Defense Department

The John Kerry Problem For The Democrats

Ronald 2 Comments

The possibility of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry becoming Barack Obama’s Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense creates new problems for the Democrats in the US Senate.

The Democrats gained two seats in the recent elections, and would hate to lose one of those seats, which could happen if Kerry resigned from the Senate, and in theory, gave soon to be former Republican Senator Scott Brown a chance to vie for his seat in a special election, which is how he won the seat of Senator Ted Kennedy in 2010.

But the Democrats have two potential nominees to run against Brown, should Kerry go to the Presidential Cabinet.

One is Governor Deval Patrick, very popular in his second term, and someone who might like to be a United States Senator, and might even have Presidential ambitions. The second popularly elected African American Governor, he would become the seventh African American Senator, and the fifth by popular election.

But also, believe it or not, the new Congressman replacing retiring Representative Barney Frank is Joseph Kennedy III, the son of former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II, and the grandson of Robert Kennedy.

While he only takes the oath of office in January, the new young (32) Congressman with the famous last name could be the choice of the voters in the primary, bringing back a Kennedy to the US Senate.

While he has no real experience to speak of, young Joe could follow in the model of his great uncle, Ted Kennedy, who came to the Senate at age 30 untested, but ended up having a long, distinguished career of 47 years before his death in 2009.

Certainly, a Brown-Kennedy or a Brown-Patrick race would draw a lot of interest, and the odds of the seat of John Kerry remaining Democratic would be quite high, since Brown did poorly in the race against Elizabeth Warren, and has minimum funds left for another race in heavily Democratic Massachusetts.

It would be the first interesting political race of 2013!

A Fascinating Idea! Former Republican Senators Richard Lugar And Chuck Hagel As Secretary Of State And Secretary Of Defense In Second Obama Term!

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A fascinating idea has surfaced, which is very exciting in many ways.

It is clear that there will be a reshuffling of President Obama’s cabinet over the next few months, and two openings will certainly be likely in the State Department and the Defense Department.

For State, it has been suggested that Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and 2004 Democratic Presidential nominee, might take the post. Also, Susan Rice, United Nations Ambassador, is mentioned. Both would be wonderful in the position.

BUT there is a school of thought that IF President Obama wanted to show bipartisanship, he could do what Franklin D. Roosevelt did in World War II–pick Republicans who are intelligent, sane, responsible, and who are no longer serving in the Senate, to serve in his cabinet, and the State Department would offer a great location to put soon to be former Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, an acknowledged foreign policy expert, and a man who has worked well with Obama when they were both Senators, and went off to Russia to promote the safe collection of nuclear weapons stockpiles in 2005-2006. Lugar is a wonderful statesman, and would fill the job with excellence and professionalism. And he has been, like Kerry, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman in the past, and is still the ranking member of the committee until he leaves the Senate in January.

Additionally, as suggested earlier, former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Vietnam War veteran and military expert, would be an excellent choice to serve in the Pentagon as Secretary of Defense. Always highly regarded and respected, Hagel would add stature to our Defense Department.

Such appointments would neutralize, to a great extent, Republican attacks on President Obama in the areas of foreign policy, national security, and defense policy.

If FDR could have Republicans Henry Stimson as Secretary of War, and Frank Knox as Secretary of the Navy in 1940 and after, why cannot Barack Obama make a smart move that would help his administration to succeed, and also promote bipartisanship, at a time when it is desperately needed?

Eleven Years Of War In Afghanistan And Counting: For What?

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Today marks ELEVEN years of US combat in Afghanistan, with over 2,000 Americans killed, and thousands more wounded, many severely.

George W. Bush messed up the whole involvement from the beginning, and it took nearly a decade to kill Osama Bin Laden, and weaken Al Qaeda dramatically, although they still exist in other nations in the area.

But the Taliban threat remains a power in Afghanistan, and President Hamid Karzai is one of the most corrupt foreign leaders we deal with, and is not even appreciative of American and NATO involvement and sacrifice! Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta expressed the total disgust of our nation with Karzai, and his constant criticisms of America, while he has done nothing to make life better for his people, particularly the women living under a medieval standard of behavior!

Barack Obama is committed to withdrawing in 2014, but the case can be made that if he wins reelection, he should speed up the withdrawal to end a year early, as Afghanistan is a nation that seems hopeless to reform, at the high cost of American lives and treasure.

It is impossible to accept that this is, by far, the longest war in American history, and it is time to declare it over, and bring the men and women home for good!

Choosing A Sitting House Member For Vice President Not Productive!

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This author mentioned last week that Paul Ryan was the fifth member of the House of Representatives to be nominated for Vice President in the past half century, which is true.

However, two of those five House members were not still in the House of Representatives when nominated for Vice President, and had accomplished beyond being a member of the House. These are Jack Kemp, nominated with Bob Dole in 1996, who was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H. W. Bush from 1989-1993; and Dick Cheney, nominated with George W. Bush in 2000, who was Secretary of Defense under the first President Bush for the same years as Kemp, 1989-1993.

