The former C.I.A. director and secretary of state ridiculed the U.S. Military Academy, his alma mater, by dissing the cadets’ honor code in one of his most infamous remarks, writes Joe Lauria.
A view of the Hudson Valley from the West Point campus. (Joe Lauria)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
On the way back to the Washington area after giving an anti-war speech at a rally in Kingston, New York on Sept. 28, I decided to visit the other end of the political spectrum: the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.
The tour bus takes you across the sprawling campus perched above spectacular views of the Hudson Valley.
We began by passing the athletic facilities (learning that Gen. Douglas MacArthur, when he ran the place, required all cadets to be athletes), by various academic buildings, dormitories, the chapel, a remnant of the chain Gen. George Washington ordered lain across the Hudson River to hinder British ships, and then winding up near the library.
West Point Library on left. (Joe Lauria)
The tour guide told us that when Gen. George Patton was a student there he proudly said he’d never entered the library. It was there that the guide told us what the cadets’ honor code has been since the 19th century, which they are disciplined for violating: “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
(Public Domain/Wikipedia)
Jeez, that sounded awfully familiar I thought. And then I remembered two things: 1.) it was remarkably similar to something Mike Pompeo had once said, and 2). I seemed to remember that Pompeo had graduated West Point.
“Wait,” I said to the guide, “didn’t Mike Pompeo go to West Point?”
“I don’t know,” he answered, which seemed odd because he was rattling off the most minute details of West Point’s history, mentioning anyone remotely notable who had ever gone there.
An authentic part of the chain Washington had lain across the river. (Joe Lauria)
I checked my phone: Pompeo had indeed graduated the academy in 1986, top of his class (which did not speak well of the rest of the class).
Surely, the guide must have known that. He may also have not wanted to draw attention to what Pompeo said that rubbished the cadets’ honor code — once his own — and brought disrepute on the academy.
Speaking at a conference in Texas A&M University in April, 2019, Pompeo had said:
“When I was a cadet, what’s the cadet motto at West Point? He will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do? I was the C.I.A. director, we lied, we cheated, we stole. It’s like we had entire training courses … “
He openly referred to West Point, and openly mocked it.
But it was the laughter and the applause in the audience that made this juvenile remark all the more galling. It was as if he finally found a place in life where he could get out from under youthful restrictions, to be able to do what he really wanted, to be who he wanted to be: a cheat, a liar and a thief.
He was also secretary of state at the time. Unsurprisingly, the transcript of the remarks has been removed from the State Dept. website.
The audience laughed perhaps because the behavior Pompeo describes has become an accepted and even a rewarded way of life.
It says a lot about the hypocrisy of a ruling class that demands Americans thank the military for “service” to the rulers, not to the public, to expand their power in the world, not to defend Americans. Pompeo’s remark exposed the C.I.A. to the mainstream as the rogue organization it is, considering itself apart, with no responsibility to anyone in America but itself.
Just don’t mention it to the tour guide at West Point.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
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The frustrating and sobering thing is, even after I show people the video clip, they refuse to recognize that our government and media establishment routinely lie to us. It’s hard to continue making any effort to sway opinions.
If you read history than you will know that since America got their independence in the 18th century. they have been ruled exactly like today. Lie, thieving and corruption.
The addiction fo war is a specialty of western civilization that believe in anything to win and make profit doing it. We are being used to accept the hypocrisy of lies for wars often used just to get elected.
hxxps://www.globalresearch.ca/who-won-the-vietnam-war-2/172?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
That is what happened in Vietnam. The destruction of an entire country which was then “privatized” in the early 1990s:
Then we went on to lie for Iraq as a slam dunk and to try and replace the USSR in Afghanistan too supposedly for their own good. Women were doing better there with the USSR.
“Vietnam never received war reparations payments from the U.S. for the massive loss of life and destruction, yet an agreement reached in Paris in 1993 required Hanoi to recognize the debts of the defunct Saigon regime of General Thieu. This agreement is in many regards tantamount to obliging Vietnam to compensate Washington for the costs of war.”
fyi- military industrial madness gone wild
hXXps://www.globalresearch.ca/theater-iran-near-term-tirannt/4888
“Theater Iran Near Term” (TIRANNT). The Ongoing Planning of War against Iran A Review of War Plans since the mid-1990s
Carrying on the fine western trad as did France. Which billed the Haitians for loss of “property” (including the ex-slaves of course) from 1835 until the loans to pay the loans were finally paid off in 1947. In USD 2022, about $560 million…if that money had been available for the common good of the country, it wouldn’t be the poverty ridden and resource stripped place it is now. But hey, the proper people and their proper property did well as usual, didn’t they?
The honor code for military officers is a joke. The military openly engages in information war and psychological war.
They should print “we lie we cheat we steal” on the money as the national motto.
At least a rich dude isn’t likely to get to heaven.
“…to preserve and protect the Constitution of The United States from enemies within or without…”
Yeah, it’s really awful when someone actually tells the truth. Apparently, we now call it “besmirching.”
Some people have CLASS…this guy just (CL)ASS!
Pompeo’s remark is just one more example of the way our society has devolved toward everlasting childhood, with all the childish behavior that entails. It is no longer expected that you outgrow your teenage self and become an adult. And as there are fewer and fewer genuine adults, it is increasingly difficult to find a role model if you do wish to mature. America: land of the free and home of the brats.
Your comment is about the best summation I’ve ever read of the truly pathetic–and pernicious–state of the nation. Who could have foreseen that a “United” States would devolve into an individualistic, puerile, materialistic, magical-thinking abomination: a clear and present danger to all of humanity?
