Retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey of Seattle says he’s tried to avoid partisan debate this election season, until now.
“This guy, in my judgment, is not fit to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces,” McCaffrey said of GOP nominee Donald Trump.
“There were just too many statements about national security or homeland security that were dangerous to the country, so I thought it would be irresponsible to not speak out,” he said.
General McCaffrey, who served under both former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, first penned an opinion piece for the Seattle Times.
“(Trump) is remarkably ignorant and uneducated about the world that we face and the means we may use to defend ourselves,” McCaffrey wrote in part.
"I put that statement on the table - I’ll leave it there. My intent is not to endorse a campaign, but to merely state, in my view, Mr. Trump is not fit for that office," he said Tuesday.
The retired general listed concerns about controversial comments Trump made regarding Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin, NATO and the Gold Star family of Captain Humayun Khan.
“The outrage of Mr.Trump taking these cultural jabs at a mother, a grieving mother; this guy's lack of civility is another argument for not having him in public office,” said McCaffrey.
He’s not the only one worried. In an unusual step, 50 former senior national security officials, who served under past Republican administrations, signed an open letter warning: "Trump would be the most reckless president in American History."
Names on the statement include former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Secretaries of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge.
While their letter acknowledges “many have doubts about Hillary Clinton,” they write Trump “is not the answer to America’s daunting challenges.”
The Trump campaign called the letter “politically motivated.”
“The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place,” read his statement in part.
General McCaffrey countered that the officials listed are respected voices in foreign policy, on both sides of the aisle.
“These aren’t political people. They’re American patriots saying 'watch out this candidate is a reckless leader,'” said McCaffrey.
