Retired General: Lloyd Austin Went AWOL and Deserted His Post. Fire Him.

But-but-but -- he's a Very Private Man! We can't expect a Very Private Man who Values His Privacy to remain at his post until relieved!

That's racist!

Ed Morrissey:

Kenneth Israel has had enough of the apologists at the White House and elsewhere trying to defend the indefensible. In an essay today at The Messenger, the retired major general blasts those spin efforts to hide what everyone can plainly see happened at the Department of Defense.

Lloyd Austin went AWOL, regardless of his personal desire for privacy or the illness for which Austin was being treated. Everything else is just "crazy excuses" for abandoning a post, Israel declares...

Furthermore, Israel concludes, Austin's selfish actions in pursuit of "privacy" contradicts everything drilled into the men and women who serve under him in uniform. Any one of those would be punished for quitting a post without proper relief. What kind of signal does it send when their penultimate civilian commander decides to simply disappear out of a concern for his pride?

I abandoned my sentry post because I wanted to be alone with my thoughts for a few days. I'm a Private Man. How dare you question me disappearing without leave for a long weekend!!!

More at the link, including excerpts from Israel's post.

At RedState, Andrew Malcolm writes that Austin needs to go.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who presides over 1.4 million U.S. military volunteers, left his Pentagon post without notice or authorization and kept his absence a secret for almost a week. That's called AWOL, even if you're in charge.

...

Colleagues describe the veteran as an intensely private person.

Sorry, you give up privacy when you take on an appointed job that's high up in the chain of presidential succession, leading the men and women volunteers who comprise our national defense.

How's he going to prosecute the next Bowe Bergdahl who leaves his guard post without notice and his fellow troops vulnerable?

He can't.

...

The event and its bungled handling also create a widening array of difficulties for an administration that's already acquired a convincing reputation for incompetence.

...

Word at the moment is that Joe Biden is not considering seeking Austin's resignation. Biden hates facing up to such confrontations, so he won't. And the world sees this weakness in someone supposed to be commander in chief.

Senator Tommy Tuberville: Austin lectured me about military readiness.

Then he went AWOL.

Tuberville said, "It's outrageous that the head of the largest military in history has been hospitalized for a week and he didn't tell anybody. You know what that tells me? There's no respect for Joe Biden being the President of the United States. Somebody was told, I promise you that, but they didn't tell Biden because he's the Rodney Dangerfield of being President, no respect. This puts us in danger. Thank God our enemies didn't take advantage of it. These people just spent months lecturing me about acting officials, these promotions I've been holding for abortion. They've been telling me Sen. Tuberville's holding back on military readiness, and we have an AWOL Secretary of Defense that doesn't tell anybody. ... At the end of the day, this is Joe Biden's responsibility. He should have been fired."

The Very Private Secretary of Defense needs to Seek Further Opportunities in the Very Private Sector.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:25 PM

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