Boy oh boy, you know it. I was just thinking that the other day about why Americans seem so adolescent in middle age. Real role models for our young.
Well, as for “free”…we have all the freedom we can afford to buy. Same for free time. And yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch. If you’re in upper management or high enough in the professions to be able to write it off. We lunch bucket carriers get no such break.
Hogwarts
Pompeo is, in my humble opinion, a pompous ass.
It’s the prime skill of a SOS since time immemoriable. Its also the roit of Havana Syndrome, the American diplomatic moral PTSD causedby having to lie for ones entire career.
“A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
This had manifested itself in what was known as “The Silence”, a severe form of ostracism which had been meted out by the cadet honor committee to those who refused to resign when accused of cheating but against whom there was insufficient evidence for dismissal. This had happened to a cadet named James Pelosi who in November 1971 had been accused of breaking the rules while taking a test.
Pelosi was made to eat alone at a table meant for ten, an easy target for the ice cubes that fellow cadets would lob at him during dinner. His mail was opened, his clothes were dragged through the latrine, his person threatened by anonymous callers. None of the cadets talked to him except on official business.
James Pelosi and his ordeal were dramatized in a made-for-TV movie, The Silence, in 1975. Pelosi was played by the actor Richard Thomas, the actor who was best known for playing the part of John Boy in the 1970’s TV series The Waltons. I saw The Silence when it showed on TV. (And I fondly remember watching The Waltons.)
“The Silence” was abolished by the Corps of Cadets in 1973, which many have attributed to Pelosi’s experience.
hxxps://time.com/archive/6844528/armed-services-an-end-to-silence/
hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silence_(1975_film)
If Pompeo had a brain he’d be stupid.
He is sitting on it…cutting off oxygen!
Mike Pompeo considers himself to be a Christian, a fundamentalist Christian. Some example of a Christian! A self-acknowledged liar and thief!! And proud of it!!
Jesus had some choice words which would especially apply to somebody like Mike Pompeo: “It must needs be that trials and tribulations will come, but woe to those by whom they come. It would be better for such to have a millstone wrung around their neck and be thrown into the sea …” (Luke 17:1-2).
And Jesus also had some words about false prophets.
Mike Pompeo believes this nonsense about the so-called “Rapture”, which has always seemed to me to be very juvenile and adolescent and sophomoric in its appeal, and not appealing at all to anything noble or ennobling. I.e. have God’s plan for the future all figured out, be one of those “in the know” about God’s end-times plan, and be one of a select group of people to be raptured away and escape the supposedly prophesied “Great Tribulation” which the rest of the world, those who are “unsaved”, will have to go through and suffer.
Personal disclosure: I used to be a Christian, and have reasons of my own for not being one any more.
A discussion of Mr. Pompeo’s supposed Christianity is certainly in order, as what he claims to be and what he does evokes a cognitive dissonance in a rational observer. My personal opinion is that in this century the Evil Empire is my own country. That it is run by hypocrites and liars like Pompeo is no small reason for that unfortunate and dangerous state. It probably never occurs to him that he “crucifies” Christ every day by his actions.
The world needs real Christians, of which there are relatively so few. Christ’s message was unambiguous and routinely ignored by people like Pompeo. I see no evidence of true Christianity in the centers of power in the so-called “Christian” countries, and that is certainly a huge part of the reason why the world is a miserable mess. Real Christianity is just too “impractical” for “serious” world affairs! Such a quaint–and self serving–notion!
I came to Christianity late in life. I grew up in the heartland of fundamentalist “Christianity” in the American South and attended church regularly. I fell away for the usual reasons, not the least of which was a rational consideration of all the nonsense I was served up as a youth. When one is in the belly of the beast it is difficult to find perspective. Later I realized the narrowness and exclusivity of that world view, and came to the obvious conclusion that “Christians” ignore Christ’s teachings for the same reason we all do: it’s “inconvenient” when we make up our mind to follow our own, selfish and concupiscent path. We leave destruction in our wake.
Pompeo is just another ordinary villain that puts on the cloak of Christianity to cover his sins. The blind are, I guess, destined to lead the blind on the national stage, absent a humble and contrite return to the core message of the Christ we claim to follow. While I reject the brand of “Christianity” that Mr. Pompeo represents, I share a bond with those who practice other faiths and traditions who see the ONE of which we are all a part. In this way, Christianity is a path, and all true paths converge. Love is the only thing that never fails, even when it seems to.
One can’t surf Christianity. One has to get in the water. It’s the most difficult thing most of us will ever do, and I fail every day. Mr. Pompeo, if he were a Christian, would certainly be ever mindful of the SOM and 1 Cor 13. Probably never occurs to him. Sad.
Good job on the speech you gave, Joe. I saw clips of it on YouTube. Bravo!
All this crumbling corrupt empire seems able to produce for leadership is the worst and most incompetent among us. Let’s be honest. It’s Wall Street and the insolvent banks that are calling the shots. Lying, cheating and stealing is how the ruling class gets what it wants regardless of how detrimental it is for the rest of life on earth.
He and his ilk make a mockery of the honor code on a daily basis. Honestly this lowers my opinion of West Point quite a lot.
The little or no publicity this got at the time.in was telling..and still is. Just as Biden is a non oafish Donald Trump in his same core policies, Blinken is a polite egregious liar cheat and thief than Pompeo.
I really enjoy this opportunity.
Pompeo is, in my humble opinion, a pompous ass.
Another example of one of the weakest presidencies in my life. The one thing so many seem to gloss over is the true nature of the tremendous damage the SOB has encouraged and other wise allowed during his watch.
Thanks CN