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David Petraeus Schools The White House On Why Citizens Can Criticize Generals

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Retired Gen. David Petraeus explained to the White House why it is important and appropriate in a democracy for citizens to criticize generals.

Video:

Transcript via ABC’s This Week:

RADDATZ: I want to start with what the White House said, about it being highly inappropriate to debate a four-star general.

PETRAEUS: Well, I think we’re all fair game. And I certainly experienced lots of that in testimony on Capitol Hill during the surge in Iraq and subsequent endeavors in Afghanistan central command and so forth.

We, in uniform, protect the rights of those to criticize us, frankly. I remember opening The New York Times in the morning of the big testimony on the surge at the six-month mark, and there was a full-page ad attacking me personally.

I didn’t appreciate it, needless to say.

RADDATZ: I remember that. It said, “general betray us.”

PETRAEUS: Yes. But at the end of the day, we are fiercely protective of the rights of our Americans to express themselves even if that includes critizing us.

Being in the military does not make someone immune from criticism. No matter how much the Trump White House wishes that this was true, it isn’t. Gen. Petraeus was correct. No one from the Bush administration ever claimed that Petraeus was above criticism during the troop surge in Iraq. In a free society, people must have the right to criticize their government.

The government is of the people, not above the people. Donald Trump has managed to bring the vast majority of the country together in a common stand against his authoritarian leanings. The military is not Trump’s personal force. They don’t exist for the President to hide behind when he gets himself into trouble.

The military understands the rights that they are protecting clearly better than Trump, who is fighting to undermine them.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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