"We can't do nothing," the general said. "Why not?"
I'm normally not a big fan of Politico's reporting, but they have a fascinating and quite revealing article up on Trump's recent, alarming militaristic decisions.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-military-strikes-generals-237214
"Because you have a lot of military minds thinking of this in a military context, you are going to get answers to things that are really, really finely tuned to the military considerations but not the diplomatic considerations or even the domestic political considerations," said Alice Hunt Friend, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who held several senior policy positions in the Obama-era Pentagon. "That is something the president should be very concerned about. Civilians are supposed to give them the political context of what they are doing and why they are doing it."
But Trump has no understanding of world politics nor does his woeful Secretary of State. Worse, he's surrounded himself with generals who think solely in terms of military solutions and who bristle at the idea that doing NOTHING is sometimes the wiser course.
"As an example he cited a recent conversation with an unnamed general about Trump's decision to strike Syria. "We can't do nothing," the general said. "Why not?" Smith responded.
So that's how they pitched it to sway Trump. You have to do SOMETHING... to appear strong. Even if it's a useless, symbolic gesture... the military always equates ACTION with strength.
This general vs Congressional exchange should get plastered all over the media because it exempifies the desperate need for CIVILIAN oversight!
"In his remarks about Thursday's strike in Afghanistan, Trump boasted about empowering the commanders, calling that a key difference from former President Barack Obama's approach. If you look at what’s happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what’s happened over the last eight years, you’ll see there’s a tremendous difference," he said."
Yes, the difference couldn't be any clearer this week. Obama kept the military, on a very, very tight leash when it came to use of force. I for one, seriously appreciated his prudence after the military ran us amok under GWB. But, it's crystal clear now that Trump has completely lifted that tight leash and alarmingly ceded them even more power than under GWB.
Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, should be commended for fighting against the Matthis waiver. We're seeing right now what happens when the generals have TOTAL AUTOMONY and it's scary times.