Obama Conspiracy Theories

In an order yesterday, Lt. Col. Daniel J. Driscoll investigating officer in the court martial of Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, the birther army officer who refused deployment until Obama proves his eligibility, refused to accept President Obama on Lakin’s witness list. Lakin is not going to be able to argue in his defense that the President is not eligible. Not to say “I told you so”, but I told you so. Every military legal expert who has commented on this has said Lakin has no case. Why didn’t Lakin’s attorney, Paul Jensen, tell him that too? The following list of documents was also refused:

• Puhahau school documents
• Punahau school records
• Hawaii State Dept. of Health records
• Occidental College records
• Columbia University records
• Harvard University records

A list of witnesses associated with the above was also denied. However, Dr. Alan Keyes was allowed as a witness, although the defense did not explain to the court the relevance of his testimony. Also unexplained but accepted was Maj. General (retired) Paul Vallely, senior military analyst for Fox News, and contributor to WorldNetDaily.

The investigating officer pointed out that President Obama did not directly give any order to LTC Lakin, and that facially proper orders must be obeyed unless carrying them out would be a criminal act. The court pointed out that the Defense arguments lacked scholarly authority (shoddy work, I would say).  He added:

The Defense … fails to assert a legal basis by which its request might be allowable under the law of political questions, whereby courts will refrain from inserting themselves in matters constituti0nally relegated to coequal branches of Government. The Defense quest to use a military justice forum to invalidate all military authority while undermining the authority of a sitting United States President certainly appears at first blush to be a nonjusticiable political question.

Daniel J. Driscoll,
Investigating Officer

In a Fox News report we learn that failed presidential candidate Alan Keyes thinks Lt. Col. Terry Lakin is on the right track disobeying orders to force the issue of Obama’s eligibility at a court martial. Keyes said:

It is a matter of common sense that he would be allowed to put on a defense that explains why he did what he did…. And that means he would be allowed to conduct an investigation that would establish his reason.

Not so according to several military lawyers contacted by Fox News:

“He is likely to lose everything and accomplish nothing,” one attorney lamented. “No military judge will say that (obtaining documents) of the president is necessary to prove the charges,” said Philip D. Cave, a Washington attorney and director of the National Institute of Military Justice.

One notes that the Uniform Code of Military Justice, not “common sense” will be the standard by which Lakin will be tried and the only “investigation that would establish his reason” will be a psychiatric examination.