The departure of top Pentagon official is a warning to all Trump critics

John Rood, undersecretary of defence for policy in the Pentagon, departs at the end of this week, following his enforced resignation on February 19. His demise from one of the most important jobs in the defence department should serve as a warning to all working for the Trump administration that if they can't be 100 per cent loyal and do and say what the president wants, they will be out. Rood by all accounts was not an easy man to have around. It's claimed he was short if not downright rude to his subordinates which is never a good sign for a leader of anything. But I doubt he was ousted by the White House for his temper or temperament but for his views on key issues which clashed with those of Trump and his National Security Council. Many many others have already departed the Trump administration for the same reason, not least of whom was the man who brought Rood to the Pentagon in the first place two years ago, the illustrious General Jim Mattis, secretary of defence until his abrupt dismissal at the end of 2018. Loyalty is one thing. You can be loyal to your president but without being a toady. Argument or at least forceful discussion has to play a part in any administration when key foreign and security policy decisions have to be made. A president should welcome the to and fro of debate. He has to make the final decision - bomb or not to bomb - but differing views is healthy in a democracy. Perhaps Rood went too far in his disagreements with Trump but I'm sure he argued his case and that of the Pentagon robustly and intelligently. That was his job. The trouble for presidents, not just Trump, is that on the whole the Pentagon and its layer of military chiefs don't like to go to war unless they really have to but once they do they want to stay to complete the job which, in their parlance, means winning. That's why everyone at the Pentagon, including Rood, was so anti Trump's wish to withdraw US troops from Syria last year because they knew the task of defeating Isis in northern Syria was not finished. Rood and co won that argument, eventually. But Trump will not have forgotten. Rood was on the skids ever since then probably. Anyway his time is up and his job, like many others in the department, will remain vacant or filled temporarily by a deputy.