The American Minister of Defense left the hospital on Monday after having spent two weeks there, announced the Pentagon, even though he had created controversy for having kept quiet about this hospitalization for several days, including from the White House.
“As I continue to recover and perform my duties from home, I look forward to making a full recovery and returning to the Pentagon as quickly as possible,” Lloyd Austin, who had received support from the President Joe Biden despite his silence.
The 70-year-old ex-general learned in early December that he was suffering from prostate cancer. He had surgery on December 22, returning home the next day, then was hospitalized again from January 1 due to complications, including nausea and severe pain. The White House was only informed on January 4 of his hospitalization, which was made public on the 5th.
Secret hospitalizations
The situation caused an outcry in the press and among his Republican adversaries, in the middle of an election year and at a time when the world’s leading military power is involved in several major conflicts, from Ukraine to the Middle East.
Supporting kyiv against Russia and Israel against Palestinian Hamas, Washington, whose forces are regularly the target of attacks in Iraq and Syria, is mobilizing its international partners against the Houthi rebels in Yemen who threaten maritime transport in the Red Sea.
The White House had conceded that these secret hospitalizations were not “ideal” and some elected Democrats expressed their discomfort with the situation. If the president maintained his “confidence” in his minister, according to his spokesperson, the White House ordered a review of the rules applicable in the event of incapacity of senior officials.