Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Last month, six Democratic members of Congress made a video tape reminding men and women in uniform that it was their duty to disobey readily apparent illegal orders.
A firestorm was ignited inside the administration and with its allies. The Pentagon threatened to investigate and, if necessary, recall to active duty former naval aviator and astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona to punish him for his role in that video.
Never before in my experience have service personnel been told by members of Congress that it was their duty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice to disobey an illegal order. But the elected officials believed they had good reason.
The cause célèbre was the administration's orders to a naval fleet in the Caribbean to intercept and destroy high-speed small boats suspected of transporting drugs.
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1868 explicitly forbids the United States from employing the military in law enforcement roles. But the administration has declared Venezuelan drug cartels terrorist organizations and claims the authority to attack them as it has attacked al Qaeda and other extremist terrorist groups.
