Pete Hegseth has Trump’s back but not Mark Milley's
Purging an Army general sounds like something Russia would do
By Mike Sorrell
As a telegenic, macho weekend anchor on Fox News, Pete Hegseth gave the impression he was a tough soldier who always had the backs of his “brothers,” whether at war or on television, where he convinced Trump, during his first administration, to pardon soldiers the Army had convicted of war crimes.
Hegseth is now secretary of defense, thanks to Trump and the Republican Senate.
Will Hegseth have the backs of the 3 million people in the U.S. military and the civilian workers who operate the Defense Department?
Clearly not. A day after Hegseth walked into the Pentagon, he ordered that retired Gen. Mark Milley can no longer have a security detail to protect him. As Hegseth knows, Milley is high on a list of people targeted for assassination by Iran.
Hegseth not only removed Milley’s security detail but also revoked his security clearance and said the Pentagon will investigate and determine whether one of Milley’s four stars should be taken away. Also, two portraits of Milley are no longer on the walls. Taken down were a portrait of Milley among former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a portrait of Milley among former Army chiefs of staff.
The removal of the portraits was described as “petty but chilling” by Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson. “That reminded me of the way photographs of the May Day parade in the old Soviet Union would be altered to erase officials who had fallen out of favor and been purged. Milley was being treated as though he never existed,” wrote Robinson.
In 2020, when Milley was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first Trump administration, U.S. forces used a drone to assassinate Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s foremost military commander. Milley remains on a list of people Iran intends to kill as payback for the death of Soleimani.
Trump’s desire for revenge against Milley stems from several things.
When demonstrators assembled in front of the White House to protest the death of George Floyd, Trump asked Milley and then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper to provide 10,000 troops to go into the streets. Milley and Esper talked him out of it.
Also, Milley later apologized for walking in uniform with Trump when he staged an act of political theater in the streets after the demonstration.
In addition, Trump was angered that, during the January 6, 2021, insurrection on Capitol Hill, Milley called his counterpart in China to tell him not to worry, that the U.S. government was not going to attack China. The call was needed because Chinese forces had been put on high alert because of what was happening in Washington. Milley told others he was making the call but did not tell Trump.
And so, Trump, characteristically, has ordered an act of revenge against Milley.
Hegseth obviously did not stand up to Trump and attempt to talk him out of it. Like Hegseth did on television, he could have tried to use his communication skills to gently contend that Milley was a good soldier who is now out to pasture and, at 66, should be left in retirement without fear of getting an assassin's bullet in the back or drone-launched missile in his home or neighborhood. Hegseth, a former National Guard lieutenant colonel with combat experience, could have played the veteran's card, as he did on Fox News.
Maybe he never tried.
Hegseth does not have Gen. Milley’s back.
If Milley is assassinated by Iranians, Defense Secretary Hegseth and President Trump will have blood on their hands.
So, to sum up what's unfolded in the relationship between the two men, Hegseth, with Trump's help, got war criminals out of prison.
Trump, with Hegseth’s help, put Milley in danger of death by an assassination carried out by Iran, an enemy of the United States.
Misplaced priorities? That’s the least of it.
Providing aid to a vengeful enemy is closer to what’s going on here.