US President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday his intention to appoint Charles Q. Brown, an African-American general who now commands the Air Force, to lead the general staff of the entire US armed forces, according to its official program published by the White House.
He would replace General Mark Milley, in this eminently strategic position since October 1, 2019 and whose term is coming to an end.
C.Q. Brown, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the second African-American to serve as the highest ranking officer in the world’s most powerful military, following Colin Powell in the 1990s.
This sexagenarian would be under the orders of an also black Minister of Defense: Lloyd Austin.
The current boss of the US Air Force is an experienced former pilot with 3,000 flight hours, including 130 combat.
Brigade leader, he was then commander of the American air forces in the Middle East and in the Pacific.
The general had been noticed in the summer of 2020, in the midst of the “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations against racism, in the wake of the death of George Floyd. The very senior officer had published a video in which he reported on the discrimination he himself suffered, including in the army.
In the Air Force, “I was often the only African-American in my squadron and, as a senior officer, the only African-American in the room,” he said at the time. “I think of the pressure I had to do a clean sheet, especially from my superiors who I felt expected less of me, as an African-American.”
He also said he had “worked twice as hard” to “demonstrate that their expectations and perceptions of African Americans were unfounded.”
But before taking command of the American army in all its components, the soldier must see the choice of the president confirmed by the Senate.
A procedure far from being a formality: Tommy Tuberville, senator from Alabama, has deliberately blocked nearly 200 pending military appointments for several weeks, a way for the Republican to demonstrate his opposition to the Pentagon’s decision to help military women to obtain a voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG).
Once confirmed, he would take over from General Mark Milley.
Alongside Minister Lloyd Austin, the current Chief of Staff spearheaded US military aid to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion.
His passage was also marked by the American debacle in Kabul, when, in August 2021, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan and its capital at the end of a twenty-year war described by Mark Milley himself. even of “strategic failure”.
He had also been in the limelight at the end of the Trump era, when a book reported the fact that he had repeatedly contacted his Chinese counterpart to reassure him of the American position. And this, without notifying Donald Trump, the current president of whom he was worried.
General Milley had also expressed his regret for having been present alongside Donald Trump when the president had dispersed a demonstration of the “Black Lives Matter” movement in front of the White House to go and have his picture taken in front of a church, bible to the hand.
Minister Austin and the general were targets of Republicans criticizing them for their progressive, or “woke” positions on changes in the military – drawing a strong backlash from the military.
“We must leave the army out of politics, we must keep it apolitical and non-partisan,” he declared to parliamentarians.
25/05/2023 04:55:32 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
