good day for the US military, a bad day for their CIC

jamesbyoung said:

First, this morning the Sec. of Defense broke with Trump in saying that he didn't support the use of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy active duty military troops against protesters. This has not gone over well at the White House.


Then, Retired Marine Gen. Mattis, formerly Trump's Sec. of Defense who resigned over Trump's Syria policy, wrote a scathing statement and gave an interview in The Atlantic condemning Trump's actions. Sample:

"“Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”"


These actions came on top of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's release of a statement to *all* commanding officers of every branch of the armed forces reminding them all that they swear an "oath to the Constitution," that the Constitution gives "Americans the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly," and then handwrote a message that they have all "committed their lives to the idea that is America" and they would all "stay true to that oath and the American people."


If that wasn't enough, today the entire senior leadership of the Army released a statement to the troops reminding them that they all "swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution [and] that includes the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of their grievances."


And now a letter from the senior leadership of the Navy (copy in the comments) telling all sailors and Marines that they are the "strongest Navy and Marine Corps BECAUSE of our diversity," quoting MLK Jr. that "The time is always right to do what is right," and encouraging folks to discuss the death of George Flynn with their people with the understanding that "the outrage sparked by his death goes much deeper across many communities in our great Nation."

Click to expand...

jamesbyoung said:

First, this morning the Sec. of Defense broke with Trump in saying that he didn't support the use of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy active duty military troops against protesters. This has not gone over well at the White House.


Then, Retired Marine Gen. Mattis, formerly Trump's Sec. of Defense who resigned over Trump's Syria policy, wrote a scathing statement and gave an interview in The Atlantic condemning Trump's actions. Sample:

"“Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”"


These actions came on top of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's release of a statement to *all* commanding officers of every branch of the armed forces reminding them all that they swear an "oath to the Constitution," that the Constitution gives "Americans the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly," and then handwrote a message that they have all "committed their lives to the idea that is America" and they would all "stay true to that oath and the American people."


If that wasn't enough, today the entire senior leadership of the Army released a statement to the troops reminding them that they all "swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution [and] that includes the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of their grievances."


And now a letter from the senior leadership of the Navy (copy in the comments) telling all sailors and Marines that they are the "strongest Navy and Marine Corps BECAUSE of our diversity," quoting MLK Jr. that "The time is always right to do what is right," and encouraging folks to discuss the death of George Flynn with their people with the understanding that "the outrage sparked by his death goes much deeper across many communities in our great Nation."

Click to expand...

jamesbyoung said:

First, this morning the Sec. of Defense broke with Trump in saying that he didn't support the use of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy active duty military troops against protesters. This has not gone over well at the White House.

Click to expand...

In an abrupt reversal, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday overturned an earlier Pentagon decision to send a couple hundred active-duty soldiers home from the Washington, D.C., region, amid growing tensions with the White House over the military response to the protests.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The Associated Press that he was told about the reversal after Esper attended a meeting at the White House, and after other internal Pentagon discussions. It is unclear if Esper met with President Donald Trump. McCarthy said he believes the change was based on ensuring there is enough military support in the region to respond to any protest problems if needed.

U.S. Army: Esper reverses plan to send active-duty troops home | CTV News

Click to expand...

jamesbyoung said:

First, this morning the Sec. of Defense broke with Trump in saying that he didn't support the use of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy active duty military troops against protesters. This has not gone over well at the White House.


Then, Retired Marine Gen. Mattis, formerly Trump's Sec. of Defense who resigned over Trump's Syria policy, wrote a scathing statement and gave an interview in The Atlantic condemning Trump's actions. Sample:

"“Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”"


These actions came on top of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's release of a statement to *all* commanding officers of every branch of the armed forces reminding them all that they swear an "oath to the Constitution," that the Constitution gives "Americans the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly," and then handwrote a message that they have all "committed their lives to the idea that is America" and they would all "stay true to that oath and the American people."


If that wasn't enough, today the entire senior leadership of the Army released a statement to the troops reminding them that they all "swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution [and] that includes the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of their grievances."


And now a letter from the senior leadership of the Navy (copy in the comments) telling all sailors and Marines that they are the "strongest Navy and Marine Corps BECAUSE of our diversity," quoting MLK Jr. that "The time is always right to do what is right," and encouraging folks to discuss the death of George Flynn with their people with the understanding that "the outrage sparked by his death goes much deeper across many communities in our great Nation."

Click to expand...