On the day when Americans held captive in Russia were returned in exchange for Vladimir Putin’s favorite assassin, national-security communications adviser John Kirby said President Biden was told only the day before that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was approving life sentences for the three terrorists who murdered 3,000 civilians on 9/11.
Our commander in chief, with the final authority over every military decision, was not consulted — after two decades of war, after a bloody bug-out from Afghanistan, and after 23 years of litigation and tumult about Guantanamo. So he chose to do nothing when given a 24-hour heads-up by Austin that just happened to coincide with the prisoner swap?
The SecDef is a courtier; it’s preposterous to believe he and his staff did not quietly consult and coordinate with the White House about such a momentous decision. This is disgraceful prevarication, ignored by the press.
Within the military, military lawyers are not independent from the military chain of command. Lawyers cannot tell the chairman of the Joint Chiefs: “We lawyers have decided not to pursue the death penalty for those who murdered 3,000 civilians in New York City. And you, general, do not have the authority to refuse our decision. So keep quiet and stay out of our way.” By silence, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs acceded to anonymous military lawyers. Why did he do that? We don’t know.
Kirby is trotted out to defend the indefensible by claiming the president wasn’t informed — let alone consulted — until two days ago. Someone else made a decision somewhere else. And gosh, we got our captives back from Russia. So let’s celebrate. After all, 9/11 was a long time ago.