General Milley was asked about a quote from a new book called “Peril” written by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. In the book Gen Milley is quoted saying “General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.” That’s one heck of a damning statement. Milley was asked about the validity of that quote during a Congressional Hearing.
“On Wednesday, Milley told lawmakers that his loyalty to the United States and the Constitution is “absolute” and all of his conversations with his Chinese counterpart were conducted “with the knowledge and coordination of civilian oversight.”
His calls to Li in October and January were prompted by “concerning intelligence” that led military leaders to believe the Chinese were concerned the United States would attack them, Milley testified before the House Armed Services Committee.
“I’m not going to tip off any enemy to what the United States is going to do in an actual plan,” Milley said.
“What I’m trying to do is persuade an adversary that’s heavily armed, that was clearly – and unambiguously, according to intelligence reports – very nervous about our behavior and what was happening inside this country,” said Milley, who has acknowledged he talked to Woodward for the book. “And they were concerned that we – President Trump – was going to launch an attack. He was not going to launch an attack.”
“I knew he wasn’t going to launch an attack,” Milley continued. “At the direction of the secretary of defense, I engaged the Chinese in order to persuade them to do that. I would never tip off any enemy to any kind of surprise thing that we were going to do. That’s a different context than that conversation.”
Milley said his calls to Li were meant to de-escalate tensions between China and the United States.”
“…the Chinese thought wrongly that the United States is going to attack them. I am certain, guaranteed certain, that President Trump had no intent to attack and it was my task to make sure I communicated that. And the purpose was to deescalate—”
“Did you or did you not tell him that if we were going to attack you would let him know?” Rep Hartzler Asked.
“As part of that conversation, I said, “General Li, there’s not going to be a war. There is not going to be an attack between great powers. And if there was, the tensions would build up. There’d be calls going back and forth from all kinds of senior officials.” I said, “Hell, General Li, I’ll probably give you a call, but we’re not going to attack you. Trust me, we’re not going to attack you.” These are two great powers and I am doing my best to transmit the president’s intent, President Trump’s intent, to ensure that the American people are protected from an incident that could escalate.”
“I understand your intent,” Rep Hartzler explained. “But I think you articulating that, that you would tell him, you would give him a call, I think is worthy of your resignation. I just think that’s against our country that you would give our number one adversary that information and tell him that…”
Watch The Clip Below.
General Milley telling China — our top adversary — that he would warn them if America was planning to attack is worthy of his resignation. pic.twitter.com/hk3qA2BqZN
— Archive: Rep. Vicky Hartzler (@RepHartzler) September 29, 2021
The trouble here is the quote from the book. If the full context of what he said was in the book and that’s just an inciting snippet, fine, then it’s not half as damning. But if it’s just that quote, then Milley could be backpedaling here, attempting to save his job. Hartzler is right he shouldn’t have said he would tip off China, even if he didn’t mean it. But really Milley dropped the ball when it comes to Afghanistan, so I wouldn’t doubt if he said something foolish to China as well.
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