The open letter, published on Monday by a group called ‘Flag Officers 4 America’, questions the result of the 2020 election, President Biden’s “mental and physical condition,” and sounds off on a number of hot-button topics, including China, the Iran nuclear deal, critical race theory, and the border wall.
According to the group’s website, the flag officers – comprising some 124 generals and admirals, many of whom have been out of uniform for decades – caution that this was a conflict “like no other time since our founding in 1776” between supporters of “socialism and Marxism” and supporters of “constitutional freedom and liberty.”
The US has “taken a hard left turn toward socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government,” the letter claims, calling on Americans to “get involved” and elect political representatives who will “defend our constitutional republic” and obey the “will of the people.”
Among the notable signatories are retired Army Brig. General Donald Bolduc, currently running for a Senate seat in New Hampshire; former Army Lt. General William Boykin, one-time deputy undersecretary of defense under President George W. Bush; and retired Vice Admiral John Poindexter, who was President Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser during the Iran-Contra scandal.
Acknowledging to Politico that “retired generals and admirals normally do not engage in political actions,” the letter’s organizer, retired Major General Joe Arbuckle, said that to “remain silent would be a dereliction of duty” since the “situation facing our nation today is dire.”
“It is critical that the threats to our national security be brought to the attention of the American people and that is the main purpose of the letter,” Arbuckle told the outlet.
Among the litany of domestic threats listed in the letter are “election integrity,” using executive orders to “bypass Congress,” “open border” policies, Big Tech “censorship of free speech and expression,” loss of “jobs and energy independence” via the abandoned Keystone Pipeline and “anarchy” in certain cities.
The letter also rails against using the military as “political pawns” against “non-existent threats” – a reference to the deployment of troops around the US Capitol after the January 6 riot. It also slams the “corrosive infusion” of “political correctness” into the military through policies like the “divisive critical race theory.”
But the signatories reserved some of the harshest criticism for Biden’s capacity to lead. At 77 years, he is the oldest serving US president in history – a fact that has prompted questions about his mental and physical condition that they say “cannot be ignored.”
“He must be able to quickly make accurate national security decisions involving life and limb anywhere, day or night,” the letter notes.
While the Pentagon has refused to comment on the letter, several prominent retired military personnel have weighed in on its political tone and timing.
Among them was retired Admiral Mike Mullen, one-time chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said the letter was full of “right-wing Republican talking points” and that it “hurts the military and by extension it hurts the country.”
“It’s out of cycle. Normally those kinds of things occur in an election,” said Mullen, who also told Politico that the missive featured only a handful of three-star generals and no four-star ones. “It’s not very senior… In our world it’s not very significant in terms of people.”
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