AMATEURS, RANK AMATEURS

Here I sit, shaking my head. Next year cannot come too soon for me. That is, next year’s presidential election. It has hard for me to fathom the level of mediocrity that emanates from within this administration. It has become a continuous procession of buffoonery that is only topped by the sheer impossibility that such actions should ever occur. I am not even going to talk about Benghazi because there is still too much information that has been hidden, covered, expunged or whatever you want to call it. Others with much more information than I will deal with that at a later date. But there are some issues that should totally anger EVERY American. The sad truth is that most people could care less about the truth and care only for their new Ipad, I-Phone or what the Kardashians are doing now. So here goes.

1. Chuck Hagel: (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/12/19/why-former-pentagon-chief-chuck-hagels-coming-out-against-the-white-house-matters/)

Just last week, former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke about his yearlong tenure in the military’s top position. It was both eye opening and sad. Sad because those with open eyes have been seeing this behavior for years. At the time of his resignation, we were told that Hagel was asked to step down because he and the White House did not “see eye-to-eye” on how to deal with the ISIS threat. Later it was mentioned that the president had lost faith in Hagel. Not surprising, Hagel, a year removed from his job is not taking these barbs sitting down and is explaining some of his ideas on what happened.

Hagels words are a terrific insight into a world of delusion, micro-management and people clearly promoted up and beyond their intellectual capabilities. Not to mention the dozens of general officers that have been fired under Obamas watch. The site (http://www.rense.com/general96/listof.html) gives an excellent summary of officers fired as of March of 2014. In Hagels words, Obama had no clear strategy on dealing with ISIS and apparently he had no desire to hear competing ideas on what to do. After his infamous “red line in the sand” speech, much like Chamberlain’s “Peace in our time” speech, the defense department had plans to bomb Damascus directly in order to stop the use of chemical weapons. President Obama quickly shut that down. From incoherent 4-hour staff meetings run by the way over tasked National Security Advisor Susan Rice to having “the hell beat out of him” for daring to delay transfer orders of GITMO detainees because he had serious security concerns about their release, his words are eye opening.

None of this is surprising since Hagel was the third Secretary of Defense to “leave” while working for President Obama. Former Secretary Robert Gates, who served for both President George W. Bush and Obama, wrote that he was “seething” and “running out of patience on multiple fronts” with the administration. Gates likewise penned, “suspicion and distrust of senior military officers by senior White House officials — including the president and vice president — became a big problem for me as I tried to manage the relationship between the commander in chief and his military leaders.” Leon Panetta likewise echoed that Obama had a “frustrating reticence to engage his opponents and rally support for his cause.” He also lamented that Obama too frequently “relies on the logic of a law professor rather than the passion of a leader.” Having four Secretaries of Defense in a seven year period is unprecedented in the modern age. Likewise it is sad and telling. Guess what folks, if you have been married and divorced four times in seven years, it is probably time to take that deep introspective look at yourself. But it is that narrow field of view of the micro-manager that scares the daylights out of those more competent, and dare I say smarter, than the manager who has to have his mitts in the tiniest of actions. It harkens back to a time when President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara would sit at the White House selecting the targets Navy and Air Force Airmen were going to attack the next day, despite what commanders in the field wanted. We all know how that turned out. Amateurs.

2. Ash Carter: Okay, on the heals of Hillary Clinton’s email debacle, it was disclosed this week that current Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter used a private email for official business. “Oh the humanity!” Are you kidding me? This guy, knowing the climate in Washington actually used a private server for emails. Okay, I will cut him some slack. Just kidding, no slack here. He knew better. Period. It doesn’t matter whether there was “classified” information or not. As a Secretary of Defense, just like Hillary as Secretary of State, every email pertaining to work, at a minimum is sensitive. There may be no earth shattering information divulged but guess what, do you want the Chinese or Russians knowing you are having lunch at 1200 at Olive Garden with Secretary Joe Bagodonuts?

What I find amusing from the liberal pundits is that they continue to see nothing wrong with this behavior. I also find it amusing that most of the people who find nothing wrong with this are the same ones who themselves have never had anything remotely close to a Top Secret Security Clearance and therefore have never handled this type of information on a daily basis. I have. I remember flying with a Delta Captain several years ago and I made a statement about people in our government who by the nature of their actions and associations could never get a security clearance if they were in the Air Force. He became quite indignant and told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. I knew he had flown in the Air Force but the plane he flew did not require any clearance of that level. So I said to him, “Well you know what it took . . . oh that’s right. You only flew a T-37, you never had a TS clearance. Sorry.” I winked and turned away and yeah he was pissed and no I didn’t care.

The handling of classified information is, or should be, a very serious thing. In the military, we take it very seriously and woe to the military member who mishandles such information. As for Ash Carter, personally I think he should be fired but unfortunately the precedent has been set with Hillary Clinton as well as a President who steadfastly refused to leave his Blackberry out of classified meetings when he first took office. “Hey, what’s the big deal?” you ask. Any device that can receive or transmit data is not allowed into a classified briefing for obvious reasons. But if you have a boss who doesn’t really care about security, why should you? Amateurs.

3. Loretta Lynch (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3346148/Attorney-General-s-greatest-fear-isn-t-Islamic-terrorism-s-attacks-Muslims-backlash-wake-shootings.html) Lastly, our Attorney General Loretta Lynch recently told a group of Muslims in Washington that her “greatest fear” since the Paris terror attack is retaliatory violence against members of the religion. Really? That is your greatest fear? Not radical Islamic terrorism? Not ISIS’ call for violence in the US? Not the Americans going there to fight for ISIS or coming back with jihadist ideas? Not the fact that ISIS has said, in their own words, that they are going to infiltrate the US under the guise of Syrian refugees? Lynch further stated that “as a prosecutor,” she worries that the anti-Muslim rhetoric “will be accompanied by acts of violence,” and that “We cannot give in to the fear that these backlashes are really based on.” Look, I agree at one level that as Americans we cannot afford, legally and more importantly morally, to go all WWII on the Muslims in our country. No. Not gonna happen. Should never happen. And as Americans, we have a duty to stop indiscriminate violence against ANY group. But that being said, AG Lynch, is that really your greatest fear? If so, perhaps you need to get another job. I do find it interesting that according to the article above, while addressing this group, Lynch conveniently ignored that the San Bernardino shootings that occurred a couple days previously was carried out by Muslims. Can’t offend people with the truth I guess. Her politically correct mumbo jumbo tells me that she is nothing more than another amateur. Sad.

Politico reports that Lynch did not mention the Wednesday shooting in San Bernardino, California, that was committed by two Muslims and is currently under investigation by the FBI during her remarks, while urging Americans of all backgrounds not to give into violent impulses.