Center Board Chairman Lt. General Gard was mentioned in a February 2, Al Jazeera America article on Netanyahu’s invitation to congress. While many current and former officers are hesitant to comment directly or definitively on the matter, it is apparent that many of the country’s former military officers view Boehner’s and Netanyahu’s actions as an affront to the United States.
Netanyahu’s Congress invitation raises eyebrows among some US generals
February 2, 2015
By Mark Perry
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, a West Point graduate and veteran of two U.S. wars, carefully calibrated his comments to reflect his unease with describing what serving officers think about Israel or Netanyahu. “It’s a really politically freighted question,” he said, “but I can tell you from my own experience that Mr. Netanyahu is way out of his lane. And you can be sure there isn’t a military officer in uniform who would get involved in this issue. It’s not just that Netanyahu is showing disrespect for Mr. Obama. It’s that he’s disrespecting U.S. institutions. He’s thumbing his nose at our way of doing things. Even for those out of uniform, this is a mistake. It’s one thing to show disrespect for President Obama — that happens all the time — but it’s another thing to show disrespect for America. That just can’t be tolerated.”
Gard’s comments suggest that Netanyahu’s planned speech has reignited questions among a significant number of officers over how the U.S.-Israel relationship is played out in Washington. According to one senior U.S. Army officer, for those in uniform — “from [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin] Dempsey on down” — enlisting Netanyahu to intervene in the making of U.S. policy is not simply “inappropriate” or “meddlesome” but might even violate U.S. law. “Take a look at the Logan Act,” the officer said in a telephone conversation earlier this week. “It says that it’s a violation of U.S. law for an American citizen to work with a foreign official to purposely undermine U.S. policy.”
Read the rest of the article on Al Jazeera America.
