Highly decorated war veteran Colonel David Hackworth understands the “rule of law.” In 1951, at the peak of the Korean War, he was given an order by an American commanding officer to execute three prisoners of war. He categorically refused to follow the superior’s unlawful order. During the Vietnam War, he came across a well-healed American officer sexually torturing a POW through a brutal form of electrocution. Hackworth responded by threatening to shoot the American officer unless he immediately cease and desist from the life-threatening, criminal behavior. Not only the tortured Vietnamese prisoner, but the American people whose national security is threatened by criminal and brutalitarian actions by American soldiers overseas, can thank God that Colonel Hackworth was willing to hold officers accountable to the true rule of law, which transcends the orders of petty dictators and tyrants, be they military, political, judicial, or ecclesiastical.

To put it another way, David Hackworth refused to follow the logic of such individuals as the Nazi defendants at Nurenburg, the former Attorney General of Alabama Bill Pryor, and now the defendants in the Abu Ghraib prison travesty. Hackworth recognized what President Bush (who rewarded Bill Pryor’s attack on the rule of law by giving him a federal recess appointment), and a lot of Christian clerics have long since forgotten — namely, that soldiers, judges, elected officials — may never follow an unlawful order. They may never claim: “But, I was just following orders.” They may not claim: “Romans 13 gives me a moral get-out-of-jail-free card from any culpability for the actions I take when following orders.”

Highly Decorated Officer Exposes Military Cover-up
In an outstanding Worldnetdaily.com article, Colonel Hackworth exposes the institutional cover-up of the horrific, Hitlerian, sexual crimes committed by female and male soldiers against Iraqi POWs — while under the command of the highest ranking female officer in the Iraqi theater, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski:

As an American citizen, I’m ashamed of the atrocities committed by Americans in Iraq. As a former professional soldier, I’m appalled not only by what has happened in the prisons there, but also by our military leadership. From the very top of the Pentagon down to the 320th Military Police Battalion, the brass have spent months covering up obscene behavior while placing the sole blame on Joe and Jill Grunt? ... The evidence clearly shows that the Department of the Army mafia was more concerned about protecting the image of the brigade commanding general, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, than holding her and her officers accountable for the terrible situation, which they allowed to fester for months.

To read the testimony of Colonel Hackworth, visit www.worldnetdaily.com.