National Security & Defense

“To the American leadership. Very Respectfully,” the Marine battalion commander captioned the video. On Thursday — several hours after the attack in Kabul that killed at least 170 people and 13 U.S. service members — Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller sat in full uniform before his military vest and helmet and recorded himself in a rebuke of U.S. senior leaders in Afghanistan. He posted the 4:45 minute video to Facebook.

“I want to say this very strongly,” he said in the video. “I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability.”

“The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down,” he said. “People are upset because their senior leaders let them down and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, ‘We messed this up.’ ”

He noted that he had “a lot to lose,” especially if the video “picks up traction.” By Friday evening, the video had been shared 28,000 times.