An Army officer working at the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has resigned in protest of the US’s “unqualified” support for the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
Maj. Harrison Mann posted his resignation letter on LinkedIn and said it was initially distributed within the DIA on April 16. In the letter, he said the DIA does not only “inform policy” but “facilitates, and at times, directly executes policy,” referring to US support for Israel.
“The policy that has never been far from my mind for the past six months is the nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel, which has enabled and empowered the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians,” Mann said in the letter. “As we were recently reminded, this unconditional support also encourages reckless escalation that risks wider war.”
He said that his work at the DIA had “unquestionably” contributed to the support for Israel and that the “horrific and heartbreaking” images coming from Gaza caused him great shame. Mann submitted his resignation on November 1, but according to The New York Times, it’s unclear when he will be separated from the Army.
Mann said in the letter that he tried to continue working his job and hoped that at some point the slaughter would come to an end or that President Biden would alter his policy of unconditional support. “However, at some point — whatever the justification — you’re either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you’re not,” he said.
Mann pointed to his Jewish heritage as one of his reasons for resigning and speaking out. “And I want to clarify that as the descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing — my grandfather refused to ever purchase products manufactured in Germany — where the paramount importance of ‘never again’ and the inadequacy of ‘just following orders’ were oft repeated,” he said.
“I am haunted by the knowledge that I have failed those principles. But I also have hope that my grandfather would afford me some grace; that he would still be proud of me for stepping away from this war, however belatedly,” Mann added.
In his post on LinkedIn that was written on Monday, Mann said that he received an “unexpected outpouring of support” after he distributed the letter internally. He said that he was sharing the letter publicly to show his colleagues that they’re not alone if they feel opposed to what they’re supporting in Gaza.
“It is clear that this week, some of you will still be asked to provide support—directly or indirectly—to the Israeli military as it conducts operations into Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza,” he said. “I am sharing it now in the hope that you too will discover you are not alone, you are not voiceless, and you are not powerless.”
There has been significant dissent within the US government over President Biden’s support for the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Three State Department officials and one Education Department official have publicly resigned in protest. The most extreme protest came from an active duty US airman, Aaron Bushnell, who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC and died of his wounds.
A conscience.
If only we could supply some for the people in Congress.
But a fist full of dollar can buy conscience at a discount on memorial weekend sale.
I would make a joke that this is an officer version of self immolation, but no, this is just another American realizing that the empire is bankrupt. Good for him.
He obviously got the glaring oxymoron of Defense Intelligence Agency. Better late than never, I suppose.
Are there many of us willing to make personal sacrifices to highlight the viscousness and fact that most of those killed are women & CHILDREN. The Israelis will never be seen as anything but monsters and child killers for decades and more. The world will never forget their inhumanity in targeting the children. They were actually talking in public about “erasing the children.” And calling the Palestinians
“human animals. But animals are rarely as viscous as humans.
Further irony that humans ARE animals but most major religions steadfastly deny this reality. Among others.
26 minute video review of Gaza combat footage from last few days. Amateurish young guy but most illuminating
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=QZwQGlCB5eN1PdtT&v=wc4OyS5k26U&feature=youtu.be
He basically reaches same conclusion as all independent military experts – the IDF has been roundly defeated.
With 35 thousand dead and thousands more to die as the world watches, IDF would call this happy fun time
Richard Medhurst is more than “amateurish”. He’s a very good analyst of Middle East events. He’s not a military expert, you’re correct about that, but his coverage of Hamas’ operations is correct. Jon Elmer at “The Electronic Intifida” also covers these same clips every week on their livestream with a more detailed analysis. Highly recommended.
Here’s an example taken from the livestream:
Palestinian resistance clones, improves existing weapons, with Jon Elmer
Thanks for the link. What strikes me most about all of the combat footage is, even after 7 months, the IDF remains tactically hopeless. Their Amour is unsupported and alone. Their infantry bunches up. They gawk out of open windows. They expose themselves like tourists.
One would think as the IDF units get rotated out of the combat zone, they would have extensive “lessons learned“ training. But the combat footage reveals the same noob mistakes over and over and over again. IDF leadership is to blame.
I really can‘t fathom why the IDF leadership is out to lunch for its own people.
A very “entertaining” video. So if, as he claims, Hamas believes they are winning than that explains why Hamas is not interested in a cease fire. So Hamas wants to continue the war even if it means more civilians deaths.
The Arabs have generously offered Israelis a lasting and secure peace based on the pre-1967 ceasefire lines. That’s something the Likud should accept PDQ, because ….
242 is better than 181 and much better than the Algerian outcome.
LOL. Arabs have been attacking Israel for 76 years and you think that if Israel retreats to 1967 borders the Arabs are going to stop. Sure. That is not going to happen.
You also have a Masada complex like the rest of the Likud ?
You live in a fantasy world. There was no peace between Israel and the Arab nations prior to 1967. And certainly none between 1967 and 1973, so what makes you think that going back to 1967 will bring peace? It will not. Egypt and Jordan were able to make peace with Israel using the current de facto boarders, so can other Arab countries do the same.
Tim:
Try and have a civil discourse with others.
An opinion is one thing but an insult like this isn’t easily tolerated because most of us here really want PEACE between ALL people. NO ONE is better than anyone else and that is what true Peace is really all about.
Donna take your own advice. And question why did you not give the same lecture to Peace for his Masada complex comment. What is the difference between “Masada complex ” and “fantasy world”?
Eqypt recognized the UNR 181 boundries between Istael and Eqypt
You might do well to read the exact agreement normalizing relations
Egypt and Israel established borders between the two countries in their peace treaty. Take a look at the 181 map between Egypt and Israel. Now take a look at modern map between the two countries. That border was agreed to in the treaty.
Read the peace treaty amigo – the border is defined right there. It’s the 181 boundary 🤣
This folks is called an american hero but will be vilified instead
history repeats: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f6d3938e8b9549dd833747392a5ed5dfe83c22edbe9498a326bce2036758f1a.jpg
This is the stuff of a real hero, for all of US and well done and thank you for your appropriate response, good sir!
The epitome of conscience, morals, and ethics.
Al-Qassem daily SitRep of southern Front. 4 minute video of a veritable Turkey shoot of RPG strikes on IDF armor in Rafah.
https://english.almanar.com.lb/2109461
That is his right as an American. Good for him using his rights. Now, if he did the same thing in Russia his chance of falling out of window or dying suddenly for unexplained reasons would go up significantly.
There’s a recently-deceased Boeing whistleblower who might have something to say about that. What are the odds that within a few days of this guy’s separation from the military he dies in a freak gardening accident?
Does this whistleblower have a name?
There were two Boeing whistleblowers who died “accidental” deaths. You can find their names with a rudimentary google search.
The first whistleblower’s name was John Barnett and the second whistleblower was Joshua Dean.
The state of Israel is of the same genre as the British-made boundaries in Africa: redraw the boundaries so that mortal enemies end up in the same country. Stupid Europeans.
That but the real analogy is importing millions of colonists into African countries and declaring the inhabitants illegal squatters. We saw what happened in Algeria, Rhodesia. Angola, the “Belgian” Congo, Kenya and South Africa.
It wasn’t an analogy. This is not an academic exercise for me.
It wasn’t an analogy. This is not an academic exercise for me. It’s simply a discussion forum. Go grade someone else.
How much operational slaughter do you have to be a part of assisting the world’s “most moral army” before it makes even a servant of the empire sick to his stomach? Then go out and say “yeah we’re looking into it.” GFOH.