr. McCrystal possesses the right of opinion and one which is duly noted. However, in the capacity of General McCrystal, his is not the job of propagating division in the regiments of his legions but the single task of executing, with precise conformity, the delegated orders of his Commander, in this case, his Civilian Commander.
There is no republican/representative order in the military, there is only the regimented code of conduct and the U.S. Military’s history of estimable qualities is built upon knowing and executing it’s place, with no exceptions. That is, after all, the form and function of its very purpose and not to be confused with the nebulous tendencies accompanying the device of impulse. Frankly, were it up to me, I’d have him in the “brig” as a warning to others in the U.S. Military who are captivated by similar temptations. The Military has in its broad domain of operational code several mechanisms for an Officer or Enlisted Personal to address grievances. Mutinous behavior is not one of them.
One final point from which we should ALL pay particular attention and it is on the subject of “Civilian Control”. Civilian Control is, by the way, the very mechanism specifically spelled out in the U.S. Constitution as it relates to the Power and Domain of Government and precisely why, in my opening comments, I stated the following:
“As a point of interest, they are profoundly emblematic of this Country’s internal conflicts both as to form and function.”
As in the case of the Military, Government, unchecked by the artifice of Civilian Control,
“It is the artifice of abuse of power that ultimately claims as its captive the very mechanisms that enabled it to do so and thus, this abuse of power must never be permitted to occur.”
The best of Government and, as an extension of the same, the Military occurs only as a device in the service of the People by and from whom their very existence is made possible. In the converse, for the People to be the object of these mechanisms contempt is to risk the subrogation of our sacred ideals to the device of ambitions which the tenor of honor and character would otherwise constrain.
Curtis C. Greco, Founder
