Posted on 11/18/2017 3:07:30 PM PST by mandaladon
And if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen? I‘m going to say, ‘Mr. President, that’s illegal.’ And guess what he’s going to do? He’s going to say, ‘What would be legal?’ And we’ll come up (with) options, with a mix of capabilities to respond to whatever the situation is, and that’s the way it works. It’s not that complicated.”
He didn’t say he wouldn’t launch.
That is basically the truth should a real illegal order and it would apply to all presidents. However if this general would do this based on his judgement for Trump alone because he dislikes him he can and should be fired.
Well, resignation is a paper process that takes weeks or months. Getting an order and saying “I resign” is not a workable solution to not obeying.
Of course, we are supposed to ask “General, do mean for me to launch target package Alpha or the whole freaking alphabet?” “Oh, of course Colonel, I meant target Alpha.”
Asking for clarification is fine, if there is time. Refusing outright is a crime, even if the order is illegal/improper, you’ll be relieved, arrested and charged for a few felony level crimes. Your second will be commanded to execute and he will.
If one feels so strongly that they cannot legally/morally execute the order, then you must be willing to fall on your saber, so speak, and take what comes.
This hack does not report directly to Trump.
He reports to Mad Dog Mattis.
He should have never opened his mouth.
Get rid of him.
Why is this discussion even taking place, and in Canada?
There is a legitimate argument to disobey an illegal order, but it fully depends on an actual ILLEGAL ORDER.
However, WHAT IS LEGAL, and the timing of such a critical moment cannot not be equivocated by an officer in charge in a fraction of a moment.
In this day and age, in my opinion, when the media is out to create distrust in our western parliamentary governance, to create chaos, and to destroy, a general over such a strategic command should not be involved with the same left wing motivated media!
I would not even dance with the left wing media (who hates our Constitutional Republic), over such a devastating topic. The media is out to cause unfounded trouble. Discernment with the media may be the real issue here.
Exactly right. And you don’t have to be a general officer for that rule to apply.
Nevertheless, the news lies.
“If the President asked you to do something illegal, would you do it?” The answer is obviously, “No.”
How can a president given an illegal order for a nuclear strike?
The point is the general was stupid for allowing himself to be drawn into a discussion of this type. He was not asked in he would follow an order that was illegal. He was commenting on what HE thought was illegal, and in this case, a nuclear strike, of all things.
“I think some people think we’re stupid,” Hyten said in response to a question about such a scenario. “We’re not stupid people. We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?”
Some people think Trump is stupid. He’s not stupid. He thinks about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?
Stupid lead question.
Contrary to popular rumor, even spread by some generals, the there are rules for nuclear weapons use. The President isn’t the only one that can use them and he cannot use them whenever he wants.
And this general will pay a price for doing this interview.
He will be relieved of command shortly.
“But the point of the question appears to be to get the general to undermine the moral authority of the Commander-in-Chief. And by playing into it, he helped the President’s domestic enemies “:
Good point. Very good point.
Also we are facing revolts at State, FBI, DOJ, DEA, USCG, and now USAF. All seem to think they have the ability to SET policy rather than execute it.
In the 1950s under Lemay, much ability in wartime to go nuclear was left with the generals. They resented it when JFK made serious moves to consolidate that power into the presidency.
I’m sure the mandarins running the USAF strategic command think they should have the final say.
And once again, this bozo should have never been out doing Q & A and giving speeches about his duties. Any enemy should be as much in the dark as possible about how it could happen and where to attack that chain of command.
He should be immediately fired.
Fire this traitor immediately.
Has anyone actually read the article? A great deal of the article described the training he’s gone through and all of scenarios they Drill on.
The general is not going to call a jag officer to ask a question.
And Trump will not be issuing nuke attacks Willy-hilly. This reminds me of the discussions back when RR was president.
The “assumption” in the headline is that Trump is insane and we need the generals to save us from him. It’s crap.
This guy hates Trump! He needs to be relieved of his command. Who the heck does he think he is?
“And CBS knows that title will be used for propaganda in North Korea as well as other nations. DISGUSTING!”
True. But the prime cause of this was that a General was enjoying a collegial spotlight, being on stage, and talking about his job.
He needed to be on base somewhere, doing his job, and not being an attention whore in the think talk world. Nobody should even know his duties without some digging. And there that Obama general is, up on stage.
Ha. He won’t be much soon.
He opened an unnecessary can of worms, where the media clearly intended to imply Trump could order an ILLEGAL nuclear strike!
And OH MY! What will you do to stop him!
This line of questioning (and on foreign soil) was clearly intended to further the already popular narrative, to imply President Trump might be unstable and untrustable!
This line of questioning fits within the framework of recent network media and press trying to create the public opinion that Trump is mentally unstable and cannot and should not therefore be near the “FOOTBALL”, and is disqualified to be president.
This national media narrative has been going on for the past few weeks with more and more attention and unfounded fear.
It is synonymous with trying to stoke the efforts of impeachment!
No general should be so naïve as to play into this deceptive anti-American narrative!
He was fed a baited question and gave an answer he should have known would be twisted, perverted and spun to make his boss look like like a madman no matter what.
He should have said..."My Commander-in-Chief would never give the order for an illegal nuclear strike - next question"....and then shut his dumb trap on the subject.
Leni
Exactly. Should have avoided this interview.
“Only the President can direct the use of nuclear weapons by U.S. armed forces, including the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP). While the President does have unilateral authority as commander-in-chief to order that nuclear weapons be used for any reason at any time, the actual procedures and technical systems in place for authorizing the execution of a launch order requires a secondary confirmation under a two-man rule, as the President’s order is subject to secondary confirmation by the Secretary of Defense. If the Secretary of Defense does not concur, then the President may in his sole discretion fire the Secretary. The Secretary of Defense has legal authority to approve the order, but cannot veto it.”
Sorry, wrong on both accounts. That was solidly worked out in the Kennedy administration.
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