What is happening now is not a surprise. It was predicted. If anything, it is happening faster than predicted, said Mick Mulroy, the Pentagon's former top Middle East policy official and an ABC News analyst. We are not seeing the worst of it. The Taliban is not only taking territory, they are killing people with the weapons we provided to Afghan security forces, said Mulroy, a former CIA officer and Marine infantryman who served in Afghanistan.

Mick Mulroy

Former deputy assistant secretary of defense and ABC News analyst Mick Mulroy is part of both Task Force Pineapple and Task Force Dunkirk, who are assisting former Afghan comrades. They never wavered. I and many of my friends are here today because of their bravery in battle. We owe them all effort to get them out and honor our word, Mulroy said.

Military training, throughout history, has required discipline. Socrates believed that self-control could become the very foundation of moral wisdom if only we could learn how to apply it to overcoming violent passions, such as anger and hatred. Stoicism appeals to military men and women precisely because it was inspired by ancient military values. It’s especially relevant today because of its potential to reach many individuals who do not otherwise seek therapy or read self-help literature. It also holds out the promise of a more lasting, perhaps even lifelong, personal transformation.

On July 24, 2020, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed (86 to 14 in favor) Senate Bill S.4049, their version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision that all 10 Army bases named after prominent Confederate military leaders be renamed. On this issue, Mulroy said, American soldiers should serve on bases that are named after the heroes that have sacrificed and fought for our country, not against it and suggested that they should be renamed after Medal of Honor recipients instead.

The incoming national security team deserves to have the full support of a transition to ensure the seamless transfer of power without incurring any unnecessary risk to our nation's security, said Mulroy, who is currently an ABC News contributor. I am supporting the incoming transition team because it is the right thing to do.

The U.S. Military is far better off because of the contributions of women, said Mick Mulroy, a retired Marine and former deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East and an ABC News contributor. They have been awarded for their valor on the battlefield and many have given the ultimate sacrifice for their country. We should take this time to ensure every American is aware of this history and not listening to those who are either unaware of this history or deliberately misrepresenting it, he said.

He told the Washington Post that “We’ve reduced our exposure and we’ve significantly reduced our casualties,” he said. “I just don’t think the investment of 3,000 troops is too much to keep what we’ve gained in 20 years.”

I started to see that everything that made a Stoic a true Stoic was right there in a person who had never even heard of the concept or the philosophy.

If we fail to shore up the moral and ethical bulwarks of our society we will have to live with the consequences. We will almost certainly watch our international reputation continue to wane. We will continue to lose our way and fracture at our many seams. A philosopher-king like Aurelius—American democratic leaders like Aurelius—can help us change course and save us from ourselves.

My father was someone that I always looked to for guidance. I sought to emulate his beliefs and his actions. He was a former Jesuit Catholic priest turned professor and scientist. My father led by word and by deed. He taught me ethics and morality through the study of philosophy, especially that of Socrates.

Targeting generals is fully lawful, targeting non-combatant civilians is not, Mulroy said. If Russian generals don't want to be targeted, they should withdraw their forces and return to Russia.

The honor of a nation has to actually come from the nation, though, and its representatives. History will record it and our allies will remember it, as will our adversaries.

The philosopher Socrates once asked why all men praise liberty but so many neglect to acquire self-discipline. Without the virtue of temperance, he reasoned, none of us can truly become wise or free, as we’re bound to be misled and enslaved by our own passions. It was the Stoic school of philosophy, though, founded a century after Socrates’ death, which turned this simple insight into a whole way of life. Socrates taught that in order to attain wisdom, we must free ourselves from violent passions, such as greed and anger. Today, although we cherish our freedoms more than ever, we’ve largely forgotten that they’re meaningless without the strength of character to make use of them well. For Stoics, the uncomplaining endurance required in Greek military training provided an obvious means of learning discipline. Perhaps for that reason, many of the greatest philosophers of antiquity were soldiers.

The State Department's 'maximum pressure' campaign has not pressured Iran toward diplomacy and a new agreement. It has pressured them toward an increase in malign activity in the region and toward the development of a nuclear weapon, said Mick Mulroy, Trump's former top Pentagon official for the Middle East and a retired CIA officer who's now an ABC News contributor.

The war against terrorism will not end with the signing of surrender aboard the USS Missouri. It may not even end. But the only thing necessary for terrorism to thrive is for the good countries to do nothing about it. That is not what I think America is about. We should lead the free world if we claim to be the leader of the free world. We should keep a group of dedicated professionals to fight this war in perpetuity if need be.

Whether you agree with or use what I utilize for self-assessment is not what’s important. What is important is looking carefully at yourself in the Stoic’s mirror. Many people are their own greatest fans. Be your own harshest critic.

If they tasked the agency with looking at the target for indications of' go' or' no go' criteria, they should have had the ability to get that information and affect whether they launched a strike. If there was no way to know that they were about to launch, there's something really wrong there.