ABC NEWS, ABC’S THE WEEK, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, AUSTRIA, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BC NEWS, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, BEVIN ALEXANDER, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CHARLES “CQ” BROWN, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DONALD TRUMP, EDUARD DALADIER, ERWIN ROMMEL, FACEBOOK, FBI, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRANCE, FUHRER OATH, GREAT BRITAIN, GREENLAND, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINZ GUDERIAN, HERMAN GORING, HOW HITLER COULD HAVE WON WORLD WAR II (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, IRAN, JAMES SLIFE, JEFFREY KRUSE, JIMMY CARTER, JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, LISA FRANCHETTI, MEDIA MATTERS, MEXICO, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH CONFERENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS SITES, PANAMA, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLAND, POLITICIZING THE MILITARY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RHINELAND, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, SHOSHANA CHATFIELD, SLATE, SUDENTENLAND, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE PENTAGON, THE SS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TIMOTHY HAUGH, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WERNER VON BLOMBERG, WERNER VON FRITSCH, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on August 26, 2025 at 12:06 am
On August 22, the PBS Newshour website carried the following headline: HEGSETH FIRES GENERAL WHOSE AGENCY’S INTEL ASSESSMENT OF U.S. STRIKES ON IRAN ANGERED TRUMP.
The story opened: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of damage to Iranian nuclear sites from U.S. strikes angered President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the decision and a White House official.”
“Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse will no longer serve as head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
“The firing is the latest upheaval in military leadership and in the country’s intelligence agencies, and comes a few months after details of the preliminary assessment leaked to the media. It found that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months by the U.S. strikes, contradicting assertions from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Donald Trump
After the June 21 strikes, Hegseth attacked the press, claiming that it had an anti-military bias . But he refused to provide evidence that proved the nuclear sites had been wiped out.
Since re-taking office on January 20, Trump has fired more than 10 senior military leaders. Critics have called this an unprecedented purge of the Pentagon.
Among those fired:
- General Charles “CQ” Brown Jr.: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown was the nation’s highest-ranking military officer.
- Admiral Lisa Franchetti: The Chief of Naval Operations and the first woman to lead the U.S. Navy.
- General James Slife: The Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force was fired along with Brown and Franchetti.
- General Timothy Haugh: The head of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency (NSA)
- Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield: The U.S. military representative to NATO.
- Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse: The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
Trump’s determination to remake the armed forces in his own image reflects he mindset of an earlier dictator whose rage and egotism carried him—and his country—to ruin: Adolf Hitler.
Bevin Alexander provides an overall—but colorful—view of Hitler’s generalship in How Hitler Could have Won World War II.
Among the fatal military mistakes that led to the defeat of the Third Reich:
- Wasting hundreds of Luftwaffe [air force] pilots, fighters and bombers in a halfhearted attempt to conquer England.
- Ignoring the pleas of generals like Erwin Rommel to conquer Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which would have given Germany control of most of the world’s oil.
- Attacking his ally, the Soviet Union, while still at war with Great Britain.
- Turning millions of Russians into enemies rather than allies by his brutal and murderous policies.
- Needlessly declaring war on the United States after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. (Had he not done so, Americans would have focused all their attention on defeating Japan.)
- Refusing to negotiate a separate peace with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin—thus granting Germany a large portion of captured Russian territory in exchange for letting Stalin remain in power.
- Insisting on a “not-one-step-back” military “strategy” that led to the needless surrounding, capture and/or deaths of hundreds of thousands of German servicemen.
As the war turned increasingly against him, Hitler became ever more rigid in his thinking.
He demanded absolute control over the smallest details of his forces. This, in turn, led to astonishing and unnecessary losses among their ranks.
On June 6, 1944, General Gerd von Rundstedt insisted that Panzer tanks be released to drive the Allies from the Normandy beaches. But these could not be released except on direct orders of the Fuehrer.
Panzer tank
Hitler’s chief of staff, General Alfred Jodl, informed Rundstedt: The Fuhrer was asleep-–and was not to be awakened. By the time Hitler awoke and issued the order, it was too late.
Nor could Hitler accept responsibility for the policies that were leading Germany to certain defeat. He blamed his generals, accused them of cowardice, and relieved many of the best ones from command.
Among those sacked was Heinz Guderian, creator of the German Panzer corps—and responsible for the blitzkreig victory against France in 1940.
Heinz Guderian
Another was Erich von Manstein, designer of the strategy that defeated France in six weeks—which Germany had failed to do during four years of World War 1.
Erich von Manstein
Finally, on April 29, 1945—with the Russians only blocks from his underground Berlin bunker—Hitler dictated his “Last Political Testament.”
Once again, he refused to accept responsibility for unleashing a war that ultimately consumed 50 million lives:
“It is untrue that I or anyone else in Germany wanted war in 1939. It was desired and instigated exclusively by those international statesmen who either were of Jewish origin or worked for Jewish interests.”
