Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sun editorial:

President’s recent words, actions regarding military are backward

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a military officer at the National Security Council, center, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019.

Bill Taylor and Alex Vindman are U.S. combat veterans with an extensive list of commendations between them. They embody the values of honor, valor and sacrifice in service of their country.

Clint Lorance, Matt Golsteyn and Eddie Gallagher also are combat veterans, but their similarities to Taylor and Vindman end there. The three are linked to war crimes reported by their fellow soldiers, who, in the finest tradition of the U.S. military, are committed to ridding their ranks of dishonorable individuals.

This week, in a juxtaposition that put President Donald Trump’s loathsome values and corrupt spirit on display for all to see, the president vilified Taylor and Vindman, and pardoned Lorance, Golsteyn and Gallagher.

Trump attacked the character of Taylor and Vindman — the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, respectively — for divulging damning details about him during the impeachment hearings.

Never mind that Taylor and Vindman, true to their character, were respecting the Constitution and working to defend Americans against corruption. Never mind Trump’s absurd claim of being an unrivaled champion of veterans and active service military personnel.

Taylor and Vindman revealed some of the rampant rot in the Trump administration, which was more than enough for Trump to brand the two honorable men as operatives of the imaginary Deep State.

His smears were a slap to the face of any American who has served in uniform, as Taylor and Vindman are soldier’s soldiers who represent the best the military has to offer.

Taylor graduated in the top 1% of his class at West Point during the Vietnam War, and therefore could have requested an assignment that would have put him out of harm’s way. Instead, he chose the infantry, and served in combat as a rifle company commander.

Vindman was injured by an improvised explosive device in 2004 during the Iraq War but served the rest of his tour and re-enlisted afterward. During the impeachment hearings, he spoke compellingly about the honor he takes in serving a country that gave his immigrant father an opportunity to create a better life for his family.

A president who truly believes in American values would never besmirch such men.

Likewise, a responsible president would never intervene on behalf of Lorance, Golsteyn and Gallagher. The pardons undermine the military code of conduct and will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on soldiers coming forward to report impropriety in their ranks. Trump’s actions also pose the very real risk of increasing soldiers’ exposure to harm.

“Accountability for war crimes is integral to U.S. commitment to the rule of law, and to humanity over barbarism,” said Rachel VanLandingham, a retired Air Force officer and a military justice expert at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. “Such accountability not only maintains unit good order and discipline within our own forces by enforcing compliance with the law of war, (but) criminal sanctions for violators — war criminals — helps the U.S. achieve strategic success while reducing unnecessary suffering in war, including that of our own soldiers.”

Keep in mind, the incidents linked to Lorance, Golsteyn and Gallagher were gravely serious. Here’s a rundown:

• After being accused of ordering troops to fire without provocation at three men on a motorcycle in Afghanistan, Lorance was convicted of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. He was six years into a 19-year sentence when Trump pardoned him.

• Golsteyn is facing a February 2020 court-martial for allegedly murdering an unarmed Afhan villager he claimed was a bomb maker for the Taliban, then later joining two other soldiers to exhume and burn the body.

• Gallagher was accused of killing a young girl from a sniper’s roost and killing a captive 15-year-old militant by stabbing him in the neck. Gallagher was found not guilty of murder but was convicted of posing for a photo with the 15-year-old’s body. Trump’s action this week was to restore Gallagher, a former Navy SEAL, to the rank of chief petty officer.

The military rules that Trump disregards are in place for good reasons, including to help shield noncombatants from harm, provide protections for prisoners of war and ensure that military operations are conducted in a disciplined manner.

By undercutting the military justice system, Trump also erodes command and control in the field.

Mark Bowden, author of “Black Hawk Down” and a number of other books about the military, explained why in a recent story in The Atlantic.

“When thousands of young Americans are deployed overseas with heavy weaponry, crimes and atrocities will sometimes occur,” he wrote. “Failing to prosecute those who commit them invites behavior that shames everyone in uniform and the nation they serve.”

As VanLandingham explained, the abandonment of the code of conduct “puts us on the same plane as those extremists we fight — those who fight without conscience.”

“The mark of a true warrior is disciplined application of force within moral boundaries established by law,” she said. “The opposite is criminal cowardice and barbarism. America strives for the former and punishes the latter. But not President Trump.”

To their credit, the armed forces aren’t embracing Trump’s pardons. In a particularly telling circumstance, the Navy is reportedly trying to remove Gallagher from the SEALs despite Trump’s intervention.

That’s what Americans have come to expect from the nation’s military — holding itself to a high moral standard.

But as Trump showed this week, he’s thoroughly incapable of doing so.