In recent weeks, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley has received mounting criticism over an alleged call that took place in secret with an official from the Chinese Communist Party. This culminated in a hearing this week where a number of GOP members questioned the General not only on the call but also on the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. Florida Rep. Michael Waltz (R), who’s vocally opposed the President’s handling of the withdrawal, questioned Milley on the subject, adding that President Biden “is selling a fiction” to the American people.
After the controversy surrounding General Milley became a national discussion, a number of GOP members called for his firing.
According to the book Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, and as reported by Axios, Milley, in communication with a Chinese general, informed the general “that Trump would not attack China and that if Trump did decide to attack then Milley would give his Chinese counterpart a secret heads up.”
This infuriated lawmakers, but President Joe Biden (D) assured that he had “great confidence in General Milley.”
However, this week, tension culminated in this week’s hearing when lawmakers like Rep. Waltz questioned Milley, Commander of U.S. Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
“How many soldiers are we going to lose because we have no allies on the ground with no bases in the region?” questioning Waltz.
“The Panjshir has been taken. Frankly, they are being slaughtered as we speak with our weapons, our own damn equipment. Our allies are being slaughtered,” Waltz commented, adding that “every morning we wake up to beheading videos, to executions, to people being hunted down with our own database.”
The Green Beret also launched criticism at President Biden, using a map to explain his argument. He expressed that “the President of the United States is selling a fiction that we can do what we are doing over here,” he said pointing to Afghanistan on a map, “with nothing, what we are doing over here,” he continued pointing to Iraq on a map, “with neighboring base access, with allies on the ground and with ocean access.”
