{"id":303575,"date":"2021-09-08T16:38:50","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T16:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=368928"},"modified":"2021-09-08T16:38:50","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T16:38:50","slug":"general-failure-how-the-u-s-military-lied-about-the-9-11-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/09\/08\/general-failure-how-the-u-s-military-lied-about-the-9-11-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"General Failure: How the U.S. Military Lied About the 9\/11 Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"
Pretty much\u00a0every<\/u> day since 9\/11, the U.S.\u00a0military has disciplined soldiers who failed to do their jobs properly. They have been punished for minor offenses, like\u00a0being late for duty, and for serious crimes, such as murder or assault. Since 2001, there have been more than 1.3 million cases of discipline in the armed forces, according to the\u00a0Pentagon’s\u00a0annual reports<\/a> on\u00a0military justice.<\/p>\n But the generals who misled Congress and the American public about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have not needed to worry about\u00a0negative consequences\u00a0for their careers. After 20\u00a0years of conducting a\u00a0disinformation campaign<\/a> about what was really happening on the ground, not a single U.S. general has faced any punishment. The reverse happened\u00a0\u2014 they were praised for their deceptively upbeat assessments and given more stars, and when they retired with generous military pensions, they landed high-paying jobs<\/a> on corporate boards, further profiting from their disingenuousness.<\/span><\/p>\n This disconnect is\u00a0getting new scrutiny\u00a0after\u00a0the collapse of the American\u00a0campaign in Afghanistan. Last month, a Marine officer posted a video<\/a> in which he scorched\u00a0the country’s generals for the chaos of the evacuations\u00a0from Kabul. His video went viral, especially on right-wing platforms\u00a0that\u00a0prefer to focus only\u00a0on the war’s final act under President\u00a0Joe Biden. But Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller\u2019s video\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>which elicited a rapid reaction from the military\u2019s machinery of discipline, with Scheller being relieved of his command in hours \u2014 has stirred up a deeper critique\u00a0of America\u2019s generals.<\/p>\n