The Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff admits he messed up by being the used by President Donald Trump on his Lafayette Park caper….
The Pentagon’s top general apologized on Thursday for appearing alongside President Trump near the White House after authorities forcibly removed peaceful protesters from the area, saying that it “was a mistake that I have learned from.”
Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the remarks in a prerecorded graduation speech to students at the National Defense University. He has been roundly criticized for thrusting the military into politics by walking alongside the president on June 1 as Trump traveled on foot to a nearby church that had been damaged during protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
Milley advised the students that it is important to keep “a keen sense of situational awareness” and that he had failed to do so as he walked from Lafayette Square in combat fatigues alongside the president, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and other senior advisers.
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“As many of you saw the results of the photograph of me in Lafayette Square last week, that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society,” Milley said. “I should not have been there. My presence in that moment, and in that environment, created the perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”
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Milley’s apology came at the end of a speech in which he decried the “senseless, brutal killing” of Floyd, a black man who died in custody after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The incident was captured on video and has prompted protests around the globe about police brutality and racism.
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“His death amplified the pain, the frustration, the fear that so many of our fellow Americans live with day in and day out,” Milley said. “The protests that have ensued speak not only to his killing, but to the centuries of injustice toward African Americans.”
Milley also called for military leaders to look for ways to improve equality, noting the military’s “mixed record” on the issue. While the military has come to reflect the diversity of the nation, he said, only 7 percent of generals and admirals are African American.
Milley had his can handed to him from his fellow military senior alumni for getting involved…THIS IS a good thing…
Gen. Milley also expressed remorse for the Floyd death…
Reports in the media have pointed to the troops being put in a bad place and not liking it for Donald Trump political grandstanding….And WILL be remembered by the Pentagon generals AND the Trump people who will think twice about using the military should things not go their way in the N November election…
The American military prides itself on following ‘LEGAL’ orders and NOT getting used for politics …
image….U.S. Army