it doesn't matter what the rules say, excecuting civilians, that are your primary purpose for existing, if they revolt against your idiocy is not going to happen. And this is not a 'crew' of a ship for pete's sake. It's a handful of refugees, not a group of volunteers who have sworn allegiance to a chain of command.
Of course it matters what the rules say otherwise it would be complete chaos. And we know rules matter in the mythos of Stargate. The civilians are actually contractors working with the military. They therefore fall under the jurisdiction of the military rules.
The world is not absolute. Just because the rules say you can, does not mean you are legally justified. As they say, the punishment must fit the crime. Clearly the civilian uprising was a peaceful attempt to settle a major disagreement. This sort of thing would never warrant an excecution, which would be completely unjustified, legally or otherwise.
Umm, because the rules say you can DOES mean that it is legally justified. Otherwise how would it be legal to begin with? The civilian uprising was NOT a peaceful attempt by any stretch of the imagination. Lets see what what they did:
1. They took control of most of the vital systems of the ship. They would have taken all of the control if not for other circumstances.
2. They cut off the military from basic necessities (food, water, oxygen).
3. Used blackmail to provide the basic human rights they took away in the first place, to get what they want.
4. Intent to overthrow the rightful leadership, as confirmed by General O'Neil, because they didn't like the decisions that were being made.
It doesn't sound very peaceful to me. Even the more moderate voice of the military personel the medic Lt. Johansen said what the actions of Rush and Camile were an ACT OF WAR.
and if you really want to go 'by the book', Colonel Young, from the audiences perspective, lost all 'legal' authority to be in charge, the moment he left one of the people under his care on a distant planet to die, because he was an annoyance. And therefore, does not have the legal right to anything, except a court martial for himself.
lol, you don't lose your legal authority because some people disagree with your choices. The leader can lose his authority if someone higher ranking them him removes him from his station or an inquiry board or military court, in the case of a military leader. You statement must have been a joke because of its absurdity. lol, it still makes me laugh.
Colonel Young didn't leave Rush on the planet because of annoyance, he left him because Rush was a danger to everybody on the ship. Lets check the facts:
1. Due to Rush's manipulations he caused the death of a crewman in that chair. By law he is culpable in the death even though he didn't force him into the chair. It's like in a bank robbery if one person shoots someone and that person dies, the getaway driver is equally responsible for that death.
2. Rush framed Young for a murder he didn't commit.
3. Rush stole government property (the communication stone) for his own selfish purposes putting the crew in jeopardy from the aliens.
Oh and look at what that same guy does when he comes back on the ship. He colludes with Camile to stage a mutiny. Yup, he is an upstanding citizen and just the kind of guy we need hanging around the ship so he can undermine any semblance of order for his own selfish goals.
In conclusion, this is a military show and you can't just dismiss the rules just because you don't agree with them. The rules are there to create order and that is done through a chain of command. That chain of command has Colonel Young on top. He is recognized as the leader by the SGC and the IOA. Being on Destiny, and with the recent attacks by the aliens, is a case for martial law or in military terms a state of war. And in a state of war the military has near absolute authority.
