Posted on 11/18/2017 6:58:35 PM PST by Liberty7732
Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, told a security conference in Nova Scotia that he would refuse to obey an "illegal" order from Donald Trump to launch nuclear weapons.
Asked if he has given much thought to how he would handle a nuclear strike order from President Trump that he thinks is unlawful, Hyten, who oversees the U.S. nuclear arsenal, answered, "I think some people think we're stupid. We're not stupid people. We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?"
"I provide advice to the president, he will tell me what to do," Hyten said. "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."
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
If you read the whole thing, the general is right, the headline is bullshit and is NOT what the general said nor meant.
If the POTUS calls for a nuclear launch on Canada, the General better push the buttons or get shot.
I have no doubt that he would have likewise refused an "illegal" order from Obama to launch nukes, so what's the controversy here?
Regards,
RELEIVE OF COMMAND, that Air FARCE GENERAL!!!
Fake news? Again? When will it stop?
Do you get the difference between the inference of the headline and the actual quote?
Do something useful...
If the CIC woke up this morning and ordered nukes fired at New Zealand and Luxembourg . Just because he felt like it. That’s not a legal order.
So if the President orders nukes aimed and fired at Miami, the General should crisply salute and immediately carry out the order?
The amount of stupidity on this thread is beyond the usual.
I’m guessing you were never in the military. Here a test. If one of the “hire ups” orders you to immediately execute a group of POWs, what do you do?
As if the counter argument is that the "General should crisply salute and immediately carry out the order". Try again. Your straw man fallacy is "stupid".
I'll give you a few hints though. Describing an order from the CIC to the military as being "illegal" is incorrect. It ignores the very basic principles of our Constitution.
It doesn't mean that the General should carry out the order. And it doesn't mean that there isn't a Constitutional remedy that can remove the rogue president.
“The amount of stupidity on this thread is beyond the usual.”
You’re usually stupid, not us FReepers.
You, and others, have completely misconstrued the comments on this thread to mean no one can challenge orders. No one has said that.
For you hard headed types, what they have said is that if you challenge an order as illegal you had best be right, and that no superior is required to explain themselves to you.
If you want to challenge an illegal order, and you have every right to do so, you had best be right, but in no way is your superior required to stop and explain things to you. If you think that, maybe you should stop thinking like a juvenile millennial and understand authority.
Your argument is a smokescreen and you’re going off on a tanget.
What this general is doing is very bad. He’s introducing doubt into the process. He’s letting Kim Jong and the Ayatollah know that they could very possibly launch a nuclear weapon at the United States and get away with it. He has personally just made the world a more dangerous place. When he’s sitting in his office in the Pentagon, there’s nowhere he can run to fast enough to determine if a launch order is valid or not. What’s he going to do, beam himself to NORAD like he’s on Star Trek?
What this general is really saying is, “F*** the President, I make the call if we’re launching or not.” This guy has completely gone off the rails. He’s suggesting that the President is insane and the military should be ready to mutiny against him. And he’s airing this crap out publicly, that is inexcusable! If he has issues, he has a chain of command and a legal way to file a grievance. But no, his first instinct is to go public with this. Yes, I question his mental state and competence. Way to turn the US military into a 3-ring circus in front of the whole world.
I will leave you with this: when I was active duty Navy, several junior enlisted on my ship were investigated and found guilty of inciting mutiny under UCMJ Article 94. That’s exactly what this general is doing. Personally, I think he’s pulling a Gen. McChrystal. He can’t bring himself to quit, he didn’t get to where he is today by being a quitter, so he’s decided to get fired in a big way instead.
Creating a PR nightmare is “doing his job”. Whatever...
This thread has more military experience than the entire AP and UPI press corps. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
When this general is sitting in his office in the Pentagon, how is he going to know if a launch order from the President is legal or not? In the context of the media stories of late, he is suggesting that the President is insane and the military should be ready to disobey his orders. This general should be tried under UCMJ Article 94, Inciting Mutiny. I’ve seen people convicted of this when I was active duty Navy, it’s a bad way to go.
You can’t trust headlines anymore, in so far as you ever could.
My first response was to have the General fired for insubordination but after looking into the article realized it was a hit piece framed to make the General look insubordinate and Trump’s decisions questionable. The MSM is deplorable.
“Asked if he has given much thought to how he would handle a nuclear strike order from President Trump that he thinks is unlawful”
Who asked him the question? How much of the question contained determination of the host country trying to make sure launching is not being carefully determined. How much of the answer did they print?
His answer could have sounded like this as it was supposed to be in a security counsel meeting (how did it hit the news?):
“The US is very careful about the possible ramifications of a nuclear strike. It is the job of the joint chief of staff, among other people, to assist in determining if the strike is within the protocol we are required to follow. If it is not, then we would have to re-evaluate the scenario for compliance and make our evaluations and recommendations to the president. This standard operation is listed in military manuals and in all branches of the military, DOD, and almost every branch within the circle.”
It is not unusual, it’s SOP and the media turned it into something that wasn’t to create unrest. Don’t assume anything with the media. They lie, misprint, and word things to cover their agenda. And this is one for them to crete unrest in the voters for Trump.
You might want to get used to it. It’s all they have to gain in the mid-terms and 2020. They can’t, and won’t get anything on him unless they stretch the law outside of its intent. Right now they are trying the Scooter Libby approach with saying he perjured himself rather than did he do it. Oh these liberals are filthy dirty. And they are using nothing but public misconception to get to the voters.
rwood
FM 100-5 Operations was replaced by Army Doctrine Publication (ADP)3-0 several years ago and the Army has revised it a few times since then. Current ADP 3-0 is titled “Unified Land Operations”. I assume the content you mentioned is still included in the current publications.
Orders come through a chain of command and is well rehearsed and known protocol. The POTUS is Commander in Chief, not Dictator in Chief.
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