In a Dec. 7 podcast with Stephen Gardner, Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, (ret.) remarked that, while he hadn’t been able to confirm Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s alleged threat to the Congress—to put American boots on the ground in Ukraine if they didn’t pass the most recent funding bill—he asserted that Austin had no such authority under the U.S. Constitution.
He stated: “God help us if Congress actually does authorize something like that, because that’s not in our national interest…. I’m telling you right now that the war is militarily unwinnable; we’ve been saying that … since the outset of this war…. Everything that has happened on the ground has validated that.… Why would we want to reinforce failure, and then … possibly get ourselves sucked into a war with a nuclear-armed Russia. That is absurd, and very troubling that we’re even thinking about it.”
He also said that he didn’t believe that Putin was as evil as he’s been made out to be, saying that Putin’s been very calculated in his approach to Ukraine, and that he doesn’t want war with the United States. Further, Putin has shown by everything that he’s done over the past 15 years that he wants to protect Russia’s borders.
Describing that Putin has just ordered up another 170,000 troops to be added to the Russian army, Davis warned that if the United States and other countries also started building up forces, it would be “a slow-motion draw into a war,” as what happened in World War I.
Regarding the Gaza crisis, Davis warned that the current foreign policy of the U.S. is only increasing the anger and hatred against Americans. He admitted to not knowing the solution, but said that there must be a way to assert peace. The U.S. showed such a capability in World War II, in the rebuilding of Germany and Japan.
Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis is a senior fellow at Defense Priorities.
