No member of the U.S. Military is required to follow an illegal order, regardless of who gives it. An order to launch a nuclear attack, without provocation, “in order to retain the presidency” would clearly be an illegal order. Seems to me that Milly not only did a prudent thing, but a clearly necessary and legal thing to do under the circumstances. He anticipated a potential catastrophe and developed a plan to head it off, if and when such became necessary. That is leadership.
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People tut-tutting Milley over this sicken me, especially Vindman.
Were we all supposed to die over the principal of “civilian control”? You can die over principals if you want, but don’t drag me into your vapid virtue signalling death wish.
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Spot on.
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We must never forget: these were Republicans. None of this would ever have happened if it wasn’t for the Republican Party.
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It was Trump who eroded constitutional guaranties.
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I finally understand that bugaboo about all-caps. I agreed w all you wrote yet had overwhelming desire to smash your i-phone, whatever to stop those capital letters. And I’m a Quaker!
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Civilian control of the military was weakened by the good general. He was falling on his sword. He ended his career when he did the right thing.
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Who said the president would be launching a nuclear attack to retain the presidency? He’d be doing it to defend the nation against . Under the current law, he alone gets to make that decision and launch the nukes, and it doesn’t have to be a threat against our territory either, he could declare something an “imminent threat” and take action to end it. That’s the flaw in the system now, and Milley actually did interfere with the legal process by trying to impose himself between the civilian leadership and soldiers following a legal order.
I’m not disagreeing that he did the right thing by trying to head off any actions Trump tried to take, it was necessary to put some kind of protection in place. But, it doesn’t mean it would have worked…if Trump gave a legal order to bomb some country, and Milley tried to stop it, the other soldiers would have been required to ignore him and follow the order, or resign and let their subordinate deal with it.
Just because a president gives a stupid order, or one that will be detrimental to the safety of the US or cause great destruction abroad, doesn’t make it an illegal order. Like I said, we need to change that so that the president can’t launch a strike on a whim, or to try to hold onto the office.
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HAHA…yeah, got halfway through, realized I was in caps and just said fuck it…then decided to add to it, typed the 2nd paragraph and decided the third paragraph deserved caps…so yeah, sorry but not sorry lol
The article really is a piece of intellectualized hot-take trash and another great example of liberals shooting themselves in the dick with their “I’m so smart” talk.
Focus, TPM…FOCUS.
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I wonder where the Chinese got that idea.
Gho and Bannon?
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I’ll get over it.
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Are u going to be ok with this, if the JCS Chair is a Republican and his commander (the President) is a Democrat?
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‘Air juggling’, but the experts should be the final say about this.
THERE IS NO SUPREME AUTHORITY
the sacrosanct principle of civilian control over the military.
Everything about this country is based on balance, which conservatives can’t stand. Everybody knows history will record Milley’s courage in the face of a maniacal Commander. History won’t record Lindsey Graham’s defense of monarchy.
Thank God for military control of the military.
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I slightly disagree with you in where you are placing your secondary anger. For me it’s not so much the Republican party, it’s the donors to the Republican party which is why we have these ignoramuses in elected positions.
Pre Jan 6th they were in lock step, and if a Republican in Congress had qualms well then they tamped those down and went along with the insanity. Post Jan 6th we’ve got Chaney and Kinzinger stating that Trump and his WH crew went too far. We’re not too big on loyalty oaths in this country, but we’ve crossed the point of no return for those that have an R after their name to step up and proclaim that Trump went, is going, too far.
It’s rather interesting to me that the loudest voices that have been railing against “Communists” in my life time saw no problem with falling in line with a dictator.
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What is a uniformed four-star supposed to do when the civilians in charge have gone full Dr. Strangelove?
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Nope
TFG was COC
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Do they even teach this, game out this scenario in the various military academies? I know that we lost our shit over 9/11, but in the 20 years since 9/11 I’d think that a discussion over what will the military commanders/DOD do when the President of the United States has gone loco?
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Judith slays Holofernes. What do we make of her lack of ethics?
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So, Manchin. Can you bring him around?
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