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Top Military Officer Sounds Alarm on Trump’s Tacky Arch

Published by Daily Beast · United States 11 h ago
The Washington Post via Getty Images
The Washington Post via Getty Images · Daily Beast

Detailed summary

A retired military officer says Trump’s vanity project could have catastrophic consequences if constructed as planned.

A retired military officer is sounding the alarm about the dangers posed by President Donald Trump’s vanity arch.

Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson has told a federal judge that the 80-year-old president’s proposed Washington triumphal arch will be a hotbed for terrorist activity.

Anderson, who served 31 years in the U.S. Army specializing in ordnance and logistics, said Trump’s 250-foot “Triumphal Arch and Military Complex” is “ill-conceived” and “unsupportable as described” by Trump and his sycophants, like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

“As part of my past experience with the U.S. military, I have overseen multiple ammunition and weapons storage and distribution facilities,” Anderson said in a court declaration. “Based on my knowledge and experience, the planned Arch is not suitable for the purported national security purposes asserted.”

He explained, “Not only is the Arch not suitable for any practical military facility, but it actually degrades security in the National Capital Region by placing a high-payoff target for our enemies just a few meters from a major road network and the traffic circle that surrounds the Arch.”

The veteran posited the possible damage of having a vehicle loaded with explosives detonate beside the arch, which is planned to border a traffic circle off the National Mall.

The former commander of the 725th Main Support Battalion recalled the 1983 Beirut truck bombing that killed 251 people and the truck bombing at an FBI facility in Oklahoma in 1995 that killed 168 people as examples of horrific tragedies that may occur.

Anderson argued that it would be “wholly inappropriate” to have weapons stockpiles, explosives, and drones “in such close proximity to civilians,” noting that the military’s storage of explosives is typically highly regulated, even at designated facilities.

Such regulations include requiring a Net Explosive Weight calculation that determines the appropriate surrounding…

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