Hitler had launched the invasion of Poland—and World War II—with a lie: That Poland had attacked Germany.
Fittingly, he closed the war—and his life—with a final lie.
The ancient Greeks believed that “a man’s character is his destiny.”
For Adolf Hitler—and the nations he ravaged—that proved fatally true.
It remains to be seen whether the same will prove true for Donald Trump—and the United States.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog
ABC NEWS, ABC’S THE WEEK, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, AUSTRIA, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BC NEWS, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, BEVIN ALEXANDER, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CHARLES “CQ” BROWN, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, D-DAY, DAILY KOS, DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DONALD TRUMP, EDUARD DALADIER, ERWIN ROMMEL, FACEBOOK, FBI, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRANCE, FUHRER OATH, GREAT BRITAIN, GREENLAND, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINZ GUDERIAN, HERMAN GORING, HOW HITLER COULD HAVE WON WORLD WAR II (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, IRAN, JAMES SLIFE, JEFFREY KRUSE, JIMMY CARTER, JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, LISA FRANCHETTI, MEDIA MATTERS, MEXICO, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH CONFERENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS SITES, PANAMA, PAUL VON HINDENBURG, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLAND, POLITICIZING THE MILITARY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RHINELAND, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, SHOSHANA CHATFIELD, SLATE, SUDENTENLAND, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE PENTAGON, THE SS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TIMOTHY HAUGH, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WERNER VON BLOMBERG, WERNER VON FRITSCH, WONKETTE, WORLD WAR 11, X
TRUMP: CREATING HIS OWN WEHRMACHT–PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on August 26, 2025 at 12:06 amOn August 22, the PBS Newshour website carried the following headline: HEGSETH FIRES GENERAL WHOSE AGENCY’S INTEL ASSESSMENT OF U.S. STRIKES ON IRAN ANGERED TRUMP.
The story opened: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of damage to Iranian nuclear sites from U.S. strikes angered President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the decision and a White House official.”
“Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse will no longer serve as head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
“The firing is the latest upheaval in military leadership and in the country’s intelligence agencies, and comes a few months after details of the preliminary assessment leaked to the media. It found that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months by the U.S. strikes, contradicting assertions from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Donald Trump
After the June 21 strikes, Hegseth attacked the press, claiming that it had an anti-military bias . But he refused to provide evidence that proved the nuclear sites had been wiped out.
Since re-taking office on January 20, Trump has fired more than 10 senior military leaders. Critics have called this an unprecedented purge of the Pentagon.
Among those fired:
Trump’s determination to remake the armed forces in his own image reflects he mindset of an earlier dictator whose rage and egotism carried him—and his country—to ruin: Adolf Hitler.
Bevin Alexander provides an overall—but colorful—view of Hitler’s generalship in How Hitler Could have Won World War II.
Among the fatal military mistakes that led to the defeat of the Third Reich:
As the war turned increasingly against him, Hitler became ever more rigid in his thinking.
He demanded absolute control over the smallest details of his forces. This, in turn, led to astonishing and unnecessary losses among their ranks.
On June 6, 1944, General Gerd von Rundstedt insisted that Panzer tanks be released to drive the Allies from the Normandy beaches. But these could not be released except on direct orders of the Fuehrer.
Panzer tank
Hitler’s chief of staff, General Alfred Jodl, informed Rundstedt: The Fuhrer was asleep-–and was not to be awakened. By the time Hitler awoke and issued the order, it was too late.
Nor could Hitler accept responsibility for the policies that were leading Germany to certain defeat. He blamed his generals, accused them of cowardice, and relieved many of the best ones from command.
Among those sacked was Heinz Guderian, creator of the German Panzer corps—and responsible for the blitzkreig victory against France in 1940.
Heinz Guderian
Another was Erich von Manstein, designer of the strategy that defeated France in six weeks—which Germany had failed to do during four years of World War 1.
Erich von Manstein
Finally, on April 29, 1945—with the Russians only blocks from his underground Berlin bunker—Hitler dictated his “Last Political Testament.”
Once again, he refused to accept responsibility for unleashing a war that ultimately consumed 50 million lives:
“It is untrue that I or anyone else in Germany wanted war in 1939. It was desired and instigated exclusively by those international statesmen who either were of Jewish origin or worked for Jewish interests.”
Hitler had launched the invasion of Poland—and World War II—with a lie: That Poland had attacked Germany.
Fittingly, he closed the war—and his life—with a final lie.
The ancient Greeks believed that “a man’s character is his destiny.”
For Adolf Hitler—and the nations he ravaged—that proved fatally true.
It remains to be seen whether the same will prove true for Donald Trump—and the United States.
Share this: