- Champion of Brennan – revoke his security clearance
OUR REPUBLIC IS UNDER ATTACK FROM THE PRESIDENT
N Y Times op-ed by Admiral William H. McRaven
“But, beneath the outward sense of hope and duty that I witnessed at these two events, there was an underlying current of frustration, humiliation, anger and fear that echoed across the sidelines. .
“These men and women, of all political persuasions, have seen the assaults on our institutions: on the intelligence and law enforcement community, the State Department and the press. They have seen our leaders stand beside despots and strongmen, preferring their government narrative to our own. They have seen us abandon our allies and have heard the shouts of betrayal from the battlefield. As I stood on the parade field at Fort Bragg, one retired four-star general, grabbed my arm, shook me and shouted, “I don’t like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!” . . .
And if this president doesn’t understand their importance, if this president doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office — Republican, Democrat or independent — the sooner, the better. The fate of our Republic depends upon it.
William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, is a former commander of the United States Special Operations Command and former chancellor of The University of Texas system.
Buy all means read his entire NYT Guest Editorial. Perhaps it is possible to understand how Admiral McRaven feels…and even the “retired four-star general who believes that Trump is “destroying the Republic”. If, indeed, it were all about the Turkish-Kurdish matter.
But I believe it is also possible to understand President Trump’s view on that issue as well.
Like most Americans, I don’t believe that I fully understand the thinking on either side of the current Turkey-Kurd- Syria issue. Given the stark narrative that the Kurds were our allies in the fight against ISIS one can see perhaps, their view. Especially when so starkly simple the McRaven/”retired general” viewpoint is commonly presented. I do find , though, the entire matter is highly nuanced and very sound cases can be made for either view.
The one certainty I believe, however, is that the Admiral and the General , in my opinion, are very mistaken. And that is in their political vision.
“…the assaults on our institutions: on the intelligence and law enforcement community, the State Department and the press”??!
Really?!
What, for example, does the general who “doesn’t like the Democrats” but obviously believes the “Republic must be saved” from Trump suggest? That , though unlikeable, the Democrats will, at least, “save the republic”?
Sounds to me like a position from the recent past, usually expressed by the Obama “political generals” (as opposed to the “warrior generals”) who sought and usually won coveted military or ‘after service’ civilian appointments under the previous administration precisely because of those political positions.
Does the “retired general” McRaven refers to believe that the Obama view of the world or one by a Hillary presidency would have ‘preserved the Republic’?
In particular, was our Navy or overall military structure stronger and more formidable under the Obama ‘view’? Admiral McRaven served under Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. I’d be very interested in how the admiral would defend the “Mabus posture on the readiness and effectiveness of our Naval forces” during that period.
Did McRaven believe that that “America” was ‘not under attack’ from ‘within’?
I’ll leave it at that for the moment. dlh ——————————————————————————————————-
Addendum, by R Mall
Is McRaven a bit of a prig, and that is why he has such animosity toward everyman’s Trump? On that score reading his Wiki bio we see:
in 1982, as a junior officer McRaven was assigned to SEAL Team Six under the command of CDR Richard Marcinko* but was pushed out in 1983 due to McRaven’s concerns about a culture of recklessness, military discipline, and difficulties in keeping his sailors in line. Richard Marcinko fired the 27-year-old McRaven after a year. “He was a bright guy, but he didn’t like my rude and crude way,” Marcinko said. “If I was a loose cannon, he was too rigid. He took the special out of special warfare.”
Just as was true with his then superior – Cdr. Marchenko, McRaven is no doubt not compatible with Trump given McRaven’s lack of appreciation for the ways of some warriors. And that is fine. But a good potential manager/statesman/policy influencer is able to look up the chain of command and see through any flaws for good character traits, properly evaluate policy differences and the alternatives, “see where the boss is coming from” and realize that not possessing some humility of your own, is not a recommendation for your own judgement.
But then a category of admirals and generals seem to think they got their stars by an alignment of the stars, pure merit, and are consequently deserving of deference on all matters, in spite of what their limited roll is. Indeed a military special operations mind set might not be the best strategic shot caller, the ultimate responsibility of the President. Admirals are not elected to run the country, establish its commitments and foreign policy and should exercise humility in that very limited roll, at least until they get elected to something beyond what often amounts to no more than the fortunes of office politics.
Reading further into McRaven’s editorial, I think lending credence to my hypothesis, he seems not to care if a President is a Democrat or a Republican or an “Independent”. Instead his prescription for us and the world is that the United States should be policeman to the world, righting wrongs everywhere. McCraven wrote slamming Trump:
We are not the most powerful nation in the world because of our aircraft carriers, our economy, or our seat at the United Nations Security Council. We are the most powerful nation in the world because we try to be the good guys. We are the most powerful nation in the world because our ideals of universal freedom and equality have been backed up by our belief that we were champions of justice, the protectors of the less fortunate.
But, if we don’t care about our values, if we don’t care about duty and honor, if we don’t help the weak and stand up against oppression and injustice — what will happen to the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Syrians, the Rohingyas, the South Sudanese and the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?
Reflect on his words: “the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states? ” That is pretty much most of the world. McCraven is practically talking endless wars many of which would be of an escalating nature. The Admiral has some effing huge imprudences on the order of megalomania. Such military profligacy makes any Trump flaw a peccadillo. Give me Trump’s brand of imprudence any day.
Further, given what is readily known about Democrats and their policies, their “morality” McRaven as now a civilian, being indifferent to Democrats running of the country when so much of importance is at stake essentially makes you one of them. That is a disqualifying character trait in my judgement but it explains his prominence in the New York Times.
There is another glaring aspect to McRaven that indicates an important personal character flaw on his part – his judgement about people he purports to know (keep in mind he does not know Trump personally as he was gone from government service in 2014). Consider the lying treacherous POS he personally endorsed (via Wiki):
In August 2018, McRaven expressed support for former CIA Director John O. Brennan, whose security clearance had recently been revoked by the Trump Administration. He authored an open letter to President Donald Trump in The Washington Post entitled “Revoke my security clearance, too, Mr. President”, in which he affirmed his regard for Brennan, his former colleague, and offered criticism of the decisions and personal behavior of President Trump.[28] McRaven said of Brennan, “He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question … except by those who don’t know him.”
Maybe McCraven got where he got by being a bird of that feather, as ravens go, in bird group parlance sometimes referred to as a conspiracy(ironically). Given what we know about Brennan I would recommend President Trump go ahead and revoke McRaven’s security clearance for such a questionable invocation. R Mall
*Marchenko is the author of Rogue Warrior and several management books.
