Ret. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Wednesday that the U.S. needs to partner with Asian countries like the Philippines in order to counter the "great aggression" coming from China.
Holt said on "American Agenda" ahead of a joint military exercise between the U.S. and the Philippines that the nation "is one of the most strategic set of islands in all of Asia. It's right there in the thick of it and it's only a six-hour flight from Hong Kong. It's very close to Japan. And you know, we've had a historic relationship with the Philippines [that's] mostly good and mostly on an alliance basis that goes back … over 100 years."
He added, "We have partnered with the Philippines in times of great strife. We could not have beaten the Japanese in World War II without the Philippines and our longstanding basing arrangements there. And I'm really gratified … to see Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin engaging with them, reassuring our allies, as we must do all our allies in Asia right now, in the face of this great aggression."
When asked about the leaked Pentagon documents that recently appeared online, Holt said: "It's disgusting that we would see top secret [documents] compromised out of the Pentagon in any way, shape, or form. This is ridiculous. And we certainly don't need the Justice Department coming in with their political heroes, skipping right past billions of dollars' worth of investigative agencies that can go find out how this happened."
He later said: "Whatever it is, it's disgusting and it needs to be dealt with and the accountability needs to be there."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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