Hey Marco Rubio and Glenn Greenwald, This Is the Real Problem With Milley, Trump, & Nuclear Weapons

[kpete]

by David Corn September 18, 2021


A huge mushroom cloud rises above Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands following an atomic test blast conducted by the US military in 1946. AP

Some of us have worried about Donald Trump and nuclear weapons for years—long before this week’s dustup over the revelation in a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa that Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, believing Trump had become unhinged after the January 6 riot, took secret action to limit his ability to launch a nuclear strike. I’ve written repeatedly about the frightening prospect of having an erratic, psychologically damaged person, often driven by revenge, possessing the power to destroy the world on his own say-so. In August 2017, I asked in a headline, “Can Anyone Stop Trump From Launching Nuclear Weapons?” The answer: not without a full-scale military mutiny. Milley’s move—he told senior military officials in the Pentagon war room not to accept launch orders from Trump unless he was involved—was no mutiny. It did, though, violate the rules; he is not within the chain of command when it comes to pushing the nuclear button. If Trump—or any other president—decides it’s Armageddon time, that’s it. No questions asked. Ka-boom. Big time. Human civilization could be over. This is the true outrage, not Milley’s defiance of S.O.P.

So technically and legally he exceeded his authority. But what would you have him do? Stand by and watch a madman blow up the world?

The command and control system we have puts him in an impossible position: Follow the rules and see the world destroyed or break the rules and violate his oath of office. It’s the insane procedures we have that are to blame, not Milley. We have to change them.

.............

Rubio and Greenwald are right that Milley crossed a line and engaged in a power grab. This does lead to an obvious argument: If the US military undermines civilian control regarding this matter, it could do so in many other ways. You know, the slippery slope. Yet there are no other matters quite like the decision to engage in nuclear warfare. It’s a slope all its own. A far greater threat to the nation than a military commander (in the final days of a presidency led by a deranged fellow) implementing against-the-rules safeguards to prevent nuclear war is the ongoing threat of a system in which one man, no matter his state of mind, can annihilate the planet. There is a 25th Amendment procedure to remove an unwell and potentially dangerous president, but it is a cumbersome process that probably could not be invoked quickly during a crisis. That leaves us with what we now can call Milley’s Choice. Until we address the profound underlying problem, the nation—and the entire world—will be at greater risk.


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[Klaralven]

1. Presidents cannot declare war; only Congress can.

First use of nuclear weapons absent an imminent threat of their use against the US is equivalent to a declaration of war.

It would be unconstitutional, and no military officer in the chain of command should obey such an order.

[Klaralven]

11. The AUMF does not apply to China

IN GENERAL.—That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ40/PLAW-107publ40.pdf

[Tommymac]

9. They have less then 30 minutes to react in case of a real strike.

No time to declare war.

The system has held up so far, thanks to a few individuals like Gen Milley and an unknown Russian Col who similarly defied the chain of command and prevented a Russian First Strike in the 1980's.

Watch it here

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/command-and-control/


The system can be overhauled to prevent this in the future. I'm sure a lot of smart people are working on it now.

Wish we didn't have nukes at all - but sadly they are needed to keep MAD as a real deterrent.

[Klaralven]

12. If China launched or if we had clear evidence of intention to launch a nuclear strike, he could also

But the President has no authority to unilaterally order a nuclear strike against a nation that has not initiated the process of a nuclear strike on the US and/or without having initiated a conventional attack on our forces.

[thucythucy]

2. I recall from my reading of history how German generals

were castigated for "just following orders" and placing their oath of allegiance to a brutal sociopath above any concern for the millions of innocent people he wanted to murder.

That said, our whole "balance of terror" strategy of "mutually assured destruction" remains an existential threat to civilization, right up there with climate change. As long ago as 1962 President Kennedy is said to have remarked how insane it was that two men should have the ability to exterminate hundreds of millions of people at the push of a few buttons.

Also: the 25th amendment should have been invoked as soon as people at the White House insisted TFG had to be tested for dementia. Instead, Dolt 45 went out and bragged about how he'd "aced" a test designed to determine if someone was competent enough to manage their checkbook. And his followers cheered.

That alone demonstrates how fucked we are as a nation.

The part that hits home is at 1:13:24:

Albert Speer: "Field Marshall Milch, do you realize who you're talking to?"
Milch: "Reich Minister Speer, do you realize who you are working for?"

[Grins]

3. One of Lawrence O'Donnell best arguments against Trump in 2016

He would carry the “biscuit,” the code needed for the “football” always near him.

So good an argument I saved it. (And can’t find it after computer crashed.)

[gulliver]

4. We need to pass the "no first use" bill to make it clear it's an unlawful order to launch first

[KS Toronado]

5. I agree 100%

Then can we get all countries with nuclear weapons to pass similar laws?

[gulliver]

7. I don't think it's useful to try to get other countries to pass similar laws.

Some other countries may already have similar laws. I don't know. But I don't think it's possible to trust the laws of other countries. It doesn't matter, imo. Our making a law that we won't launch first would just be there to allow military personnel to disregard orders to launch first made by a nutball president.

[gratuitous]

6. DID Milley exceed his authority?

My reading on those staff meetings is that Gen. Milley wanted to be sure everyone on his team knew the protocol for launching a nuclear strike and that it would be scrupulously followed. That protocol includes notifying the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (at the time, Milley) that they had been ordered to strike with nuclear weapons. Milley didn't want any unpleasant surprises because the Trump administration had decided to do another end run around the rule they didn't like. Trump and his lackeys constantly broke protocol and took short-cuts on procedure when there was an objective they wanted to achieve. Violating the Emoluments Clause to line Trump's pockets is one thing; launching a nuclear missile is quite another.

As for his back-channel communications with the Chinese, I trust Milley's judgment. He could tell that China was getting alarmed about Trump's increasingly erratic behavior, and he also knew that he couldn't publicly soothe their concerns without undermining Trump. If we want to get really picky about "unofficial" contact with a foreign government, let's talk about Sen. Cotton and his 46 co-signers (one of whom was *gasp* Marco Rubio!) sending letters in 2015 to Iran to undermine the framework the Obama administration was working out with them.

[dobleremolque]

10. People can nitpick all they want

about whether Milley should have waited until there was an actual order issued, but I think Milley will be remembered ... or more precisely forgotten ... along with Vasili Arkipov, the Soviet submariner who refused an order to fire a nuclear torpedo during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[Moebym]

14. Greenwald is a chaos agent, pure and simple. n/t