Tuesday, November 17, 2015

A Bit of Common Sense and Context Regarding Obama's Failed Foreign and Military Policies



And, folks, this essay by David French (writing in NRO) doesn't even factor my thesis that Obama and many of his key supporters, sycophants and toadies deliberately seek to "humble" America!

*  *  *  *  *

In 14 years of continual combat, has there ever been a greater disconnect between our warrior class and the civilians who purport to lead them?

American politicians still don’t understand our enemy, still don’t understand the capabilities and limitations of the American military, and — worst of all — they still seem unwilling to learn.

They come from an intellectual aristocracy...

* SELF-PROCLAIMED...

...that believes itself educated simply because it’s credentialed.

(*SAD NOD*)

And they tend to listen only to those who share similar credentials.

(*VIGOROUS NOD*)

They’ve built a bubble of impenetrable ignorance, and they govern accordingly.

During World War I, German general Max Hoffman reportedly declared that “English soldiers fight like lions, but we know they are lions led by donkeys.”

* AND BASICALLY... HE WAS CORRECT.

* BUT LET'S STICK TO TODAY...

Just look at the collection of senior “talent“ advising President Obama on ISIS.

Stanford/Oxford-educated National Security Advisor Susan Rice has no military experience, was part of the team that disastrously botched America’s response to the Rwandan genocide, and is notable mainly for a willingness to say anything to advance the electoral prospects of her political bosses.

Stanford/Michigan-educated Valerie Jarrett (by many accounts President Obama’s most-trusted adviser) also has no military experience, spent much of her life toiling in Chicago municipal politics, and has gained influence primarily through her steadfast loyalty to the Obamas.

Yes, Yale-educated John Kerry served bravely in Vietnam, but one of his first acts upon returning home was to turn on his fellow veterans and slander them as war criminals.

He has minimal credibility in the military.

* I'D SAY THAT'S AN UNDERSTATEMENT!

Perhaps worst of all is Smith College–​educated Wendy Sherman, the lead negotiator of the administration’s disastrous Iran deal. She has zero military experience, started her career as a social worker, and then made her name in radical pro-abortion politics as the director of EMILY’s List.

(*SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Sherman played an instrumental role in the failed North Korean nuclear negotiations during the Clinton administration, so naturally Obama put her in charge of the Iranian debacle.

* FOLKS... NO THRILLER WRITER OR HOLLYWOOD SCREENWRITER COULD COME UP WITH MORE ABSURD SCENARIOS THAN THE ACTUAL REALITY OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.

Incredibly, this gang of cocooned leftists has reportedly “iced the Pentagon out of the decision-making process” and “pushed military frustration to the highest level in decades.”

* DID YOU CATCH MY WEEKEND NEWSBITE CONCERNING LT. GEN. RONALD R. LEWIS?

(*SHRUG*)

But the politicized Pentagon bears its own share of the blame — beginning with a politically correct culture where discrimination complaints are more harmful to careers than battlefield failures.

* YEP!

Yale/Oxford-educated Ash Carter is no doubt intelligent (he has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics) and may be an upgrade over Chuck Hagel, but he has exactly as much experience in uniform as the commander-in-chief.

On Ash's watch, the Pentagon has maintained rules of engagement that have so dramatically hampered American forces in the field that terrorists routinely and easily find safe haven from the world’s most capable military.

(*SIGH*)

* BUT WE DO MANAGE TO KILL PLENTY OF INNOCENTS (YOU KNOW - "COLLATERAL DAMAGE") AND EVEN BOMB THE OCCASIONAL HOSPITAL "BY MISTAKE."

And while military experience — even experience on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan — is no guarantee of either wisdom or policy agreement (after all, even the most hardened post-9/11 veterans can and do disagree on tactics and strategy), there is a reason why Senator Tom Cotton stood alone in voting against the disastrous Corker bill. He has seen jihad up close, and he knows that it cannot be appeased.

Republicans, while possessing a bit more clarity regarding the nature of our enemy, suffer from similar defects in experience. Not one of the leading GOP contenders has served one day in the military, and this experience deficit could be one reason that they sometimes substitute the foolish pacifism and appeasement of the Left for foolish saber-rattling.

* I ASSUME THAT'S A SLUR AGAINST RAND PAUL. IF SO... IT'S BULL$HIT.

The Republican candidates’ near-lock-step support for a Syrian no-fly zone (with the notable exceptions of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump) reflects the worst sort of strategic thinking.

* OR RATHER LACK OF THINKING...

(*SIGH*)

Chris Christie’s vow to shoot down Russian planes if they violate such a no-fly zone was an embarrassment.

(*NOD*)

I do not believe that military service is a prerequisite for the presidency, but lack of service — especially lack of service since 9/11 — should lead to a degree of humility and openness to counsel that our political aristocracy self-evidently doesn’t possess.

I know their world. I’ve lived in their world. This is a political class that reflexively distrusts the military, believes the right kind of experience can be gained by attending panel discussions from Boston to Geneva to Istanbul, and claims to gain on-the-ground insight from quick, guided tours of the safest sectors of Iraq and Afghanistan.

They know nothing.

Worse, they learn nothing.

The American people deserve better.

* I DO! (NOT SO SURE ABOUT THE MORONS...)

(*SHRUG*)

This is a nation that has supplied an all-volunteer military with elite warriors for 14 consecutive years of combat.

* AND DOESN'T THAT TELL YOU SOMETHING...?!?!

* TO RECAP: THE JAPANESE SNEAK ATTACK UPON PEARL HARBOR AND OTHER TARGETS: DECEMBER 7, 1941; VJ (VICTORY OVER JAPAN) DAY: SEPTEMBER 2, 1945.

This is a nation whose sons and daughters keep exhibiting the courage of the Greatest Generation...

* NO. A TINY MINORITY OF OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS.

(*SHRUG*)

...and the generations of soldiers who came before. We still raise lions. But alas, the donkeys rule.

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