A Letter from a General

[dewline]

Caught my attention via Facebook last night. David Brin pointed it out on his Facebook account, and I found another link on McClatchy DC:

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article243247676.html

Dr. Brin drew a historical connection between Gen. Milley's letter and the processes of the Hitler takeover of Germany. Particularly, the point Hitler and his Nazi crew made of demanding and getting oaths of personal loyalty from the German military from generals and admirals to the rank and file. That Milley may have helped forestall any such evil shenanigans by sending this particular memo to the Joint Chiefs and making it public.

I don't know if Dr. Brin is right. Certainly, there are alternative interpretations to be made about the letter. If the informed public backs that letter up in sufficient public strength, it may make Dr. Brin's opinion a happily self-fulfilling prophecy.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Easily forgotten that even today that our military swears its oath of allegiance to the monarch, not the government.

[dewline]

In Canada as in the UK.

In the USA, the military oath is to protect and defend their constitution. Our respective nations might want to consider a change to our oaths of service. Or, perhaps, after consideration and informed debate, we might leave things as they are.

[the_future_modernes]

I hope.

[elainegrey]

NYTimes makes the connection as follows: "Mr. Esper and General Milley acted after they came under sharp criticism, including from retired military officers, for walking with Mr. Trump to a church near the White House after peaceful protesters had been forcibly cleared."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/us/politics/esper-milley-trump-protest.html

One wonders how well the clearing was being communicated in the time before it happened - - if someone (white house civilian) bypassed the chain of command (and if someone who acted without orders from the chain of command is getting pilloried).

[dewline]

If Trump and/or one of his cronies went behind Esper and Milley's backs here...that's a distinct possibility to consider. And you raise questions worth pursuing answers to.

[elainegrey]

Just ran across this reporting about the Sec'y Defense participation in the photo op. Because i believe the administration to be a chaos circus, i can believe he didn't know why they were going, and i have sympathy with not knowing how to gracefully duck out of the photo op .... but i just rewatched the footage and there was enough time to figure out what was going on before Trump called people up. Minimally one could pretend to be on a cell phone call.hrm.

"Under fire, Esper also expressed regret for his use of the term “battlespace,” saying it was a part of the lexicon he grew up with as an Army officer. He said that when he joined Trump for the walk through Lafayette Square, he thought he was going to survey damaged buildings and meeting National Guard members, not participate in a photo op."


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-mattis-reached-his-breaking-point--and-decided-to-speak-out-against-trump/2020/06/05/6aafd548-a69e-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html