US Marines officer relieved of duties after video seeking 'accountability' over Afghanistan

[Eugene]

Related: Marine commander says he’s been relieved over his viral video calling out military leaders for Afghanistan withdrawal (Task and Purpose)

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Source: The Guardian

US Marines officer relieved of duties after video seeking ‘accountability’ over Afghanistan

Stuart Scheller condemned US senior leadership in social media post, criticising ‘perceived ineptitude’

Martin Pengelly
@MartinPengelly
Fri 27 Aug 2021 22.57 BST

A US Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who posted a video demanding accountability from military leaders over the evacuation of Afghanistan has been relieved of his duties and will leave US service, the Marines and the officer involved said on Friday.

Stuart Scheller posted his video to Facebook and LinkedIn on Thursday, the day 13 US service members, 11 of them Marines, and reportedly as many as 170 Afghans, were killed in a suicide bomb attack at the airport in Kabul.

“I have been fighting for 17 years,” said Scheller, then commander of the advanced infantry training battalion. “I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: ‘I demand accountability.’”

Scheller said he knew someone killed in Kabul, but was making his video “because I have a growing discontent and contempt for … perceived ineptitude at the foreign policy level, and I want to specifically ask some questions to some of my senior leaders.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/27/us-marines-stuart-scheller-video

[NQAS]

1. Get over yourself

I was in intelligence in the 80s and 90s. I disagreed with USG policy on occasion. I still did my job. That was the commitment I made and the oath I took.

You can’t do that? Then you resign. Then you can bitch all you like. But no, you’re too special for that.

[DashOneBravo]

2. Maybe I misunderstood

But that’s exactly what he did. He knew he’d be canned.

He wasn’t going to shut up and do his job.

[NQAS]

3. In the wrong order

To ensure that the RW media and others pick him up. Just pissed me off, that’s all.

[KT2000]

4. There are no more norms

even for the military. There is just civil war.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. A Marine posted a video calling out senior leaders in Afghanistan. He was relieved of command.

This asshole needs to be courtmartialed

Link to tweet

“To the American leadership. Very Respectfully,” the Marine battalion commander captioned the video. On Thursday — several hours after the attack in Kabul that killed at least 170 people and 13 U.S. service members — Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller sat in full uniform before his military vest and helmet and recorded himself in a rebuke of U.S. senior leaders in Afghanistan. He posted the 4:45 minute video to Facebook.

“I want to say this very strongly,” he said in the video. “I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability.”

“The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down,” he said. “People are upset because their senior leaders let them down and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, ‘We messed this up.’ ”

He noted that he had “a lot to lose,” especially if the video “picks up traction.” By Friday evening, the video had been shared 28,000 times.