On Sunday, November 4, 2001, at 10:09 AM, georgemw@speakeasy.net wrote:
I think "overlooking" is too strong a word, I think it's more reasonable to call it mitigating circimstances. The guardsman needs to have it explained to him (in a way that the lesson will stick) that he does not have the authority to block travellers because he doesn't like their attitude or their political views. I'm not sure what disciplinary action is appropriate, probably a reptimand is good enough as long as it's made VERY clear that any sort of repeat performance will result in sever consequences.
The problem lies in the _institutional_ abuse of power. Whether that particular soldier is on duty, or "learns his lesson," is neither here nor there. Some _other_ soldier is probably, as we speak, doing the same thing to some other person reading an Unapproved Book, being a member of an Unapproved Political Party, or displaying Unapproved Religious Ornaments. "Reprimanding" a particular soldier does nothing useful. Left as an exercise is what should be done to curtail such violations of Posse Comitatus and such violations of the First and Fourth Amendments. --Tim May "How we burned in the prison camps later thinking: What would things have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive?" --Alexander Solzhenitzyn, Gulag Archipelago