Statement on LTC Lakin Courts Martial

On behalf of the members of The Veterans Council

Paul Vallely, Maj Gen (Ret), US Army

Jim Cash, BG (Ret), USAF
Harry Riley, Col (Ret), US Army
Harry Soloman, Lt Col (Ret), USAF
Carmen A. Reynolds, Lt Col (Ret), USAF
Debra A. Gunnoe, Lt Col (Ret), USAF
Greg Hollister, Lt Col (Ret), USAF
Richard C. Morris, Lt Col (Ret), US Army
William Harker, Cmdr (Ret), USN
Bill Little, Cmdr (Ret), USN
John Johnson, 1st Lt (Ret), USAF
Luther B. Neff, Capt (Ret), USAF
Michael A. Trudell, Capt (Ret), USN
Fred Herndon, Capt (Ret), USAF

The United States Patriots Union, LLC

Sheridan, Wyoming

Public Release: September 14, 2010

The United States Patriots Union has been formed to represent the more than 70% of patriotic Americans
who believe that this nation is headed in the wrong direction, who oppose the Obama administration‟s
policies and make up the 89% of Americans who think every member of congress should be fired.

We have come together to form a Veterans Council within The United States Patriots Union, for the
purpose of unifying veterans all over the country in an organized effort to address all issues of great and
ongoing concern to the veterans community.

We plan to address many different issues from this council looking forward, not the least of which is
proper representation and defense of our men and women in uniform, those who have served with honor
and distinction, and the families who have endured great sacrifices on behalf of freedom and liberty for all
these many years.

Today‟s statement relates specifically to the ongoing courts-martial of Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin.

September 3, 2010 - Upon receiving word that LTC Lakin would be denied any and all access to
discovery and mitigating evidence needed to provide for a legitimate defense, a White Paper was prepared
and released by The United States Patriots Union and The United States Bar Association, advising the
Lakin defense team to immediately adjust its defense strategy in accordance with established history and
law concerning Mr. Barack Obama‟s constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief. In short, to drop
the search for an insignificant birth certificate and focus on the right question at hand.
We believe that there are only two potential outcomes of this courts-martial, and that both outcomes bring
certain challenges. Our first priority must be to unite in defense of LTC Lakin in an effort to arrive at the
best possible outcome for both Lakin and the nation.

1. LTC Lakin is found GUILTY of wrongfully refusing orders. With this outcome we get the
following precedents.

a) Anyone, without so much as a birth certificate, can hold the office of President and
Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Military.

b) ALL soldiers must blindly follow orders whether or not those orders are legal.

c) Not even a high ranking officer has the right to challenge the lawfulness of the orders.

2. LTC Lakin is found NOT GUILTY of wrongfully refusing orders, as Barack Obama‟s
illegitimacy is confirmed, in which case the following precedents have been established.

a) Every soldier must make the same decision Lakin made, to follow or not to follow an illegal
command.

b) The military chain of command is broken at the top of the chain.

c) Obama must be removed from office and there is no one in the normal line of succession to
the Oval Office who can replace him, as they were all complicit in the greatest fraud ever
perpetrated on the American people.

We believe that whether LTC Lakin is found guilty or not guilty in his courts-martial, our nation is in a
full scale national security crisis. This cannot be avoided by simply brushing the Lakin situation under the
carpet as if the legitimacy of this administration and command has not been properly and repeatedly
challenged.

The current Lakin defense strategy is limited to an ongoing search for a missing birth certificate that is of
no real consequence, and they have been denied discovery access to any of Obama records, as well as
anyone who has had access to those records. There is no defense for Lakin on this basis.

The Veterans Council of the United States Patriots Union has decided not to let LTC Lakin face these
charges alone, without a proper defense. Following this statement, a 2nd White Paper concerning the
Lakin courts-martial is being released. (Included below)

It is our opinion that the existing legal team representing LTC Lakin should be re-energized and
reinforced immediately by a more experienced military legal team. We hope to offer the Lakin defense
team additional legal talent that we believe will lead to a positive outcome for LTC Lakin, his family and
our national security interests.

We are very concerned that continuing with the current defense strategy, the search for a birth certificate,
will likely end in the wrongful conviction of LTC Lakin, establishing a horrific and unnecessary
precedent in the Courts-Martial system of the US Military, as described above. We feel obligated to do all
that we can to avoid this outcome.
In an effort to support and assist the Lakin Team, The Veterans Council of the United States Patriots
Union has worked to make available the best possible legal defense team capable of and willing to assist
with the Lakin courts-martial defense.

We recognize that defense strategy decisions are ultimately in the hands of LTC Lakin. We hereby call
upon the Lakin defense team to alter the defense strategy and to accept the assistance of additional
defense counsel, which would lend its leadership to the case on behalf of LTC Lakin, the Armed Forces
and the people of the United States of America.

We call upon patriots to engage and support this vital Veterans Council initiative by joining The United
States Patriots Union. Veterans who wish to directly engage with and participate in The Veterans Council
should apply to that division, once a member of USPU. A special defense fund may be established within
the Veterans Council. The place for veterans to be heard is here, and the time is now.

