Tag: Halifax, Nova Scotia

Heres why the Joint Chiefs chairman applauded Greece for welcoming one group of migrants while U.S. troops are helping President Trump stop another. So a reporter asked Dunford to square the two images and explain why he supported the president’s order for those who question whether it’s a moral action. “I reject the characterization or comparison,” replied Dunford, saying that the troops are simply helping the Department of Homeland Security by providing logistics, helicopter rides to Border Patrolmen, and the like. Our job is not to deny migrants access to the United States. On Wednesday, Mattis didn’t wait to be asked, saying in his introductory remarks, “It’s obviously a moral and ethical mission to support our border patrolmen.” Neither leaders’ answers are likely to appease critics of the troops’ presence or the president’s action, and Dunford’s didn’t satisfy the national security policy veterans at this conference. This is not a military threat. The Pentagon knows that. Dunford confidently said he thought it would not, and here’s why: “We do have a very strong, nonpartisan, apolitical ethos in the U.S. military. I don’t think in our nation we want generals to be deciding where we use force. We want generals to be deciding how to best accomplish the political objectives that have been outlined by our properly elected officials.” Dunford stressed to the international audience at Halifax that U.S. troops take their oath to the constitution, and not to a political party or person, and they recite the oath out loud and in public – a good practice for the chairman to continue.