Top US military general Mark Milley retires with ‘dictator’ swipe at Donald Trump
- The rebuke from the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s illustrated the way the military has been dragged into the volatile political arena since the Trump era
- Milley handed over command to Charles ‘CQ’ Brown, the second African-American to hold the top military job
General Mark Milley stepped down on Friday as the top US military officer with a parting swipe at his former boss Donald Trump, saying no soldier ever swore an oath to serve a “wannabe dictator.”
The stunning rebuke from Milley on his last day as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff illustrated the way the US military has been dragged into the increasingly volatile political arena since the Trump era.
At an elaborate military ceremony for his departure – attended by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden – Milley did not name Trump, but there was no doubt about the target of his barb.
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant or a dictator,” Milley said of American soldiers. “And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”
Milley will be replaced as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by Air Force General Charles “CQ” Brown – just the second African-American to hold the top military job.
A barrel-chested army veteran of countless foreign deployments and high-level command posts, Milley served in uniform for four decades.