As Iran War Escalates, Senator Says Military Officers ‘Know Their Duty’ To Refuse Illegal Orders | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump threatens a genocidal assault on Iran, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) mentioned it’s “moments like these” when U.S. service members should keep in mind their oath to the Constitution and their responsibility to refuse unlawful orders from superiors.

Slotkin, a former CIA officer, was considered one of six army and intelligence members of Congress who appeared in a viral November video urging service members to not observe future orders that violate legal guidelines. “Don’t give up the ship,” the lawmakers pleaded within the video.

That video was made for the state of affairs we’re in now, she mentioned Tuesday.

“I know that our service members up and down the chain of command know their duty and the law to refuse illegal orders. Even as the Commander-in-Chief tells the world otherwise,” Slotkin wrote on social media. “It’s moments like these that are why we made the video to service members last year. And I hope and believe our troops — especially those in command — will have the moral clarity to push back if they are given clearly illegal orders.”

Her feedback come hours after Trump threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday evening.

Slotkin famous that focusing on civilians en masse “would be a clear violation of the law of armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, as well as the Pentagon’s Law of War Manual.”

“This kind of focus on civilians is exactly what we accuse our adversaries of doing and what our military trains to avoid. It’s built into the rigorous drilling and routines that our military are trained on from their first weeks,” the Michigan senator mentioned. “If they are today or have been asked to do things that violate the law and their training, it puts them in very real legal jeopardy.”

The 5 different Democratic lawmakers who made the video with Slotkin have been Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), a retired Navy captain and NASA astronaut; Rep. Jason Crow (Colo.), a former Army Ranger; Rep. Maggie Goodlander (N.H.), a former Navy reservist; Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), a former Air Force officer; and Rep. Chris Deluzio (Pa.), a Navy veteran.

HuffPost reached out to all of them for touch upon whether or not they really feel they made their video for moments just like the one we’re in now. Only one responded.

“Rep. Houlahan has no comment at this time,” her workplace mentioned.

Later, Crow mentioned in a press release that members of the U.S. armed forces should keep in mind their oaths to the Constitution.

“As I have said before, if servicemembers are asked to carry out illegal orders, they have a solemn duty to follow the law,” he mentioned. “The President is endangering the American people, our servicemembers, our allies, and innocent civilians. Americans of good conscience must come together and reject this madness.”

The lawmakers’ video infuriated Trump, who responded by calling their habits “seditious” and punishable by loss of life. He later mentioned the lawmakers belonged in jail. By January, the Trump administration was launching nonsensical federal investigations into the lawmakers.

A federal grand jury finally declined to indict them in February.

“Donald Trump and people around him don’t like when somebody presents something that he doesn’t agree with,” Kelly mentioned on the time. “He thinks he should be allowed to do and give whatever order he wants because he’s a wannabe dictator.”

Slotkin isn’t the one lawmaker publicly urging U.S. service members to defy unlawful orders as Trump threatens to annihilate Iran.

“This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office. The President’s mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) mentioned in a press release.

“To every individual in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders,” she mentioned. “That includes carrying out this threat.”