Three big questions on Mark Milley
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Gen. Mark A. Milley has weighed in for the first time on a new book saying he went to extraordinary lengths to allay Chinese concerns about a potential military confrontation sparked by President Donald Trump.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Associated Press the calls were, in fact, “routine” and were meant “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.” But he declined to expand on that, saying that would have to wait for his upcoming testimony on Sept. 28.
“I’ll go into any level of detail Congress wants to go into in a couple of weeks,” Milley said.
Checking an unhinged Trump did not require circumventing the chain of command.
But Kori Schake, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said the revelations that Milley covertly acted to counter his commander in chief are “bad for the military as an institution.” “It encourages people to do what Americans are already doing, which is viewing the military as they view the Supreme Court: apolitical when they agree with them, partisan when they don’t,” she said.
…. with plenty of details yet to be filled in. … some big questions about Milley’s testimony Sept. 28.
. How specific were his assurances — and what was the context?
2. Why the need to reassure China?
3. How can situations like this be avoided?
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