Posted on 11/13/2012 10:40:27 AM PST by billorites
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has demoted the former head of U.S. Africa Command who was accused of spending thousands of dollars on lavish travel and other unauthorized expenses, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.
Panetta stripped Gen. William ‘‘Kip’’ Ward of a star, which means that he will now retire as a three-star lieutenant general despite arguments from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff against the demotion. Ward also has been ordered also repay the government $82,000.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to discuss a personnel matter.
The demotion comes as retired Army Gen. David Petraeus resigned as CIA director because of an extramarital affair and Marine Gen. John Allen is being investigated for improper communications with a woman.
According to the official, Panetta reviewed the Ward matter and concluded that the wrongdoing found by the Defense Department Inspector General, in a report released earlier this year, demanded accountability.
Retiring as a three-star will cost Ward about $30,000 a year in retirement pay — giving him close to $208,802 a year rather than the $236,650 he would get as a four-star.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged Panetta to allow Ward, the former head of U.S. Africa Command, to retire at his full four-star general rank, according to defense officials. Other military leaders had noted that the demotion would cost Ward a lot of money.
The inspector general’s report found that Ward used military vehicles to shuttle his wife on shopping trips and to a spa and billed the government for a refueling stop overnight in Bermuda, where the couple stayed in a $750 suite. The report detailed lengthy stays at lavish hotels for Ward, his wife and his staff members,
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Post-election Purge.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/6/panetta-paid-17k-860k-commute-california/?page=all
Panetta paid $17K for $860K commute to California
LOL! Look at how both those guys have performed under obama- they are also pwned
The beat goes on. Revenge is the word of the day.
Her duties were official. She is his wife and he didn’t sleep with biographers.
Wow! As a retired military 05 myself all I can say is what a shame to retire on 208+K. :-(
Reminds me of the Stalin purges.....just bloodless......for now.
About 5 times as many as WWII. That should answer the question of "whats going on with all these Flag Officers?"
The Army had/has 12 four-star Generals.
“Does anyone get reminded of Hitler replacing all the generals of the German army in the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair?”
Yes! A fellow freeper mentioned that on another thread.
I was making comparisons to Fast and Furious and the Third Reich’s false operations Reichstag fire and Gleiwitz incident over a year ago.
We need to mention this on every related thread. Let’s study the Nazi party playbook so maybe we can do someting about our opponent’s next play before it is too late.
That was my first thought too. But really retiring at more than 200000 a year PLUS getting full medical???? I mean come on that makes the grunts shake their heads.....It is gaudy and ridiculous. They always love spending other folks money.
Was he head of AfriCom, and therefore over Libya, during Benghazi?
Hitler used ones like Ernst Rohm (SA head), until it was time to get rid of them. (Night of the Long Knives)
It’s ironic the Nazis trumped up bogus charges about General Fritsch being gay to oust him.
Here is another thread before the 'purge' meme.
Gen. Ham (4 Star) was in command of AFRICOM at the time of the attack. BTW he was relieved of that command a few weeks ago. Also, you may find it interesting that the RADM in command of the carrier group in the mIddle East was also relieved around the same time.
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