Racket News

Share this post

Military vs. military

www.racket.news

Military vs. military

Before Flynn went down, he stuck a finger in Washington’s eye

Matt Taibbi
May 16, 2019
44
52
Share this post

Military vs. military

www.racket.news

General Michael Flynn isn’t easy to sell as a victim. He really did lead chants of “Lock her up!” at the RNC in 2016, really called Milo Yiannopoulis “one of the most brave people I’ve met,” and seems to have believed Trump won the popular vote. 

Flynn is also a puzzle. He’s been outspoken and critical of America’s Middle East adventures in a way that’s almost unheard of in a military man. In a paper about Afghanistan he once wrote, he said, “Merely killing insurgents usually serves to multiply enemies rather than subtract them.” He denounced our intel there as “ignorant,” “incurious,” and “disengaged.”

Flynn was pushed out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 after a series of clashes with civilian leadership and figures within the defense and intelligence realms, acquiring a reputation as difficult, mercurial character around whom too many unwelcome news stories occurred. He had been an intelligence advisor to Stanley McChrystal, and also publicly opposed the Obama g…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Racket News to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2023 Matt Taibbi
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing