Why hasn’t Trump already fired this hack.
Fire the general.
This guy may not hold that position much longer with comments like that.
The General should have already resigned if that’s what a feels.
This was discussed in an earlier thread. Apparently what the general said was not at all controversial, but was twisted into a very misleading headline.
As if Trump would do an illegal order. Swamper.
copied
Hyten explained the process that would follow such a command. As head of STRATCOM, Hyten is responsible for overseeing the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
“I provide advice to the president, he will tell me what to do,” Hyten added. “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 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.”
Hyten said he has been trained every year for decades in the law of armed conflict, which takes into account specific factors to determine legality — necessity, distinction, proportionality, unnecessary suffering and more. Running through scenarios of how to react in the event of an illegal order is standard practice, he said.
“If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life,” Hyten said.
These series of paragraphs tells us this safeguard has been in position for decades, spanning many Presidents.
But, of course, CBS spins it to “See how out-of-control Trump is???!?
At least the third time this article has been posted just today ...
This is fake news, generated to try to make Trump look unhinged.
If any government employee is asked the question, “If the President asked you to do something illegal, would you do it?” The answer is obviously, “No.”
This is just sensational because we are talking about nukes.
If the order was illegal, then of course he should refuse.
People think Generals—or anyone else in the military —are robots that just blindly do whatever they are told.
All Generals should resist obeying illegal orders.
Trumps orders wouldn’t be illegal and this guy should be imprisoned.
Soon to be FORMER General!
Why is this jackass out giving speeches about his duties?
We elected president trump. We didn’t elect the general. I’m aware of no such thing as an “illegal” order from our Commander in Chief. If the general knows something I don’t he’d better explain it now. Or else he’s just resigned his commission.
If the General gets an order he’s going to consult with a JAG?
I suppose he thinks he’ll know all the reasons the order is being given so he can figure out if its legal before he follows it. .
This guy needs to be shit canned yesterday.
It is the duty of every officer to disobey illegal orders. That is true no matter who is in the White House. The question then becomes, "what is illegal?"
In Military Ethics at West Point, we were taught that an officer should be prepared to resign rather than carry out orders that violate his conscience. If General Hyten doesn't want to obey lawful orders from the POTUS that he finds distasteful, he can resign or face a court martial. All that said, the general seems to have shown a stunning lack of judgment here. I haven't seen the precise text of the question posed (even though I saw his response). 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 (and yes, "enemies" is the right word).
Admittedly, while our bureaucracy is stupidly complicated, this statement by General H, ultimately could be taken to mean the Pentagon is the highest authority in the US, and the Chief Executive Officer and our civilian led government is subordinate to the military.
If a general in control of such a command can stop such an critical presidential order, intuitively, can he also launch an attack when ordered by his Chief Executive Officer to stand down?
If this was actually said, and not taken out of context, this is going to need some immediate straitening out!
We have bombs for every occasion. Big bombs, little bombs, and even bombs that split open and drop tinier bombs. Dumb bombs, smart bombs. Bombs that drop and bombs that fly.
All the idiots who keep insisting that Trump plans to nuke NK are just using the same tired cliche they tried when Reagan was president.
Trump’s nuclear strike talk is usually in the context of a retaliatory strike. If we see the NorKs erecting a launcher with intel that indicates a bomb has been loaded, I bet there’s an SSGN sitting offshore with a target package. Or the USAF will be launching some strike. Or maybe a carrier.
Bottom line: we don’t need nukes to f... mess the NorKs up. Trump knows that and he knows how to posture better than any US president ever. This traitorous General is giving aid and comfort to the enemy with his comments. Fire him, court-martial him, and strip him of all benefits and retirement. (Cue the Branded opening scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXlUS5-ag_g )
I would very much hope that any general would not follow an illegal order.
I only wish the same had been true of the orders of Barack Obama and that those who did refuse to follow his illegal orders hadn’t been sacked by Obama.