Alex Berenson Quotes

History is replete with instances of military coups. In the final analysis, in every country at all times, there is no force in a society that could cope with a military which decides to act on its own. The Founding Fathers were very conscious of this reality and history, hence the firm civilian control of the military in America.

He was convicted as a War Criminal, sentenced to death, and then his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. His quote is important because this was the defense that was totally rejected by the Nuremberg Tribunal—a solder is not required to obey an order to commit a war crime and if he does, he is as guilty as the person who gave the order.

Rush ran the hospitals for the Revolutionary Army and talked to many officers and enlisted men, and also observed much of the British military practices. These suggestions were discussed but never passed as regulations. They are fascinating insights into the problems of the general officers of the time who were generally selected for their socioeconomic status rather than other qualifications. Note the drunkenness limitation for a commanding general was proposed to be limited to only 1 allowed bout of drunkenness every 24 hours. It was, he thought, totally unrealistic to require generals to be always sober when on duty. With the mediocre quality of senior officers, Washington had to depend on foreigners like Lafayette, Von Steuben and others. And Generals who were leading attacks out in front of their men like Benedict Arnold immediately became heroes and one of the reasons he ended up as a traitor was that he thought that he was badly treated relative to the “society” Generals who would not accept him and denigrated his exploits when they themselves had never been close to a battle front.

Kleinst, one of the guilty war criminals, is here quoted with the defense that most Nazi war criminals uses—namely that they were obeying orders. But international law makes no distinction between military and political orders, and it is the obligation of a soldier to refuse to obey an illegal military order and the orders he obeyed were illegal and contrary to International law—an order to kill babies and young children can never be legal for example.

This has always been a problem for the US Military. Attempts at prohibition have been bad for morale, and there is a cultural tradition that military men drink alcohol. However in the Gulf War, our military men and women stationed in Saudi Arabia could not drink as a consequence of the Islamic prohibition of alcohol in Saudi Arabia. There has never been, in the history of our military a period with fewer courts martials, and discipline problems in general. Very few assaults, rapes and murders.

MacArthur had been the Commander of our Military Forces in Korea. He had a huge ego, and he wanted to cross the border and attack China since Chinese Troops were aiding the North Vietnamese. He had previously assured the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President that the Chinese would not send troops into Korea, but he was then wrong. And when they had attacked, they had erased the territorial gains that MacArthur had previously gained. The Joint Chief’s of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State had decided upon a strategy which this time did not follow MacArthur’s strategic advice. The President approved the strategy, but MacArthur spoke and acted contrary. The President met with MacArthur and reiterated the strategy that the President approved. But MacArthur did not follow the orders of the Joint Chiefs. At the time, he and Eisenhower were America’s two most famous military leaders, and of the two MacArthur was senior and thought that he should be President. After he was fired, MacArthur addressed a Joint Session of Congress and gave his "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech which was his first active step towards the Presidency. It was a very sentimental speech with little content and nothing about why he had disobeyed orders. He was totally shocked when it was Eisenhower who was selected to run for President and not him.

General Howe was the Commander of British Troops in the American Revolution. The early American Army was neither professional, experienced, or well officered. Execution as a means of punishment was much more common than in the larger, professional British army. Rush ran the hospitals for the Revolutionary Army and talked to many officers and enlisted men, and also observed much of the British military practices.