Firing of military lawyers

[mdb-tpet]

Withdrawing from Afghanistan reminded me too much of the withdrawl from Vietnam. There were many other alternatives to consider.

I'll admit the withdrawal from Afghanistan was a disaster created by BOTH Trump and Biden, but the root of the mess was created by the total lack of buy in from the Afgans themselves to run their own country. In no way should it take 20 years for them to get a backbone and stand up against the Taliban if they really wanted to keep them out.

Now Biden should have been more organized, but who could have honestly predicted the total collapse of the government in less than a week? That was pathetic.

 

[Tidewater]

I'll admit the withdrawal from Afghanistan was a disaster created by BOTH Trump and Biden, but the root of the mess was created by the total lack of buy in from the Afgans themselves to run their own country. In no way should it take 20 years for them to get a backbone and stand up against the Taliban if they really wanted to keep them out.

Now Biden should have been more organized, but who could have honestly predicted the total collapse of the government in less than a week? That was pathetic.

I for one do not fault Joe Biden for withdrawing, but how it was done. And while I do not expect (or want) the president to get involved in the tactical details, when things go bad due to an obvious lack of sufficient prior planning, someone should get fired.
My personal opinion was the COMCENTCOM let the president down and undermined the image of the United States on the world stage and should have been relieved. Harsh, but I hold a four-star to a higher standard than a Lance Corporal. CENTCOM screwed the pooch.

 

[PaulD]

Interesting. Who are the white men with infinitely lesser credentials?

Looked it up myself:
Army TJAG white guy to white guy. (LTG Joseph B. Berger III to MG Robert A. Borcherding)
Navy TJAG: white guy to Hawai'ian woman, Rear Admiral Lia Reynolds, law school at Univ. of Hawai'i).
Air Force TJAG: white guy to white woman (LTG Chris Plummer to MG .Rebecca Vernon)

To recap, we went from three white men under Biden to one white man, one white woman, and one Asian-Pacific Islander woman under Trump.

These are the deputy TJAGs who are filling in. I don't believe any nominations have been made. I have no issues with any of them. It appears that Admiral Reynolds has been serving in that role since 1 January, when her predecessor retired.

 

[PaulD]

America Has a Rogue President

NY Times (gift article) by Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force (2021-5).

"One of the most admirable characteristics of the American military is that all serving members are trained to understand that America stands for more than naked self-interest. Above all, it stands up for the Constitution and the rule of law, including the laws of armed conflict and those that restrict the use of the military against American citizens. Undermining those core principles is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and to everything America has stood for throughout my life. We are in danger when the legal constraints on how the president uses the military, including within the United States, are ignored or brushed aside."

 

[Tidewater]

America Has a Rogue President

NY Times (gift article) by Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force (2021-5).

"One of the most admirable characteristics of the American military is that all serving members are trained to understand that America stands for more than naked self-interest. Above all, it stands up for the Constitution and the rule of law, including the laws of armed conflict and those that restrict the use of the military against American citizens. Undermining those core principles is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and to everything America has stood for throughout my life. We are in danger when the legal constraints on how the president uses the military, including within the United States, are ignored or brushed aside."

My first reaction is that a rabidly left-leaning newspaper publishes an op-ed by a Democrat criticizing a Republican. Okay. What else is new.?

Then, you look closer at what he says. The President in whose administration he served as Secretary of the Air Force suggested using the Air Force against American citizens.

And the same administration renamed military installations named after military officers who refused to use military force against American citizens (Robert E. Lee, A. P. Hill, George Pickett, Braxton Bragg, A. P. Stewart, Henry Benning, John Bell Hood). It pretty clearly indicates that the Biden administration favored the use force against American citizens.

If the Trump Administration uses military force on American, then we can talk. In the meantime, Kendall's shrieking is about partisan politics.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I believe that's a bit disingenuous, at best. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was negotiated by Trump. The chaotic execution was a live grenade dropped in Biden's lap.

