The Washington Post reports: “Liberal groups urge Biden not to name Flournoy as secretary of defense.”
One of the groups, RootsAction, released a statement: “Pentagon Papers Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams Go Public with Strong Opposition to Michele Flournoy As Secretary of Defense.”
JODY WILLIAMS, jwilliams@
Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. She is currently chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative.
She said: “If President-elect Biden really has a progressive agenda in mind for his administration, he should appoint members of his cabinet and other high-level positions who demonstrate progressive thinking and do not move this fractured country backwards. Nominating Michèle Flournoy for Defense Secretary would not be forward thinking. We do not need a hawk with relationships with the weapons industry.”
PAT ALVISO, mfsooc@earthlink.net, https://twitter.com/mfso_us
Alviso is national coordinator of Military Families Speak Out. She said today: “The appointment of Michèle Flournoy as Secretary of Defense would be both wrong-headed and a huge setback for our troops and military families. After disastrous policies that have caused almost 20 years of death and untold suffering in a war that never should have happened in the first place, we deserve better. Flournoy pushed for the surge in Afghanistan and believes that we need to leave a residual force in Afghanistan. Why? If thousands of U.S. troops couldn’t accomplish our ever-changing mission, what good could possibly come out of leaving a small force there? Flournoy and the think tank she co-founded (the Center for a New American Security) promise more of the same — military solutions for conflict. If Biden truly cares about military families, as he has professed, then he should surround himself with the voices of those who value diplomacy over military force and find ways to bring all of our troops home now.”
See also: “Statement Opposing Michele Flournoy as Defense Secretary.”
