Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
90 Retired Generals and Admirals Call for Milley and Austin to Resign Immediately
Nearly 90 retired generals and admirals (Flag Officers) signed a letter calling for the resignation of the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) based on their key roles involving events surrounding the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The hasty retreat has left an unknown number of Americans stranded in dangerous areas controlled by a brutal enemy along with Afghans who supported American forces.
As the principal military advisors to the Commander In Chief (CINC)/President, the SECDEF and CJCS were the two top military officials in a position to recommend against the dangerous withdrawal in the strongest possible terms. If they did everything within their authority to stop the hasty withdrawal and the President did not accept their recommendations, then knowing the disastrous consequences looming, the retired flag officer signers believe these top military advisors should have resigned as a matter of conscience and public statement.
The consequences of this disaster are enormous and will reverberate for decades beginning with the safety of Americans and Afghans who are unable to move safely to evacuation points; therefore, being de facto hostages of the Taliban. The death and torture of Afghans has already begun and will result in a human tragedy of major proportions. In addition, the loss of billions of dollars in our advanced military equipment and supplies falling into the hands of our enemies is catastrophic. The damage to the reputation of the United States is indescribable. We will be seen for many years as an unreliable partner in any multinational agreement or operation. Trust in the United States is irreparably damaged.
Moreover, now our adversaries are emboldened to move against America due to the weakness displayed in Afghanistan. China benefits the most followed by Russia, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, and others. Terrorists around the world are energized and can pass freely into our Country through our open border with Mexico and among the inadequately vetted Afghan refugees.
For these reasons, the letter calls on the SECDEF General Austin and the CJCS General Milley to resign. A fundamental principle in the military is holding those in charge responsible and accountable for their actions or inactions. There must be accountability at all levels for this tragic and avoidable debacle.
The entire letter calling for resignations and the growing list of signers can be found at FlagOfficers4America.com.
Published in GeneralOpen Letter from Retired Generals and Admirals Regarding Afghanistan
The retired Flag Officers signing this letter are calling for the resignation and retirement of the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) based on negligence in performing their duties primarily involving events surrounding the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The hasty retreat has left initial estimates at ~15,000 Americans stranded in dangerous areas controlled by a brutal enemy along with ~25,000 Afghan citizens who supported American forces.
What should have happened upon learning of the Commander in Chief’s (President Biden’s) plan to quickly withdraw our forces and close the important power projection base Bagram, without adequate plans and forces in place to conduct the entire operation in an orderly fashion?
As principal military advisors to the CINC/President, the SECDEF and CJCS should have recommended against this dangerous withdrawal in the strongest possible terms. If they did not do everything within their authority to stop the hasty withdrawal, they should resign. Conversely, if they did do everything within their ability to persuade the CINC/President to not hastily exit the country without ensuring the safety of our citizens and Afghans loyal to America, then they should have resigned in protest as a matter of conscience and public statement.
The consequences of this disaster are enormous and will reverberate for decades beginning with the safety of Americans and Afghans who are unable to move safely to evacuation points; therefore, being de facto hostages of the Taliban at this time. The death and torture of Afghans has already begun and will result in a human tragedy of major proportions. The loss of billions of dollars in advanced military equipment and supplies falling into the hands of our enemies is catastrophic. The damage to the reputation of the United States is indescribable. We are now seen, and will be seen for many years, as an unreliable partner in any multinational agreement or operation. Trust in the United States is irreparably damaged.
Moreover, now our adversaries are emboldened to move against America due to the weakness displayed in Afghanistan. China benefits the most followed by Russia, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and others. Terrorists around the world are emboldened and able to pass freely into our country through our open border with Mexico.
Besides these military operational reasons for resignations, there are leadership, training, and morale reasons for resignations. In interviews, congressional testimony, and public statements it has become clear that top leaders in our military are placing mandatory emphasis on PC “wokeness” related training which is extremely divisive and harmful to unit cohesion, readiness, and war fighting capability. Our military exists to fight and win our Nation’s wars and that must be the sole focus of our top military leaders.
For these reasons we call on the SECDEF Austin and the CJCS General Milley to resign. A fundamental principle in the military is holding those in charge responsible and accountable for their actions or inactions. There must be accountability at all levels for this tragic and avoidable debacle.
Oh, Bravo! I had a momentary frisson when I read the headline, that it was from The Babylon Bee, but I’m glad it’s not.
I dont know what they are complaining about. We got no more mean tweets.
BTW – per the website, the list of signatories is up to 220. (I have served with a number of them personally.)
It’s about time!
Hey @garyrobbins. Is this another rumor that can be ignored?
I admire and agree with these guys, but they are still playing small ball.
Sadly, I cannot believe these kinds of letters anymore. I’m sure there are 90 flag officers that will support Biden. There were X number of intelligence professionals that said Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinformation. I’m sure many thought it was real (as it clearly is). I’m sure you can find 100 doctors that say masks are imperative for schoolkids and another 100 that don’t. I have lost all faith in institutions and “experts”. In this polarized society, you can find a bunch of “experts” that will tell your side of a narrative and another bunch that will oppose. All will claim to be “following the Science”. I am in no position to examine the credentials of every pack of “experts” that say black is white and up is down and scour their profiles for political bias. I just ignore all open letters and Strongly Worded Statements whether they agree with my alignment or not.
It comes from the Editor’s Desk. Jon is very, very careful with what he puts on the Main Feed.
I agree with these retired Generals and Admirals. Someone must be held accountable.
