JOSEPH R. FISCHER
Lt. Col. U.S. Army (Ret.)
Northumberland
"On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country," I said when I entered the Boy Scouts. It was the first time I had spoken such words, first time I had pledged myself to something bigger than myself. On the day I graduated Penn State, I raised my right hand and swore a different oath: "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." I said those words as my second lieutenant's bar was pinned to my collar. In neither oath did I swear my loyalty to something so easily corrupted as a human being. Every commissioned officer swears the same oath. The power of an oath is to guide and steel us for the common good in service to the nation, sometimes in the face of seemingly overwhelming power.
On Feb. 7, White House security under orders from President Donald J. Trump, escorted Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman off the grounds. The president conceded first, "I don't know him, never spoke to him or met him (I don't believe.)" then went on to allege, "but he was very insubordinate, reported contents of my 'perfect' calls incorrectly." This is why oaths are sworn to the nation in functioning republics; for kings and dictators, loyalty to the leader is the essential cement of power.
Lt. Col. Vindman's real sin was that he obeyed the subpoena from the U.S. House of Representatives, rather than an order from the president that he not testify on the president's dealing with Ukraine. He obeyed his obligation to us as he saw proper. Did the colonel lie in his testimony? He was, after all, under oath and subject to the penalties of law if he spoke falsely. But the only way we could know if the colonel lied is for the president to prosecute him, to bring forth the records, the real transcript (the White House had never produced the complete official transcript), the one the president claims is perfect and compare it with Vindman's testimony. We would get to hear all the president's men testify to the president's perfection, the quid pro quo that wasn't.
They would also have to swear under oath to a truth so far kept hidden by this White House. And so there will be much bluster and a goodly degree of slander aimed at Lt. Col. Vindman but there will be no prosecution for his alleged sins, there will be no proof offered to back the president's allegations.
As of this writing, Vindman is not alone. Nearly all of those who swore their oath to us, to this nation, to "we the people" are now purged or forcibly retired from their positions in the State Department and NSC. All have been or will be slandered, disparaged, belittled, but none will be prosecuted for to do so would force this president into the light.