The 9/28/21 dispatch.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley, testified to Congress today, and it’s safe to say that he made all kinds of news. He also gave both sides some ammo to use, while also probably disappointing both sides.
We’ll begin with the big explanation by General Milley on whether he undermined President Trump (or committed treason, as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., alleged).
Milley explained that he had made no secret calls on his own to any Chinese generals. That instead, he made these calls with lots of other public officials in the same room. And that he did so because U.S. intelligence indicated that China believed we were about to attack. But as Milley explained, he was certain Trump did NOT plan to attack. And thus, Milley was de-escalating the situation. (See below.)
c-span.org/video/?514537-… ","username":"cspan","name":"CSPAN","date":"Tue Sep 28 14:40:23 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://cdn.substack.com/image/upload...
CSPAN @cspanGen. Milley: "My loyalty is absolute...with respect to the Chinese calls, I routinely communicated with my counterpart General Lee with the knowledge and coordination of civilian oversight."Full video here: c-span.org/video/?514537-… September 28th 2021
36 Retweets113 LikesBut not everything was rosey for the Democrats and President Biden. They also took some punishment during the hearing. Biden had said in an interview during the chaotic Afghan withdrawal that no military advisors had told him to keep 2,500 troops in the country.
That was contradicted by another general in today’s hearings. (See below.)
Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollinsStephanopoulos: “Your military advisers did not tell you, ‘No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that’?”Biden: “No. No one said that to me that I can recall.” Josh Rogin @joshrogin
Gen. McKenzie: "I recommended we keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan." Also says he predicted withdrawing them would cause the Afghan army to collapse and the Taliban taking over. Gen. Milley agrees.September 28th 2021
395 Retweets843 LikesMilley added further fuel to the fire against Biden by saying that our withdrawal hurt our trust and credibility as a country.
"I think that our credibility with allies and partners around the world and with adversaries is being intensely reviewed by them to see which way this is going to go. And I think that 'damage' is one word that could be used, yes," Milley told senators.
Republicans pounced on this, with the following question (and the best part about this video clip is you can see Milley trying to figure out what to say in real time; this was most certainly not rehearsed and there’s some real emotion in it):
@SenTomCotton: \"Why haven't you resigned?\"\n\nGen. Milley: \"It would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken.\" He also says, \"My dad didn't get a choice to resign at Iwo Jima.\" ","username":"cspan","name":"CSPAN","date":"Tue Sep 28 15:14:06 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://cdn.substack.com/image/upload...CSPAN @cspan.@SenTomCotton: "Why haven't you resigned?"Gen. Milley: "It would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken." He also says, "My dad didn't get a choice to resign at Iwo Jima." September 28th 2021
10 Retweets39 LikesA couple of other things of note. Former President Trump was partly blamed for the Afghan collapse because of the peace deal he pushed.
The head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie, said, “The primary accelerant to lowering morale and general efficiency of the Afghan military" was the peace agreement that the Trump administration struck with the Taliban in February 2020, which the Afghans believed was "forced on them."
Republicans will probably counter that McKenzie is blaming Trump since he now technically reports to Biden. But the peace deal under Trump was controversial; and it forced the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, many of whom returned to the fight.
One other noteworthy thing that came up was that the U.S. is continuing to attempt to evacuate folks from the danger in Afghanistan. (See below.)
Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollinsBefore Congress, Defense Secretary Austin says they are still working on getting Americans out of Afghanistan.September 28th 2021
49 Retweets319 LikesI’m confident that these efforts include the CIA, and as I’ve said before, it wouldn’t surprise me if we aren’t working with (or paying) the Taliban to help us get these folks out.
Moving to the end here, I’ll wrap up this post with two pieces of motivation for your week.
#Motivation ","username":"IMQuotes_Videos","name":"Inspired Motivation Quotes","date":"Sun Sep 26 15:00:23 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FAOEgK...
Inspired Motivation Quotes @IMQuotes_VideosIt's only a failure if you give up.#Motivation 
September 26th 2021
91 Retweets214 Likes
Stan R. Mitchell, USMC @StanRMitchellNothing is ever decided. Be fierce and counter your fears with courage. You never know how things might just work out. 
Mountain goat ‘turned the tables,’ killed grizzly bear in Yoho National Park | CBC NewsParks Canada says a mountain goat in Yoho National park took on a grizzly bear — and won.cbc.caSeptember 27th 2021
1 LikeThat’s it for this post. Stay safe and be kind. As always, please share this post if you enjoyed it.
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Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.
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