via The Daily Caller....
Retired four-star Army General Jack Keane claimed that senior military leaders are “outraged” over President Obama’s decision to trumpet the trade of likely Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl for five dangerous Taliban in a Rose Garden celebration last Saturday.I've been thinking about this for a bit now and I think I get the thinking of the Obama Administration.
Keane spoke Sunday with Fox News’ Chris Wallace about the political implications of the prisoner transfer, with the general becoming the latest to contradict National Security Advisor Susan Rice’s assertion that the returned Army Sgt. “served with honor and distinction.”
“The fact that a citizen volunteers — becomes a soldier, becomes a paratrooper, goes to combat as a result of that, has an unblemished record, is a very good soldier — and then deserts his post, that trumps all previous behavior,” he explained. “So that is a distinction in itself, and he has to be held accountable for that.”
“And how have the military leaders you’ve talked to this week — I know you’re close touch with a lot of folks, still, at the Pentagon — how do they view the way this week has rolled out?” Wallace asked.
“They’re outraged that the president, at the Rose Garden ceremony, was actually promoting an event in terms of public relations,” Keane declared. “And then taking his family — who by the way, the military had advised to maintain a very low profile, and they had maintained a low profile for years.”
“And then to put them in front of the cameras like that and begin a celebration, I think that created not only anguish among those who were his teammates and those who may’ve lost his lives in rescuing him,” the general explained, “but senior military leaders looked at that and just shook their head and said, ‘Why are we doing something like that?’”
1. They needed to put a win on the board. National Security be damned.
2. They needed to get the VA scandal off the front page.
3. They needed to rally supporters who are extremely down with elections rapidly approaching.
So with those needs, they ignored all common sense and made a deal with the devil.
On top of that they are so removed from the military that they thought this would be cheered by servicemembers, retirees and vets.
Didn't work out that way and the only thing that can ruin the delicious tears of the liberal elite is the fact that Republicans and some military bloggers are telling us to withhold judgement until an investigation is performed.
What bullshit.
"They are so removed from the military that they thought this would be cheered by servicemembers, retirees and vets."
ReplyDeleteNot quite. They 'knew' that the average Americans were so removed from the military that anyone who said anything bad about this could be blackballed as "angry conservatives" "Paranoid swiftboaters" or "Heartless republicans", and the the average goodhearted American would probably embrace the patriotic kool-aid.
The truth is that there are so many people hiding behind the flag, the uniform, and the forest of organizations that are "for the troops" that the civvies, and even a good portion of the military community itself, have no idea who are for real, who are scammers out to make a buck, and who are political hacks trying to boost themselves on the backs of servicemembers and dependents everywhere.
I can see the rationale in getting this guy free from the Taliban, because we don't want to leave servicemembers behind, even if they are deserters, but the victory lap and PR campaign was stupid beyond all measure. They should have rescued him, investigated him and, if charges were merited, court martialed him, not turned it into a PR gimmick.
ReplyDeleteThis is the nexus of incompetence and hubris.
Sol, you'll love this: http://nypost.com/2014/06/07/no-reform-too-absurd-for-obama-to-spring-gitmo-detainees/
ReplyDeleteit would be funny if this was a comedy and not reality. these guys will come out of this like prisoners from the state lock ups. they're going to be more professional than ever and they will kill Americans, Europeans....anyone they can that will further there cause. we're in a shit sandwich courtesy of some amateurs and fantasy riders. we really need realists in the white house and pentagon .... the state dept is probably a lost cause.
DeleteI wonder how many members of Obama's advisory team have ever served? Are they really that lame? Surely someone would have told them how this would go down. If you are going to trade, do it quietly without the hoo-haw. It just makes our prez look even lamer and out of touch. I'll bet the more conservative democrats are just shitting green bricks over this. The rest of us have learned not to be surprised. How long until we can get some adult supervision back in the White House?
ReplyDelete