Lack of accountability for those in command

It was on 14 May 1952 that an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The subject of the article was the collision of two U.S. naval ships, the USS Wasp and USS Hobson, resulting in the deaths of 176 souls. In the military, the commander with authority over his vessel is also responsible for everything that happens or does not happen under his command. The article correctly states that with responsibility goes accountability.

We have just witnessed the leadership at the highest levels of our military stand by in silent approval while the present administration dictated the surrender of our role in Afghanistan while knowingly abandoning Bagram air base, the abandoning of over 2,000 armored vehicles, including 70 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAPS), 40 aircraft, including UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, scan eagle drones, and an assortment of other weapons and material, and, most shameful of all, an estimated 200 American civilians and thousands of Afgan supporters.

It is clear that the commander of CENTCOM, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff knew that the carrying out the President’s time table would mean that tens of billions of dollars of state of the art military equipment would be abandoned to the Taliban. However, most unforgiveable, they knew that it also meant that an unknown number of American civilians would be left behind as hostages or worse and that most of our Afgan supporters would be abandoned to be slaughtered, breaking a solum promise to protect these people from reprisal.

The abandonment of Americans violates the core premise of the U.S. military to never leave a fallen solder or Marine behind. Ever. By capitulating in allowing this to occur on their watch, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Commander of CENTCOM have dishonored the United States, the U.S. military and themselves.

We hear nothing from these people. And so I want to quote the last lines of the above mentioned Wall Street Journal Article because it is most applicable here. The article addresses the impact of the lack of accountability of personnel of high authority.

“ …as the cruel sea has taught, lack of accountability is an end to the confidence and trust in the men who lead , for men will not long trust leaders who feel themselves beyond accountability for what they do” (or don’t do) “And when men lose confidence and trust in those who lead, order disintegrates into chaos…”

These leaders had the option to stand against what they must have known would be a debacle that would tarnish the reputation of the U.S. and our military. They could have done the honorable thing and resigned in protest before this disaster ensued.

Dave Clough lives in Bigfork.