If it had been the greatest withdrawal in history, BIDEN WOULD HAVE BRAGGED ABOUT IT!!

But because it was about as clueless a withdrawal humanly possible, the argument becomes "but Trump caused this."

Biden gets credit on this on one point: he did get us out of a 20-year war in Afghanistan.
Sure, we were blaring "Born To Run" by Springsteen on the loudspeakers as a policy, but we got out.

 

[Bamaro]

If it had been the greatest withdrawal in history, BIDEN WOULD HAVE BRAGGED ABOUT IT!!

But because it was about as clueless a withdrawal humanly possible, the argument becomes "but Trump caused this."

Biden gets credit on this on one point: he did get us out of a 20-year war in Afghanistan.
Sure, we were blaring "Born To Run" by Springsteen on the loudspeakers as a policy, but we got out.

The withdrawal was obviously screwed up but in the end, I'm glad we did it. We should have left a very small force, but thats another topic for another day.

 

[PaulD]

My first reaction is that a rabidly left-leaning newspaper publishes an op-ed by a Democrat criticizing a Republican. Okay. What else is new.?

Then, you look closer at what he says. The President in whose administration he served as Secretary of the Air Force suggested using the Air Force against American citizens.

And the same administration renamed military installations named after military officers who refused to use military force against American citizens (Robert E. Lee, A. P. Hill, George Pickett, Braxton Bragg, A. P. Stewart, Henry Benning, John Bell Hood). It pretty clearly indicates that the Biden administration favored the use force against American citizens.

If the Trump Administration uses military force on American, then we can talk. In the meantime, Kendall's shrieking is about partisan politics.

I read the Fox News story you linked. Then-President Biden said you'd need an F-16, not an AR-75, to challenge the Federal government. That doesn't equate to saying he wanted to use force against the public.

As to base names, Congress included a provision in the 2021 Defense Authorization Act to rename installations and facilities that were named for people who had previously taken an other to support the Constitution and then rebelled by fighting for the Confederacy. Then-President Trump vetoed it in December 2020, but Congress overrode the veto. Those people clearly were traitors and didn't deserve the honor of having things named for them by the Army (primarily) that they fought against. I see nothing there to support your assertion that the Biden Administration favored using force against our citizens.

As I said originally firing the TJAGs was legal. I will be curious to see who is nominated to replace them and what they say at their confirmation hearings.

 

[Tidewater]

I read the Fox News story you linked. Then-President Biden said you'd need an F-16, not an AR-75, to challenge the Federal government. That doesn't equate to saying he wanted to use force against the public.

As to base names, Congress included a provision in the 2021 Defense Authorization Act to rename installations and facilities that were named for people who had previously taken an other to support the Constitution and then rebelled by fighting for the Confederacy. Then-President Trump vetoed it in December 2020, but Congress overrode the veto. Those people clearly were traitors and didn't deserve the honor of having things named for them by the Army (primarily) that they fought against. I see nothing there to support your assertion that the Biden Administration favored using force against our citizens.

As I said originally firing the TJAGs was legal. I will be curious to see who is nominated to replace them and what they say at their confirmation hearings.

Biden was clearly hinting that he would use an F-16 against American citizens and those citizens would be powerless to oppose it

How many of the officers I named were convicted of treason?

No provision of the US Constitution delegates to the Federal government the power to wage war against a state with a republican government and replace the state government with an appointed military governor. When the federal government deliberately and violently violates the Constitution, officers are not only allowed, but sworn to oppose it. Those who obey such orders have in fact committed treason.
If Trump were to announce, "I deem California to not have a republican form of government and therefore, in accordance with Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution, I have ordered the Armed Forces of the United States to remove the combinations professing to be the government of California, so that a republican form of government can be installed," then those complying would be, in my view, committing treason and those opposing would be praiseworthy patriots.
The Eichmann defense "I was just following orders," is unsatisfactory.

I will be mildly interested in any confirmation hearing for the replacement officers, but the entire episode is a tempest in a teacup.