Michael Thomas Flynn is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, and chair of the Military Intelligence Board.
Trump has purportedly
offered General Michael Flynn a post as National Security Advisor.
This is GREAT news ...
Flynn - a 3-star general - is former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and director of Intelligence for the Joint Special Operations Command.
Why do we like Flynn?
Because he:
- Said "What we have is this continued investment in conflict. The more weapons we give, the more bombs we drop, that just... fuels the conflict. Some of that has to be done but I am looking for the other solutions"
- Said "We definitely put fuel on a fire [by going into Iraq]. Absolutely... there is no doubt, history will not be kind to the decisions that were made certainly in 2003. Going into Iraq, definitely... it was a strategic mistake."
- He has called for greater accountability for US soldiers involved in abuses against Iraqi detainees:"You know I hope that as more and more information comes out that people are held accountable... History is not going to look kind on those actions... and we will be held, we should be held, accountable for many, many years to come."
- Blew the whistle on the U.S. complicity of "the West, Gulf countries and Turkey" in the rise of ISIS
I am hopeful that Flynn will help overturn decades of Neocon and Neoliberal
warmongering...
Comment: Washington's Blog does offer
a warning to Gen. Flynn that he should not forget his own words:
Let's not let Flynn forget any of these words. On Syria he has blurted out some similar facts to those Trump has also articulated:
"Publicly commenting for the first time on a previously-classified August 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) memo, which had predicted 'the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in Eastern Syria (...) this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want' and confirmed that 'the Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and [Al Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria,' the former DIA chief told Head to Head that 'the [Obama] Administration' didn't 'listen' to these warnings issued by his agency's analysts. 'I don't know if they turned a blind eye,' he said. 'I think it was a decision, I think it was a willful decision.'"
Let that sink in. Flynn is taking credit for having predicted that backing fighters in Syria could lead to something like ISIS. And he's suggesting that Obama received this information and chose to ignore it.
Now, here's a question: What impact will "bombing the hell" out of people have? What good will "killing their families" do? Spreading nukes around? "Stealing their oil"? Making lists of and banning Muslims? Is it Flynn's turn to willfully ignore key facts and common sense in order to "advise" against his better judgement a new president who prefers to be advised to do what he was going to do anyway?
Or can Flynn be convinced to apply lessons learned at huge human cost to similar situations going forward even with a president of a different party, race, and IQ?
It will remain to be seen how well Trump will take advice. But one would think Flynn was offered the position of head of the NSA because his views and those of Trump more or less coincide.
Great way to get the military on side too! For a very pro-military country, the military are probably at the end of their patience with the lack of respect they get from civilian 'leaders'.