But experts say the constitutional arrangement of civilian control over the military can become strained when a president disregards the counsel of generals and admirals, or never seeks it in the first place.
So these "experts" are saying that the only way to preserve our tradition of civilian control over the military is if the civilians do what the military says should be done? Civilian "control" is "strained" when the military doesn't get what it wants? Excuse me? I think I'd rather have a straightforward military dictatorship that gets rid of the middle man, so we know what we have, than define civilian control over the military the way those experts do now.
And if this is the way civilian dominance is to work, where were these experts when Obama ordered American troops out of Iraq in 2011 over the objections of the military that wanted to defend our hard-won gains?
Where were these experts when Obama ordered the draw down of American troops in Afghanistan before our military could conduct the second part of the two-phase offensive they planned with the surges of troops Obama ordered in 2009--all to claim the war was over before his reelection campaign?
And are you really going to tell me that our military didn't want to run to the sound of the guns on September 11, 2012 when our ambassador to Libya was killed (and three others) and our people were under siege in Benghazi?
But no expert opinions back then, huh?
As for the Navy SEAL issue, I'm actually sympathetic to the Navy secretary who in his resignation letter said he was trying to keep "good order and discipline" in the service. Keep in mind that military law, the UCMJ, is about creating an effective military and not providing justice to individual members of the military who go through military "justice" proceedings.
So I will not judge the issue based on whether this whole thing is fair to the SEAL. So just on that alone I lean toward the Navy which wants to remove the man from the SEALs despite Trump saying the SEAL should remain in service.
But the fact is that the military was obligated to obey Obama just as they are obligated to obey Trump. That is what civilian control of the military means. Those so-called experts need to rethink their expertise.
