The Pentagon said it isn’t certain that President Trump’s plans for a military parade to salute the country’s armed forces would wind its way…
The Pentagon said it isn’t certain that President Trump’s plans for a military parade to salute the country’s armed forces would wind its way through the streets of Washington, DC, according to a report Thursday.
“We don’t know that. There are options and we will explore those and the president will ultimately decide,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told Reuters, adding that the US Army was taking the lead in creating options for the event.
Trump’s “marching orders” to the Pentagon to come up with an event to celebrate the United States military and those serving in the armed forces have received a chilly reception from many, including the former Navy SEAL who killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
“A military parade is third world bulls–t,” Robert O’Neill wrote Thursday on Twitter.
“We prepare. We deter. We fight. Stop this conversation.”
Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters Wednesday that they’re “putting together some options and we’ll send them to the White House.”
The Pentagon is mulling over linking the parade to a significant event like Veterans Day or the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
“All options are being considered, including linking the parade to a significant event, perhaps a historical event,” said Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman.
The president’s idea for a military spectacle was inspired by his visit to French President Emmanuel Macron last July, when Paris celebrated Bastille Day with troops marching down the streets and jet fighters soaring through the sky.
“We’re going to have to try to top it,” he told Macron at the time.
Many lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have questioned the costs of putting on such an extravaganza, and the city council in Washington raised concerns that tanks and heavy military equipment would destroy the streets.
O’Neill was a member of the elite SEAL Team Six when he killed bin Laden on May 2,2011, at the compound where he was hiding out in Pakistan.
