(28 Sep 2021) During Tuesday's Senate hearing on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton asked the Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, the top military adviser to President Joe Biden why he didn't resign if the president didn't take his advice on keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan earlier this year.
"I understand that you're the principal military adviser, that you advise. You don't decide. The president decides. But if all this is true, General Milley, why haven't you resigned?"
"It would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken. This country doesn't want generals figuring out what orders we are going to accept and do, or not. That's not our job," Milley responded.
Then Milley added a personal comment.
"My dad didn't get a choice to resign at Iwo Jima," Milley said.
"And those kids that are there at Abbey Gate (in Kabul), they don't get a choice to resign. And I'm not going to turn my back on them. I'm not going to resign."
"If the orders are illegal, we're in a different place," he said. "But if the orders are legal from civilian authority, I intend to carry them out."
Cotton also claimed the admistration has allowed unvetted Afghans into the U.S..
"You have Afghan evacuees committing sex crimes at Fort McCoy," he said. "What what are we to make of this?"
"I can assure you that our commanders at our bases have what they need to be able to protect our troops and our families that work and live at those bases," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
