After long silence, Mattis denounces Trump and military response to crisis
By Administrator_India
After long refusing to explicitly criticize a sitting president, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused President Donald Trump on Wednesday of trying to divide America and roundly denounced a militarization of the U.S. response to civil unrest.
The remarks by Mattis, an influential retired Marine general who resigned over policy differences in 2018, are the strongest to date by a former Pentagon leader over Trump’s response to the killing of George Floyd, an African-American, while in Minneapolis police custody.
They accompany a growing affirmation from within the Pentagon’s leadership of the U.S. military’s core values, including to uphold a constitution that protects freedom of assembly and the principles of equality.
“Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort.”
Trump has turned to militaristic rhetoric in response to demonstrations against police brutality following Floyd’s killing by a white police officer, who knelt on the unarmed man’s neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis last week.
On Monday Trump threatened to send active-duty U.S. troops to stamp out civil unrest gripping several cities, against the wishes of state governors – alarming current and former military officials who fear dissent in the ranks and lasting damage to the U.S. military itself, one of America’s most revered and well-funded institutions.
“Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict — a false conflict — between the military and civilian society,” Mattis wrote.
Trump reacted on Twitter by calling Mattis “the world’s most overrated General!”
“I didn’t like his ‘leadership’ style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!” Trump wrote.
His comments follow denunciations by other retired top brass, including Navy Admiral Mike Mullen and retired Army general Martin Dempsey, both former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The current chairman, Army General Mark Milley, issued a message to the armed forces reminding them of their oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, which gives Americans the right to “freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.” Similar messages were delivered by other top military leaders.
