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Retired Generals Warn Against Divided Military And Potential Coup In 2024

Retired Generals Warn Against Divided Military And Potential Coup In 2024

Three retired United States generals are issuing a chilling warning about the possibility of yet another attempted coup in 2024. In an op-ed published by The Washington Post, former Army Major Gen. Paul Eaton, former Brigadier Gen. Steven Anderson, and former Army Major Gen. Antonio Taguba expressed concern about what the future holds for America's fragile democracy.

"We — all of us former senior military officials — are increasingly concerned about the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election and the potential for lethal chaos inside our military, which would put all Americans at severe risk," the generals wrote.

The generals laid out a hypothetical scenario that could lead to a divide within the armed forces if there is a repeat of what happened following the 2020 presidential election.

"Imagine competing commanders in chief — a newly reelected Biden giving orders, versus Trump (or another Trumpian figure) issuing orders as the head of a shadow government," they wrote. Worse, imagine politicians at the state and federal levels illegally installing a losing candidate as president."

If the next election is also contested, there could be a divide when it comes to service members deciding where their loyalty lies. Although they've taken a vow to protect the U.S. Constitution, there could be debates about what that means if a presidential election outcome is fiercely challenged.

"All service members take an oath to protect the U.S. Constitution. But in a contested election, with loyalties split, some might follow orders from the rightful commander in chief, while others might follow the Trumpian loser. Arms might not be secured depending on who was overseeing them. Under such a scenario, it is not outlandish to say a military breakdown could lead to civil war."

The generals warned that a divided military would leave the United States vulnerable in regard to national security. "In this context, with our military hobbled and divided, U.S. security would be crippled," they wrote. "Any one of our enemies could take advantage by launching an all-out assault on our assets or our allies."

Although the 2020 presidential election is behind us, the generals warned that now is the time to prepare for the future due to the ongoing division that still exists across the country. They later added, "With the country still as divided as ever, we must take steps to prepare for the worst."

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

Retired General: Trump ‘Hurtling Towards War’ With Iran

Retired General: Trump ‘Hurtling Towards War’ With Iran

The Trump administration is mulling a plan to send 120,000 troops to the Middle East in an apparent escalation of conflict with Iran, the New York Times reported. 

And one retired general has a warning about the potential troop deployment — a change to military plans that was ordered by Trump national security adviser and noted neoconservative warmonger John Bolton, the Times reports.

“With the same neocons who led us into Iraq now in charge of Donald Trump’s foreign policy, we’re hurtling towards a war with Iran that may very likely result in many more lives lost, for no good reason,” said retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who served in the Iraq War and now sits on the board of VoteVets.

Eaton said that the Trump administration’s apparent push to send troops to the Middle East amid rising tensions over the Iranian nuclear deal could not only start a war — it could also create a “breeding ground for the next generation of terror groups.”

“Like ISIS arose because of our invasion of Iraq, the next terror organization may form out of war with Iran, putting American civilian lives in great peril,” Eaton said. “From the east coast, to the heartland, to the Pacific, every American would be at risk.”

Eaton went on to say that if “Bolton and the neocons in the administration” think the troops are necessary, they should go to Congress to seek authorization for the deployment.

“Let them go to Congress to allow the people’s representatives to debate and vote on it, as the Constitution requires,” Eaton said. “If they do not, we can only surmise that, like with so many other issues, Donald Trump is afraid of real Congressional oversight.”

The New York Times reports that the Trump plan would deploy nearly the same number of troops that were deployed in 2003 to invade Iraq.

Democratic lawmakers are demanding that Trump brief lawmakers on the reasoning behind such a major possible deployment, and to seek congressional approval for such a move.

“UNACCEPTABLE,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted on Tuesday. “WH drafting plans to deploy 120,000 troops to the #MiddleEast, but refuses to brief the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on escalating tensions with #Iran. Cabinet officials must give Congress a sense of what they’re doing and why.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) was similarly aghast by the possible deployment of troops.

“Remember Iraq? A President told America that we had to go into war because Iraq had nuclear weapons,” Kaine tweeted. “Now look at Iran: We had a diplomatic deal that was working. President Trump broke the deal, and now he’s saying we could wage war against them? This is the height of idiocy.”

Trump, for his part, is playing ignorant, saying Tuesday that he didn’t know about the plan and only read about it in the Times report.

“We have not planned for that,” Trump said of the proposal to send 120,000 troops to the Middle East. “Hopefully we’re not going to have to plan for that and if we did that, we’d send a hell of a lot more troops than that.”

Trump, it seems, either doesn’t know what his own military advisers are planning, or does and thinks their ideas aren’t extreme enough. Both options are terrifying.

Published with permission of The American Independent. 

IMAGE: Iranian-made Emad missile is displayed during a ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, in Tehran February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi