Trump Says Urging Troops to Refuse Illegal Orders Is “Sedition.” This Air Force Officer Once Did Just That.
In 2011, Air Force Maj. Richard Rynearson refused a drone strike he believed was unconstitutional in a real-world test of the debate now consuming Washington.
More than a decade ago, Richard L. Rynearson walked into work one day and found himself faced with the kind of decision President Trump now says is “punishable by DEATH” and that congressional Democrats insist the law demands.
Rynearson was an Air Force major at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico, where he flew the MQ-9 Reaper, an armed drone that had become a go-to weapon in the war on terror. He was no stranger to lethal missions, but what he heard at a pre-mission briefing in 2011 gave him pause. The target was an American citizen.
“Right there on the spot I had to make a decision: do I fly this mission to assassinate an American citizen without due process, who is not an imminent threat and who is not even located in a war zone,” he said.
“I refused th…
