00:00U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hexeth has sacked U.S. Army Chief of Staff Randy George Amitwar.
00:07In a statement issued by Hexeth's office, he announced that General Randy George will be retiring from his post immediately
00:13and thanked him for his service.
00:15Soon after the announcement, the Chiefs of the U.S. Navy and Air Force expressed their deepest gratitude to the
00:21Army General,
00:22saying that he served the nation with honor.
00:25Amid this, U.S. media are citing sources as accused Hexeth of blocking military promotions.
00:30The report further went on to say that Hexeth had targeted black and female officers based on their race and
00:36gender.
00:37The U.K. media, on the other hand, cited Pentagon insiders who criticized the war's secretary.
00:42The whistleblowers have accused Hexeth of being unprofessional and bloodthirsty.
00:47The report also went on to say that Hexeth shared sensitive information on unsecured chats
00:52and made culturally insensitive remarks.
00:59I'm going straight across from my colleague Rohit Sharma, joining us from Washington, D.C. at this point in time.
01:04Rohit, there are reports that indicate that P-TECHs had stalled the promotion of certain senior officials,
01:10as well, apart from doing all of this that I just mentioned to our viewers.
01:13What are you learning?
01:17Well, you know, some media reports and sources have saying that there was, you know,
01:22there was this understanding, at least from the current secretary of state,
01:30that he wanted, he did not want rather certain people to be promoted.
01:34And it appears to be, from some of the reporting that we've picked up,
01:37that there were four army generals that were up for promotion,
01:42and Pete Hexeth did not want to promote them.
01:46And that was the stalemate between U.S. Army Chief, a former, I should say, Randy George,
01:52and Pete Hexeth.
01:53I think he wanted to promote them.
01:55I think he was trying to get a meeting with Secretary of Defense Pete Hexeth,
01:59and that did not go well.
02:01And then he was asked to basically submit his resignation and has been removed.
02:06Now, I would want to also draw a distinction here.
02:09You know, he is obviously, he was rather the Chief of the Army, General George,
02:15but his role is different from the operational commanders that are running the operation in Iran.
02:23So there is that distinction.
02:24You know, it's kind of different from what we have in the Indian system,
02:28where our Chief of Army staff also plays a very important role in operations.
02:32But over here in the U.S., you know, his role is to raise, train, and sustain.
02:37He decides the policy, and he's obviously a four-star general.
02:41So he had, you know, very little say in how operations would be running in Iran.
02:47But what we've learned, as I was stating,
02:49that the promotions of four generals, two of them happen to be African-American and two of them female,
02:57I think that was the point of contention.
02:59Secretary Hexeth did not think that they deserved to be promoted.
03:02And that caused the rift, which led to Secretary Hexeth asking the Army Chief of Staff
03:08to essentially submit his resignation.
03:11And now he has, as you were reading out, you know, he's been thanked for his service,
03:16and he has resigned.
03:18Right. Now, India Today also spoke to Purnima Aboria,
03:22who is a geopolitical expert on West Asia war implications
03:25that has led to U.S. Army Chief's sudden resignation.
03:33We're looking at Donald Trump just yesterday coming out to say that, you know,
03:38the U.S. military has been doing very well in West Asia.
03:42And he's listed out the successes that they have scored so far into the war in West Asia.
03:49But at the same time, if we are to look at the Army Chief himself being asked to step down,
03:56that does show a bit of a contradiction, wouldn't you say?
04:01Yes. Timing is highly unusual, and it's very risky at this point.
04:05So think about being in position of Donald Trump and Pete Hexeth.
04:10This is happening during active military operation against Iran.
04:15Highly unusual thing.
04:16Removing top generals in wartime, it's extremely rare.
04:20And raising alarms about the stability of United States moves.
04:26Into this war that is right at the peak.
04:31So why is this happening?
04:33I don't know.
04:34There is no official reason that has been given,
04:37except that it's a political and strategic alignment.
04:40And everybody has to be aligned with the vision of President Trump.
04:46Obviously, he's commander in chief and also the Pete Hexeth.
04:51So I think that is what it is.
04:54And General Christopher Lee also is seen that someone who aligns with Pete
05:01so is now the acting Army chief.
05:06Not just Randy George, are the top officials also facing the heat?
05:10U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been fired by Trump,
05:13reportedly over the handing of the Epstein files.
05:16While there are discussions about FBI Director Kash Patel,
05:19Army Secretary Daniel Riscol,
05:21and Labor Secretary Laurie Chavez, D. Ramel,
05:24leaving the Trump administration
05:26is what a section of the American media has claimed.
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