He wrote that the justifications for Israel’s war in Gaza became “difficult to defend” and that “whatever the justification you’re either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you’re not.” The post received an outpouring of support with hundreds of likes and comments in just a few hours. …
In his letter, Mann also says that he’s the descendant of European Jews and “was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment.”
“When it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing — my grandfather refused to ever purchase products manufactured in Germany — where the paramount importance of ‘never again’ and the inadequacy of ‘just following orders’ were oft repeated. I’m haunted by the knowledge that I failed those principles,” Mann wrote.
Mann went on to say that he held off sharing the reason for his resignation because he was afraid of violating professional norms and disappointing officers that he respects.
A real good Mann.
Mann himself stated his reasons include being a ‘descendant of European Jews’. I admire his moral conviction. For some people ‘never again’ are life/history/moral lessons learned, rather than mere slogans to be printed on stickers.
All this death and destruction helped along by US tax dollars, and US munitions.
I was not surprised Hillary ‘corporate’ Clinton came out full on pro-death-and-destruction, pointedly criticizing student protesters. It’s decades of failed blank check US foreign policy towards Israel playing out now.
One of the most surprising and dissapointing side effects of all this is how it showed that the German political and media elites had learned the “never again” lesson in a way that preserved and in some ways extended their racist way of thinking - “Never again shall Germany do that to Jews” - hence the unwavering support for Israel even when its ultra-nationalist etnostate extreme racist politics reached their natural conclusion in the form of an outright Genocide (rather than merelly Apartheid with some low-key murdering and land theft)
This man, on the other hand, learned the “never again” lesson as a true Humanist (and the naive amongst us expected this lesson to have being learned by any good person) - “Never again shall this happen to any people”.
Such a Humanist that he even sacrificed his own career deserves the most respect we can give, whilst the extreme racists who once again are supporting the Fascists of a favoured race when they’re commiting Genocide, should go down in History in infamy just like their ancestors.
This man is part Jewish. It’s not a rare experience for such to be lectured morals on legacy of Holocaust by those who are not. Especially in cases where the state of Israel kills somebody, or someone else wants to use that “they are literal Nazis” political argument.
Actually if you complain about such insults to your dead, quite a lot of people around will be outraged. At the same time they’ll easily say stupid shit like “for Baltic countries Soviets were worse than Nazis” or something along those lines, when they think you aren’t present.
He may not get a piece of paper that says ‘honorable’ on it, but that’s pretty damned honorable. Good man Mann
He’s a Major with 13 years of service so he has already completed his obligated term of service long ago. Unlike enlisted personnel officers are not on a strict contract and can request to resign their commission at any time after their initial obligation. He requested to resign his commission late last year and the Army accepted his resignation in January so he will be honorably discharged in June. He will miss out on the pension that kicks in after 20 years of service however.
He probably has an additional MSO because of some event in career. Certain schooling and assignments may incur an additional service obligation. The Army wants to avoid spending a lot of money on training its officers only to have them immediately drop their REFRAD paperwork.
I’m haunted by the knowledge that I failed those principles,” Mann wrote.
He is no longer complicit in Genocide.
Obviously a filthy anti-Semite.
I know it sarcasm, but dude is actually ethnically Jewish and used to brag back in college about his cousins in the IDF. Was VERY surprised to see his name connected with this years later.
It doesnt matter of hes Jewish or not. What matters is hes criticizing Israel, Which makes him a filthy anti-semite in a lot of peoples eyes. And he wouldnt be the first Jewish person labeled anti-smite since Israels recent push for extermination got underway.
The Israel Lobby has done a lot of work to equate criticism with the state of Israel, to Hatred of the jewish people and Antisemitism.
I’m all for this kind of symbolic gesture. I hope more follow his example until policymakers really feel the heat.
