The Pentagon on Thursday said it was not certain that the Washington-area would host a parade requested by President Donald Trump to honour the US military.
“We don’t know that. There are options and we will explore those and the president will ultimately decide,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White, adding that the US Army was taking the lead in creating options for the event.
The White House has asked the Pentagon to explore a celebration of “America’s great service members,” after the Republican president marvelled at the Bastille Day military parade he attended in Paris last year.
Critics have argued that a parade could cost millions of dollars, at a time the Pentagon wants more stable funding for an overstretched military.
When asked who would pay for the cost of the parade, White said the Pentagon was still in the planning phase.
On Wednesday, the Council of the District of Columbia ridiculed the idea of a parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, the 1.2-mile (1.9-km) stretch between the Capitol and the White House that is also the site of the Trump International Hotel.
“Tanks but no tanks!” it tweeted.
One option under consideration is for a parade on Nov. 11 – which would be the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One.
2 Comments
Mr Magoo
February 9, 2018 at 19:37Ignoring for a second that virtually everyone in the military, along with all rational people is opposed to this for a second….That it’s Trump a guy, who repeatedly avoided the draft, a guy that criticized another politician for serving, being captured and being tortured in a war, is calling for this.
Mattis has studiously avoided saying other than he’s carrying out the presidents request to look into the idea.
Trump does not have the common sense to privately run the idea past Mattis first before announcing his brain fart idea.
Douglas
February 9, 2018 at 07:46I like to think there are other ways of appreciating military personnel contribution to society, as I tend to associate Military Parades as a mean of showing off military power ?