Yeah, good luck with that.
Misfeasance or malfeasance? I really want to believe our leaders are as stupid as they appear to be, but is that stupid enough to get us here?
No. I don’t think so.
Nobody’s going to be fired. Nobody’s going to resign. Please stop these fantasies, and understand who you’re dealing with.
As I’ve written before, we should be very skeptical of any reports coming out of Afghanistan at this point. Early reports are often wrong.
According to this NY Post story, there were seven buses of Afghan girls who did not get through. This one, at least, cites a named person as a source, Robert Stryk, identified as “a Washington fixer.” There is a report in this story of 7 US citizens being added to the group.
I do not know if any of these reports are true. The report from Emily Miller does appear to contradict the report from the NY Post. Unless there were two different sets of seven busloads of women.
Or perhaps, rather than simply indulging in reflexive skepticism, we should, as the late, great Rush Limbaugh used to say, use our “intelligence guided by experience” put things in perspective, and decide for ourselves what is more likely than not.
As in Example One:
Media Reports: “High school kid with eminently punchable face smirking at and mocking Native American Elder.”
She’s Immediate Reaction: “Yeah. No.”
And Example Two:
Media Reports: Taliban going house to house executing American allies.
She’s Immediate Reaction: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck….
It’s not hard. And my first reaction seems to be right far more often than not. And on those occasions, and in those situations, when I actually know do nothing or very little, or don’t have enough experience to guide me, I generally find it best to say, “I don’t know enough to form an opinion yet” rather than set myself up oppositionally from the start. That generally saves me from having to eat crow later.
I’m not sure about the suggestion that the SecDef and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs should resign when the President doesn’t follow their advice. At this point, I don’t think we know whether or not this occurred, but the letter cited in the OP seems to place these two officials in a Catch-22: if they advised in favor of withdrawal, they should resign; if they advised against withdrawal, they should have resigned when the President disagreed.
That’s a policy, I guess. It is quite similar to one that was proposed and debated in the British Parliament in late June and early July 1942, in the Vote of Censure against Churchill. Here is Churchill’s account of the conclusion of his speech, from The Hinge of Fate (p. 407 in my copy):
At this point, according to Churchill’s book, the sponsor of the Vote of Censure (Sir John J. Wardlaw-Milne) interjected: “I hope my Right Honorable Friend has not forgotten the original sentence, which was ‘subject to the War Cabinet?'” Churchill responded:
Churchill reports that he won this vote 475-25 (I’ve seen 477-27 elsewhere).
This was after calamities vastly worse than what is going on in Afghanistan. The immediate prompt for this Vote of Censure was the fall of Tobruk.
This is an interesting historical example, contrary to the suggestion of the letter cited in the OP.
Lara Logan, like Michael Yon and Sharyl Atkisson, is one of the rare people whose reports I accept with a bias towards belief.
If I was absolutely sure I knew what the words meant, I’d say that you’re misreading this letter as an argument over strategy rather than tactics. (An impression, it’s quite true, that Biden is anxious to foster. He’d like to paint his adversaries in this matter as pro-staying-in-Afghanistan–leading to his straw man argument that they want him to send thousands more troops), when relatively few are actually making the stay-in-Afghanistan argument, but a large majority is objecting to the way he went about it.
No Catch-22 for the generals. If they advised their leader to go about the withdrawal in this “hasty,” “dangerous,” “disastrous” (those are all words from the letter) and boneheaded (my word) fashion, they should resign in shame for giving their leader such reprehensible advice. If they told him not to indulge himself in such a precipitous and catastrophic surrender and put American and Allied lives at the mercy of the Taliban, and he didn’t follow their advice, then they should resign because their leader has humiliated them. It’s not an approach–approach. It’s an either/or, and it is time for the generals to fish or cut bait.
She’s been wrong a time or two, but I on balance, I agree.
I’m beginning to wonder now if all this is some sort of “cunning plan” to purposely get U.S. civilians into harms way so that Americans here at home clamor for re-invasion of Afghanistan and we get Afgan War Ver. 2.0. If not, then it far worst then even I thought.
Doubtful that re-invasion would ever happen. Even if al Qaeda or the Haqqani Network or ISIS-K were ordering yellow cake, centrifuges, and building some underground reactors. In that situation, depending on the president, they’d either get bombed and taken out or receive a C-17 stuffed with hard currency.
This is a military debacle the likes of which this country has never seen — few countries have ever seen such a collapse. The fact is that resignations are due from the majority of flag officers currently serving, one way or another. He’s just spelling it out.
This is so much worse than Saigon in 1975. Heads need to roll, and Biden needs to pass a Mental Status Examination, or MSE.
You should get General Flynn on the podcast to discuss it.
I fully expect an eventual re-invasion of Afghanistan. It might not be while Biden is in office, but I think it is inevitable, seeing that Afghanistan will likely become the main base of Islamic terrorists from around the Middle-East. It is only a matter of time before they launch a deadly attack against the U.S., and whoever is in office would not be able to ignore it or play isolationism.
If we have good enough intel to invade, then we have good enough intel to wipe things out without invading.
The advantage in flying cold bombers in Kansas around the world to bomb Afghanistan is they might accidentally hit the UN on their way.
This seems to me like a pretty good summation of the recent debacle, together with some historical perspective: Afghanistan: A Requiem for an Avoidable Disaster. It’s by former Secretary of the Navy, Senator, and USMC Captain, Jim Webb.
I think they nailed it on the first slide: