I hope you can see why the two are not the same things, and I would really hope that no such rule exists under the UCMJ.
'nother question, if I may hijack.
Why would Jessup be in serious trouble at all? The movie establishes that code reds are fairly standard on the base and (presumably) haven’t resulted in any other deaths. Therefore, Jessup could reasonably say that he did not expect any serious harm to come to Santiago. Moreover, it would seem to indict Downey and Dawson even more since the whole “we do this all the time, and no one died until these two idiots got involved” issue is there (not to mention the whole “I was just following orders” defense is not generally accepted).
I mean, I can see Jessup getting in trouble for going outside the procedures for disciplinary action, but that kind of thing doesn’t seem a career ender much less a long time in the slammer type of offense. Is it a “everything’s OK until someone dies” type of thing?
remember when he met with kaffee et al in cuba? on the record, he understood that enlisted men disciplining their own was not to be condoned by officers. off the record, it was an invaluable tool.
then there’s the whole part about him actually issuing the orders for one person to assault and batter another… which lead to that person’s death.
just because you don’t get caught speeding 95% of the time doesn’t make it any less illegal.
Then there’s the whole covering it up and lying under oath about it, too.
But the problem is that Dawson and Downey claimed that they were ordered to do the Code Red by Kendrick. How could anyone in the military defend themselves if they were accused of a crime that they were ordered to do if their lawyer couldn’t even try to establish that they had received such an order?
Direct of Dawson by Kaffee: “Why did you do a code red on Santiago?”
Dawson: “We were ordered to do so by Lt. Kendrick.”
Direct of Kendrick by Kaffee: “Did you order a code red?”
Ross: “Objection! That’s an illegal question! Take Lt. Kaffee into custody - he’s under arrest!”
How can that possibly be the way things work?
They established very early on that Code Reds are illegal. Kendrick said he knew Code Reds were illegal. Just because they’ve gotten away with them before doesn’t make them any less illegal. Plus both Kendrick and Jessup lied in their statements, and lied under oath on the stand.
And while it’s true that “I was just following orders” doesn’t get you out of committing a crime, it’s also true that the person who gave you an order to commit a crime is also commiting a crime. Note that Dawson and Downey got dishonorable discharges for following the order - they weren’t convicted of murder because they proved they did get such an order, and weren’t intending to murder Santiago, but they still did commit a crime.
Obviously it isn’t, since the he did in fact get to ask the question “Did you order the Code Red?” The problem was that if he got the answer “no” and couldn’t prove that the actual answer was “yes”, then probing any further would put him out on a long thin limb.
Some quotes from imdb:
Ross (prosecuting atty) to Kaffee: I have an obligation to tell you that if you accuse Kendrick or Jessup of a crime without proof then you’re going to be subject to a court martial for professional misconduct and that is something that’s going to be stapled to every job application that you ever fill out. Markinson’s not going to stand up, Danny, he’s a crazy man! Now, I’m not telling you this to intimidate you I’m being your lawyer here…Now I want you to acknowledge that the Judge Advocate has made you aware of the possible consequences of accusing a Marine officer of a felony without proper evidence.
At the time, Col. Markinson (J.T. Walsh), Jessup’s XO, had already told Kaffee that Jessup had told him he wasn’t going to transfer Santiago off base, and that the transfer order was a forgery and part of a coverup, and that there had been an earlier flight off base. Eyewitness testimony from a senior officer seems like “proper evidence” to me - certainly enough to begin a line of questioning.
And I just watched the scene with Kendrick again - Kaffee never asks if Kendrick ordered a code red against Santiago. He talks about punishment of a previous Marine, and whether withholding food would be a code red, and the importance of following any and all orders, but the closest he comes is asking “If you had ordered Dawson to do a code red on Santiago, would he have obeyed that order?” Kendrick immediately protests he ordered them not to touch Santiago, Ross objects, the judge sustains it and tells Kendrick not to answer. Then, Ross, the prosecutor, asks Kendrick “Did you order a code red?” and Kendrick says “No I did not.”
There’s also the small fact that he ignored a directive/order from above not to condone enlisted men disciplining their own.
A Big Deal.
I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one bothered by that particular plot point. Don’t get me wrong. I still think it’s a great flick. But that bit always always made me say .“Hey, wait a minute. That can’t be true… can it?”
FlightlessBird, while Jessep could have said something along those lines, the idea was that Kaffee’s questioning had him a bit rattled so that he wasn’t thinking clearly. On top of that (from the IMDB quotes…)
Kaffee: I think he wants to say it. I think he’s pissed off that he has to hide behind all this. I think he wants to say that he made a command decision and that should be then end of it.
[Starts imitating Jessup]
Kaffee: He eats breakfast 300 yards away from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill him. And nobody’s going to tell him how to run his unit least of all the Harvard mouth in his faggoty white uniform. I need to shake him, put him on the defensive and lead him right where he’s dying to go.
It was mentioned that Jessup was about to be tapped for a position at the National Security Council (a position that a military officer friend who I watched the movie with explained to me as being roughly equal in importance to the position Oliver North held during his role in the Iran-Contra affair). The political baggage that Jessup would now carry as a result of his testimony would probably be a career killer at this point.