LIVE THREAD: Pentagon leaders to face congressional gauntlet

[rangerrebew]

 Pentagon leaders to face congressional gauntlet
 
September 27, 2021 Mark Satter - CQ Roll Call
 
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley are gearing up for a grilling this week, as the Pentagon leaders prepare to testify before Congress.

Representatives and senators are planning to question them about last month’s bloody exit from Afghanistan and a new book that says Milley called China to calm tensions surrounding the 2020 election.

Republicans and many Democrats have criticized President Joe Biden for his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, while the parties have split on Milley’s reported call to China, in which Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa wrote that Milley told Chinese Gen. Li Zuocheng that the United States did not intend to attack.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/09/pentagon-leaders-to-face-congressional-gauntlet/

[sneakypete]

Yeah,I will believe the "grilling" when I see and hear it.

I suspect the author meant to write "powder puffs" instead.

[Fishrrman]

"Thoroughly Modern Milley" and "Step'n'fetchit Austin" ???

Those two ought to be "facing" pink slips, at the very least...

[cato potatoe]

The senate had better shine a spotlight on these two.  Lt. Col. Scheller is in the brig at Camp Lejeune, and the brass would love to bury the disaster along with him.

[sneakypete]

The senate had better shine a spotlight on these two.  Lt. Col. Scheller is in the brig at Camp Lejeune, and the brass would love to bury the disaster along with him.

@cato potatoe

YIKES! A LTC in the brig is unheard of! Whose dog did HE rape?

Ok,this was so unheard of I looked him up myself.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-corps-officer-stuart-scheller-brig/

It is a freaking outrage that the USMC would treat this man this way. One of THE prime duties of an officer,and maybe even THEY prime duty is to look out for the men under his command,and this man went the extra mile and put his career on the line to do his duty.

Hell,the USMC should be putting up statues of him instead of arresting him.

I am guessing by the time the dust settles on this one,there is going to be a LOT of dissension in the ranks.

I can only hope that the PC punk General officer that ordered him arrested and put in the brig gets what is due to HIM.

[mystery-ak]

Should be starting any minute now

[mystery-ak]

US general warned Taliban of airstrikes days before they took Kabul: report
https://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,449536.0.html

[mystery-ak]

Lucas Tomlinson
@LucasFoxNews
·
1m
Top Democrat and Republican on Senate Armed Services Committee criticize Defense Secretary Austin, Gen. Milley and Gen. McKenzie for not sending their opening remarks to lawmakers until "late last evening."

[mystery-ak]

Jerry Dunleavy
@JerryDunleavy
·
40s
Jack Reed says submitted witness testimony is generally supposed to be sent to the Senate Armed Services Committee 48 hours before a hearing, but Milley / McKenzie / Austin only submitted their testimony late last night.

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/status/1442846067108847628

[sneakypete]

https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/status/1442846067108847628

@mystery-ak

These people,and I am using the world loosely,may be many things,but they damn sure ain't "leaders".

If ANYTHING,they are "wear red and march in a straight line" mindless robots.

[mystery-ak]

Lara Seligman
@laraseligman
·
30s
Austin acknowledges that one reason the State Department did not evacuate people earlier because they worried that moving too soon "might actually cause the very collapse of the Afghan government that we all wanted to avoid"

[mystery-ak]

Logan Ratick
@Logan_Ratick
·
9m
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee will have 5 minutes to question them. 26 members: 13 Democrats, 13 Republicans. Austin is giving his opening statement now

[mystery-ak]

Natasha Bertrand
@NatashaBertrand
·
26s
"The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away, in many cases without firing a shot, took us all by surprise, and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tells Senators.

[cato potatoe]

It is a freaking outrage that the USMC would treat this man this way. One of THE prime duties of an officer,and maybe even THEY prime duty is to look out for the men under his command,and this man went the extra mile and put his career on the line to do his duty.

Hell,the USMC should be putting up statues of him instead of arresting him.

I am guessing by the time the dust settles on this one,there is going to be a LOT of dissension in the ranks.

Scheller predicted some jail time in his last video, but I am a little surprised they went through with it.  Why create a martyr?  It's almost like the leadership intended to botch this withdrawal in order to destroy our institutions.

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/1442853473322770438

[mystery-ak]

Lucas Tomlinson
@LucasFoxNews
·
2m
Gen. Milley tells Senate panel he received an unclassified memo on Nov. 11, 2020 for the U.S. military to withdrawal all forces from Afghanistan by January 15th before Joe Biden took office. The order was later rescinded, Milley said.

[mystery-ak]

Chad Pergram
@ChadPergram
·
11s
Milley tells Senate cmte he is "specifically directed" to communicate with Chinese. Says there was "concerning intelligence" from China about concern the US would attack the Chinese. Says it was his responsibility to "de-escalate...we are not going to attack you."

[mystery-ak]

Benjamin Weingarten
@bhweingarten
·
50s
"My loyalty is absolute," says Gen. Milley, who allegedly pledged to tip off our greatest adversary, Communist China, if America was going to launch an attack on it--behind the back of the commander-in-chief

[mystery-ak]

Michael P Pregent
@MPPregent
·
1m
Milley defends his loyalty - but he abandoned Americans and has moved on.

He's angry and defensive.

He bragged to Woodward that he was the adult in the room.

[mystery-ak]

Steve Herman
@W7VOA
·
14m
"We did not get out all our Afghan allies," acknowledges @SecDef
 during his opening statement on Capitol Hill about the #Afghanistan withdrawal. "The Taliban made clear their cooperation would end on the first of September."

[mystery-ak]

Natasha Bertrand
@NatashaBertrand
·
2m
Milley says with respect to the Chinese calls, "The calls on 30 October and 8 January were coordinated before and after with [then-Defense Secretary] Esper and acting Secretary Miller's staffs and the interagency."



Natasha Bertrand
@NatashaBertrand
·
1m
"I am certain that President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese, and it is my direct responsibility and it was my direct responsibility to convey that intent to the Chinese. My task at that time was to de-escalate," Milley says.

[mystery-ak]

Kristina Wong 🇺🇸
@kristina_wong
·
25s
Milley says he acknowledges he is not in the chain of command, but "I am in the chain of communication."

[txradioguy]

Natasha Bertrand
@NatashaBertrand
·
26s
"The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away, in many cases without firing a shot, took us all by surprise, and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tells Senators.

Anyone on the groun in Afghanistan in the last 10-15 years knows that with some very rare exceptions...the Afghan National Army doesn't really want to fight.

[sneakypete]

Scheller predicted some jail time in his last video, but I am a little surprised they went through with it.  Why create a martyr?  It's almost like the leadership intended to botch this withdrawal in order to destroy our institutions.

@cato potatoe

Naw,if you had ever been around many USMC and US Navy officers,you would know it's all about "disrespecting my authora-tay!" (Cartman reference).