Retired Four Star General Predicts “Civil-Military Crisis” If Trump Elected, Reflects Pathetic State of Modern Flag Officers

By Connor O’Brien. The election of Republican Donald Trump as president could mean a breakdown in the relationship between civilian and military leaders, a former top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan warned Sunday.

In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” retired Marine Gen. John Allen criticized Trump for his rhetoric on the wider use of military force and torture. And if Trump followed through with those pledges, Allen said, it would create “a civil military crisis, the like of which we’ve not seen in this country before.”

“It’s an inherent responsibility in who we are,” Allen said. “So what we need to do is ensure that we don’t create an environment that puts us on a track conceivably where the United States military finds itself in a civil military crisis with a commander in chief who would have us do illegal things.”

“That’s a major issue that we’re facing here, the potential for a civil military crisis where the military could be ordered to conduct illegal activities,” he added.

But Allen, a supporter of Hillary Clinton who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, said he hoped it wouldn’t come to a public feud between military leaders and a Trump administration. (Read more from “Retired Four Star General Predicts “Civil-Military Crisis” If Trump Elected, Reflects Pathetic State of Modern Flag Officers” HERE)

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Former Joint Chiefs Chairman: Retired Generals Shouldn’t Speak at Political Conventions

By Jeff Schogol. Retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is arguing that retired general officers should not endorse political candidates.

In a letter to the Washington Post, Dempsey wrote that retired Marine Gen. John Allen and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn crossed the line by speaking at the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively. . .

“As generals, they have an obligation to uphold our apolitical traditions,” Dempsey wrote. “They have just made the task of their successors — who continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our security — more complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so.” (Read more from “Former Joint Chiefs Chairman: Retired Generals Shouldn’t Speak at Political Conventions” HERE)

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Clinton: Trump’s Comments on Gen. Allen ‘Prove’ He Should Not Be Commander-In-Chief

By Liz Kreutz. Hillary Clinton on Saturday ripped into Donald Trump for his critique of retired four-star Gen. John Allen, saying it’s unpresidential to “insult and deride our generals.”

“Just yesterday, he went after retired Gen. John Allen who commanded our troops in Afghanistan. . . . Our commander in chief shouldn’t insult and deride our generals, retired or otherwise. . .”

On Friday, Trump unleashed on Allen, who delivered a scathing critique of the Republican nominee during remarks to the Democratic National Convention.

“Let me tell you, I think my kids have more star power, I really do. I think they do, than everybody I saw,” Trump said of the DNC. “They had a general named John Allen. And he, I never met him, and he got up and he started talking about Trump, Trump, Trump. Never met him

“And you know who he is? He’s a failed, he was the general fighting ISIS. I would say he hasn’t done so well, right? Not so well.” (Read more from “Clinton: Trump’s Comments on Gen. Allen ‘Prove’ He Should Not Be Commander-In-Chief” HERE)

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