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Home Front: Politix
Retired General Jack Keane defends the indefensible
2021-09-16
[Mediaite] Retired General Jack Keane appeared on The Story With Martha MacCallum Wednesday, where he came to the defense of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. In the upcoming book, Peril, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, it’s reported that Milly made secret calls with China in October 2020 and January 2021 over fears former President Trump might start a war. It’s reported that the purpose of the calls was to assure his Chinese counterpart that Trump would not start a war.

While Republicans have become enraged by the reporting, calling Milley’s actions treasonous, and calling for him to resign or be fired, Keane says the calls were nothing out of the ordinary.

"General Milley’s making a phone call to provide reassurances, which is his job," Keane said. "I mean, he's executing his responsibility and he’s doing it in concert with his own advisers and then sharing that with the interagency."

Keane also said that the president not being briefed on the calls was nothing unusual, and believes the whole story is being overblown.

"I don’t see anything that is undermining the civilian control of the military," Keane said. "If you took the facts, that are, I think, being sensationalized in this report, that would be an issue, as you (McCallum) just regurgitated here. But that is not what the Pentagon is reporting. It seems to be pretty much in sync with what we're used to seeing."

One of the main things causing outrage among some is the report that Milly made these calls in secret, making some believe he was undermining Trump, as has been the message in some segments on Fox News’s primetime shows. But Fox’s own Jennifer Griffin reported on Wednesday that the calls were in fact not secret, and that they were coordinated with multiple high-level Pentagon officials. It was even reported that Trump’s Secretary of Defense Mark Esper took the lead in the first call.
Posted by:Besoeker

#10  Did Milli Vanilli also warn the Taliban in advance of imminent attacks, or did they kick his/America's ass fair and square? *Spit*
Posted by: Elmoter Whulet2311   2021-09-16 20:31  

#9  Everyone on FauxNews eventually belongs on MSLSD. Except maybe Tucker and Gutfield, and I don't have a good long term feeling about either one.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2021-09-16 18:22  

#8  Who is "sensationalizing" the reports? Rantburg, Alt-Right Blogs, white supremacists, or the 'traditional' media?

That's an honest question, and the answer, I think, would be illuminating.
Posted by: Bobby   2021-09-16 17:30  

#7  Insubordination is okay when He does it, because he has stars?
Posted by: magpie   2021-09-16 16:40  

#6  The excuse of thinking that Trump was mentally unstable would hold a bit more credibility if Milley thought the same of the incoherent Biden.
Posted by: Airandee   2021-09-16 16:28  

#5  If the rule book is followed, short of Amendment 25, the CJCIS is not delegated to make that determination.
Posted by: M. Murcek    2021-09-16 11:15  

#4  Milley's actions are defended on the grounds that he thought Trump mentally unstable and unsafe to have the authority and responsibility vested in the office. That does not exonerate him - there is a legal procedure for replacing the President under such circumstances, but of course it was not pursued.
Posted by: Glenmore   2021-09-16 11:12  

#3  Miley said he would inform the Chinese before the US attacked. Could be sugar coated lies but that quote sounds like treason.
Posted by: ruprecht   2021-09-16 11:04  

#2  the calls were in fact not secret, and that they were coordinated with multiple high-level Pentagon officials.

Oh, OK. So it was just a routine conspiracy by the military to undermine a sitting president. I feel better now. Kind of like an FBI investigation but with different uniforms.
Posted by: SteveS   2021-09-16 10:05  

#1  I take it then, General Keene is also comfortable with the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff exercising command authority over the nuclear arsenal ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2021-09-16 09:27  

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