Category Archives: Military
Overruled
Senate testimony last week, from outgoing Defense Secretary Panetta and Joint Chiefs chairman General Dempsey, revealed that neither Obama or Hillary answered the 3 a.m. alarm on the night Ambassador Stevens was murdered in Benghazi. Panetta and Dempsey briefed the president on the situation that night at 5 p.m. Obama left the matter up to them and wasn’t heard from again until he flew to Vegas the next day and blamed the attack on a video maker.
Also it was learned that the president overruled advice from the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, CIA Director, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to arm fighters in Syria.
Turkey Kill List
Drones are something most us are thankful for. Even Romney and Obama agree they are swell.
Me, not so much. I get the Hiroshima argument that drones save our guys by killing bad guys along with others. But the idea of President Obama keeping a kill list and acting as judge, jury, and executioner gives me the creeps. Especially when his target is an American citizen terrorist like al-Awlaki.
Not that I’m sorry al-Awlaki is toes up, or however his toes are, but I’d have preferred to see him captured, questioned, and indulged with a few of his same constitutional rights as Obama tried to shower on Pakistani 9/11 killer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Why is the president indignant about water boarding a foreign terrorist, but proud to use the information water boarding produces to help him assassinate an U.S. citizen terrorist?
My favorite atheist right-to-lifer, Nat Hentoff, got me on this jag last week when he wrote this column about Obama and the Rule of Law. Here’s one Nat wrote for the Cato Institute in October about drone assassination . He’s authorized to say “dig this” since he’s also a jazz writer.
Anyway, enjoy your cranberry sauce. Happy Thanksgiving!
Caught with Pants Down
In The Washington Free Beacon Matthew Continetti says, “foreign policy crises are metastasizing…And the United States is clueless. Its political class is reeling after its most celebrated general in decades resigned from his post as CIA director when the FBI exposed his affair with a journalist.”
Unlike scandals that bring down blowhard politicians, this one’s no fun for Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt. He gives an impressive account of the service of generals Petraeus and Allen.
