Category Archives: Military
Empty Chair for an Empty Suit
The Obama Under the Bus Body Count rose by one this past week. When the usually reliable Steve Kroft asked the president how ISIS came to power on his watch, Obama blamed National Intelligence boss James Clapper.
Empty Chair
That didn’t sit well with the spooks and they let it be known that Obama is a no show for most intelligence briefings. Obama says, being a 21st Century kind of Commander-In-Chief, he takes his briefings remotely on his I-pad.
Maybe Clint Eastwood was on to something with his empty chair conversation at the 2012 GOP convention.
Wartime President
The man elected to “end war” has become a wartime president.
In a UN speech on Wednesday President Obama called the civilized world to arms against the barbarians. He sounded positively Bushian.
There can be no reasoning, no negotiation, with this brand of evil. The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force. So the United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death.
Axis of Evil anyone? Dana Milbank thinks so.
Wartime
The WSJ (The Latest Mideast Breakdown) said he sounded like a “Nobel Peace Prize winner mugged by reality”.
Better than his Advisers
In 2008 President Obama offered this self evaluation.
“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.”
Anything You Can Do, I Can do Better
Last week The Washington Post said the president doesn’t work well with others in the military. Mark Theissen, also in the Post, said Obama ignored his top general when he pulled all troops out of Iraq – allowing ISIS to move in – and he’s still ignoring him.
Doctors, Farmers, and the JV Team
The Senate just approved a continuing resolution to fund the government and train Syrian rebels to fight against ISIS. President Obama previously dismissed the rebels as “doctors, pharmacists, and farmers”. That’s a positive endorsement considering he called ISIS the “JV team”.
Bokbluster Weekend NATO Editon
Last week President Obama assured member nations that NATO would defend them. Meanwhile, terrorists frolicked by the pool at the abandoned American Embassy in Tripoli.
Not NATO
On Friday Ukraine signed a ceasefire agreement with Russian separatists. Ukraine isn’t a NATO member. The only American military assistance it received where Meals Ready to Eat. Still it was making progress against the separatists. That is until Russian tanks invaded.
The beheading of two Americans seems to have concentrated the country’s attention on the use of military force. Even Rand Paul wants to wipe out ISIS. He says he’s always been in favor of war if it’s in the national interest. How far does the national interest go?
Pretty far, according to Robert Kagan and Victor Davis Hanson. They both made the same point that when you withdraw military power bad guys fill the vacuum.
Brett Bair interviewed three CIA contractors who were on the ground in Benghazi when Ambassador Stevens was killed. They say their station chief told them to stand down. Eventually they defied orders and fought the terrorists, some of whom may now be poolside in Tripoli.