It is imperative that all veterans support us now, by joining this effort within the Veterans Division of The
United States Patriots Union.

Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely (Ret.) of the USPU Veterans Council can be reached at standupamericaceo@gmail.com
for further comment.

The Veterans Council

The United States Patriots Union, LLC
Sheridan, Wyoming

Researched and Reviewed By

The United States Bar Association
Unacceptable Consequences – The Courts Martial of LTC Terrence Lakin

White Paper #2 – a Follow-up to Courts Martial Defense of LTC Terrence Lakin

Issued September 10, 2010

The day after UCMJ presiding authority Col. Denise R. Lind issued a ruling in the LTC Lakin case, in
which she attempts to eliminate any and all access to relative evidence in the defense of LTC Lakin‟s
actions; USPU (United States Patriots Union) issued a White Paper on the matter.

Beyond our deep concern for Lt. Col. Lakin and his family, USPU is deeply concerned about the
unacceptable consequences that hang in the balance of the Lakin case. No matter the outcome of this case,
we see trouble ahead.

We believe that there are only two potential outcomes of this courts-martial, and that both outcomes bring
certain challenges. Our first priority must be to unite in defense of LTC Lakin in an effort to arrive at the
best possible outcome for both Lakin and the nation.

3. LTC Lakin is found GUILTY of wrongfully refusing orders. With this outcome we get the
following precedents.

d) Anyone, without so much as a birth certificate, can hold the office of President and
Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Military.

e) ALL soldiers must blindly follow orders whether or not those orders are legal.

f) Not even a high ranking officer has the right to challenge the lawfulness of the orders.

4. LTC Lakin is found NOT GUILTY of wrongfully refusing orders, as Barack Obama‟s
illegitimacy is confirmed, in which case the following precedents have been established.

d) Every soldier must make the same decision Lakin made, to follow or not to follow an illegal
command.

e) The military chain of command is broken at the top of the chain.

f) Obama must be removed from office and there is no one in the normal line of succession to
the Oval Office who can replace him, as they were all complicit in the greatest fraud ever
perpetrated on the American people.

Whether LTC Lakin is found guilty or not guilty in his courts-martial, our nation is in a full scale national
security crisis. This cannot be avoided by simply brushing the Lakin situation under the carpet as if the
legitimacy of this administration has not been properly and repeatedly challenged.

The Proper Defense

Eligibility for the office of President and Commander-in-Chief is very clear in the U.S. Constitution.

“No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this
Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who
shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United
States.” - Article II – Section I – Clause V

These constitutional requirements are not negotiable, nor are they without history, reasoning or vital
purpose.

As we discussed in the original White Paper, the central point in the issue over Lakin‟s refusal to follow
orders is the requirement of “natural born citizen.” Note that “native born” citizenship is not the
requirement for President. Native born is a statement of birth place, which could be established by an
authentic birth certificate for Barack Obama. No such document has been presented by Mr. Obama,
despite two years of demands to produce that document.

The requirement is “natural born” – as-in “nature‟s law,” the law of nature, superseding any and all man-
made laws or statutes. The term “natural born” was specifically chosen for this very reason, that no man-
made law could affect the status of “natural-born.”

The subject is written about extensively in Vattel‟s book The Law of Nations, in which Vattel settles on
the definition of natural-born, as follows;

From Vattel's Book I, Chapter 19, section 212, - “Of the citizens and naturals” –

“The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its
authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in
the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by
the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all
their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, in consequence of what it owes to its own
preservation; and it is presumed, as matter of course, that each citizen, on entering into society, reserves to
his children the right of becoming members of it. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the
children; and these become true citizens merely by their tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their
coming to the years of discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe to the society in which
they were born. I say, that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a
father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and
not his country.”

This established that the issue of Obama‟s ineligibility is not based upon his birth place, but rather his
birth father, who was at no time a legal citizen of the United States. The matter cannot be resolved by a
birth certificate, no matter where Mr. Obama may have been born.

Further, in Article I – Section VIII – Clause X of the US Constitution, we are reminded that the Law of
Nations is the final authority on the matter.

“The Congress shall have power to - define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas,
and offenses against the Law of Nations;”
In final analysis, Barack Hussein Obama‟s very presence in the Oval Office is not only a violation of
Article II – Section I requirements for the office, it is in fact a violation and offense against the Law of
Nations, which members of Congress have the enumerated power and obligation to correct.

It is on this basis alone that LTC Lakin is correct in refusing to follow unlawful orders from an unlawful
command.

The Soldier’s Right and Responsibility to Refuse Unlawful Orders

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is built upon the foundation of the War Articles, or
Articles of War, written about by Col. William Winthrop.

