Subject: Moral obligations: Larry, everyone in the military, from generals to privates, has the obligation to refuse to obey immoral and inhuman orders. American prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials rejected the Nazi generals' defense that they were just obeying orders. As a human being, I agree with our prosecutors. As a citizen of the United States, I have the obligation to make certain no one in our military forces, including the CIA and other intelligence agencies, have violated or are violating these standards. I have not lessened my obligations in these matters even though I, in union with all American citizens, have assigned this obligation to our president and Congress. This obligation imposes upon current and future governing bodies to obey laws passed by previous administrations or to change laws in open public debate. Democracy does not exist where secrecy and deception prevail. Were the CIA'S secret prisoner camps in foreign countries established with or without permission of these foreign governments? Were laws broken by any military personnel? If so, were these actions taken with or without orders? If orders were given, who issued them? President Bush does not believe we have a right to these answers or the obligation to demand answers. Our president wants congress to pass laws that retroactively make past illegal and inhumane actions legal and humane. If presidential and congressional powers include the power to make past actions legal, these powers also include the power to make past actions illegal. This is not democracy, this is tyranny. These issues are not partisan politics,. They go the very heart of who we are as a nation and as a people. DM