Source note: Military Law and Precedents: A Martial Law Classic

“Written by William Winthrop (1831 – 1899), Colonel, United States Army, this second edition (1895) is the revision
and enlargement of the work. This comprehensive treatise details early military law [and martial law], written and
unwritten, and explains the intricacies of the courts martial process. It remains the most important historical reference
source for military justice practitioners. It is still frequently cited by military appellate courts. It has been called „a
masterpiece of painstaking scholarship, brilliant erudition, and lucid prose.” - Colonel Winthrop formally held the
position of Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army

Via the Articles of War, Winthrop establishes three key points related to the Lakin courts-martial on page
49 of Volume I –

a) The UCMJ is entirely separate from and independent of the 3rd Branch, the Judicial System.
“Not belonging to the judicial branch of government, it follows that courts-martial must
belong to the executive department; and they are in fact simply instrumentalities of the
executive power, provided by congress for the President as Commander-in-Chief.”- p. 49

b) “...All military authority and discipline are derived from one source—the Sovereign, so in
our army every superior, in giving a lawful command, acts for and represents the President
as the Commander-in-chief and Executive power of the Nation, and the source from which
[the senior officers’] appointment and authority proceed. Hence the dignity and significance
of a formal military order and hence the gravity of the obligation which it imposes upon the
inferior to whom it is addressed.” - Winthrop – p. 572

c) “Military officers are bound to obey all legal orders of their commander, but not his illegal
orders.” – Winthrop - p. 571 - - “An illegal order emanating from the president can confer no
authority. A command not lawful may be disobeyed, no matter from what source it proceeds.”
Winthrop - p. 575

Winthrop confirms that LTC Lakin is correct to refuse orders, if he believes those orders to be unlawful.

The requirement of natural born citizen for the office of Commander-in-Chief, supported by Vattel‟s
known and regarded definition of the term, and Article I – Section VIII of the US Constitution, means that
so long as Barack Hussein Obama sits in the Oval Office, there can be no legitimate Military Command.

Further, the authority under which LTC Lakin‟s courts-martial is convened has also been compromised.
Convening Authority

What authority does the UCMJ have to convene a courts-martial under the unlawful command of Barack
Hussein Obama, from which the UCMJ receives all of its authority?

The US Military exists and functions under the command and authority of the President of the United
States. All authority passed throughout the ranks, emanates from the Commander-in-Chief, including the
authority to convene courts-martial. If command itself is unlawful, then every order issued by said
command is also unlawful.

Because the UCMJ is an extension of the executive office for the purpose of military justice, the UCMJ is
limited to the legitimate authority of command, the President. Under unlawful command, lawful authority
cannot be passed throughout the ranks.

A Right to Defense

Although the UCMJ and Judicial Branch are completely separate and independent of each other, a soldier
does not wave his/her constitutional rights upon taking the military oath.

Specifically, Amendments V and VI of the Bill of Rights guarantee every U.S. citizen the following;

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of
a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war
or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor
shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the
state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by
law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

LTC Lakin has the right to a trial, by an impartial jury of his peers, as well as a right to discover and
present mitigating evidence that could clear him of charges. Nothing in the UCMJ removes these rights
from LTC Lakin. Lakin has served honorably with distinction for nearly twenty years to protect these
constitutional rights and he did not forfeit these unalienable rights when he elected to serve in the US
Military, nor has any other soldier.

Col. Denise R. Lind‟s effort to deny LTC Lakin his constitutional right to a complete defense, are
undertaken with the authority of a chain of command which is at best in question, at worst, unlawful.

A Proper Defense Team

The current Lakin defense strategy is limited to an ongoing search for a missing birth certificate that is of
no real consequence, and they have been denied discovery access to any Obama records, as well as
anyone who has had access to those records.
It is our opinion that the existing legal team representing LTC Lakin should be re-energized and
reinforced immediately by a more experienced military legal team. We hope to offer the Lakin defense
team additional legal talent that we believe will lead to a positive outcome for LTC Lakin, his family and
our national security interests.

We are very concerned that continuing with the current defense strategy, the search for a birth certificate,
will likely end in the wrongful conviction of LTC Lakin, establishing a horrific and unnecessary
precedent in the Courts-Martial system of the US Military, as described above. We feel obligated to do all
that we can to avoid this outcome.

In an effort to support and assist the Lakin Team, The Veterans Council of the United States Patriots
Union has worked to make available the best possible legal defense team capable of and willing to assist
with the Lakin courts-martial defense.

On this basis, the Veterans Council of the United States Patriots Union has worked to make available the
best possible legal defense team to assist in forward responsibility for the Lakin courts-martial, if LTC
Lakin so desires. We hereby call upon the Lakin defense team to alter the defense strategy and welcome
qualified legal assistance on behalf of LTC Lakin and the people of the United States of America.

Patriots who wish to engage and support this vital initiative must join The United States Patriots Union.
Veterans who wish to directly engage with and participate in The Veterans Council should apply to that
division, once a member of USPU.

The Veterans Council of the United States Patriots Union stands ready and willing to work with the Lakin
defense Team.

Researched and Prepared By:

J.B. Williams and Timothy Harrington

On Behalf of the Veterans Council
The United States Patriots Union, LLC
Sheridan, Wyoming

Researched and Reviewed By

The United States Bar Association