But the only SITTING House members to be nominated were William E. Miller with Barry Goldwater in 1964; Geraldine Ferraro with Walter Mondale in 1984; and now Paul Ryan with Mitt Romney in 2012.

The first two experiments were a total failure, with Goldwater losing all but six states in 1964, and Lyndon B. Johnson winning the highest percentage in history, 61.1 percent of the popular vote. And Mondale lost all states except Minnesota and the District of Columbia, with Ronald Reagan winning 525 electoral votes, an all time high, and 59.4 percent of the total popular vote!

No one is saying that Romney and Ryan will do as disastrously as the other two cases, but the prospects for victory are based on very long odds!

Robert Gates Challenges Republican Presidential Candidates Who Call Barack Obama Weak On Defense And National Security

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Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates tonight, in an interview on CNN, challenged Republican Presidential candidates who have asserted that Barack Obama is weak on defense and national security matters.

Gates, a Republican who served at the Pentagon under both George W. Bush and Obama, said that when you look at the record, Barack Obama has been very willing to use aggressive tactics against terrorists, referring to the death of Osama Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.

Gates also said that Mitt Romney’s charge that Obama promotes “Pretty Please’ tactics to adversaries has no basis, as there is nothing wrong with reaching out to enemies and hoping that one can reason with them, get them to do what we want, and utilize the military option only as a last resort. Without actually saying it, he was clear in believing that promoting confrontation is not the best tactic for a President to start off his administration, a slap at Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich, who all seem ready to declare war on Iran on Day One in the White House.

While not willing to take a stand on GOP Presidential candidates, Gates smiled and said he has voted in the past for Democratic Presidential candidates, without specifying whom, and that he would keep his vote this November to himself, refusing to say he would back the Republican nominee because of party loyalty.

Based on earlier assessments of Obama by Gates, one would not be surprised he voted for Obama, who it is clear he has very high regard for. Gates was a tremendous help to Obama in the first two plus years of his Presidency, and will go down in history as a truly decent, caring, patriotic Republican who was willing to help a Democratic President, rather than be petty, vindictive, obstructionist, all in the name of partisan politics, rather than doing what was right for the nation as a whole!

Defense Cuts Coming: Unavoidable, And Reasonable Long Term

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The Pentagon, Secretary of State Leon Panetta, and President Barack Obama have announced plans for the future of our military, which are unavoidable and reasonable long term.

The philosophy behind the defense plans is that present costs for military spending, and trying to have the capability for involvement in two major wars at the same time, is unsustainable in the present economic climate.

Instead, involvement in one major war, with ability to send troops to a second theater of war, with eventual commitment of some troops from the first theater of war over time, is the best that America can do.

Also, the goal is to face the reality that future military personnel cannot have the same expenditures on families, health care costs, salaries, and pensions, as those costs now are beginning to become a financial burden on the American treasury.

Also, the major focus will be on the area of Asia and the Pacific, rather than the Middle East, where so much effort has been concentrated . The thought is that China, North Korea, and Pakistan are the major challenges for the long term future, and should be given the focus of our attention, without forgetting about Iran.

The one way not mentioned to change this reality is to start heavier taxation, particularly of the wealthy, as cutting of entitlements, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is not acceptable in any major fashion. We will have tp pay as we go if we want everything to be what everyone wants, but right now, that is not possible, so we need to concentrate on where it is felt the major challenges are in the future.

We must also face a more restrained use of military force in general, and more modest foreign policy goals, and deal with the internal problems this nation faces.

Conventional forces will be de-emphasized in favor of counter terrorist actions and “irregular” warfare, and greater investment in long range stealth bombers and anti missile systems.

Fighting regional wars, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be no longer a goal of the military, causing long periods of commitment and wearing down the budget costs.

The goal is to cut defense spending by $480 billion over the next decade, but if Congress fights over it, automatic cuts could rise to $1 trillion!

Special Forces troops, elite counter terrorist troops, and armed drones are the future of the military, with a decline in conventional ground forces.

The Army and Marine Corps would decline in numbers, and fewer troops would be stationed in Europe, in order to allow greater deployment into the Asia-Pacific theater.

This plan for the future will lead to a fight in Congress, but what else is new?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ Comment On Diplomacy And Its Relationship To The Anthony Weiner Scandal!

Ronald 1 Comment

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, in his last testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before his retirement, made a very interesting statement yesterday regarding international relations and diplomacy.

With a big smile, he said that it was clear that all governments lie to each other, and that is par for the course!

What an interesting public admission, and it also applies to relations between people in any field of work, that diplomacy requires tact and a certain amount of deception called “artful lying”, whereby those on the other side do not realize they are being lied to.

It is a fact that all people and institutions are engaged in lying to help promote their individual or group cause. It is a question of being effective, and NOT being caught in the lie that is the magic of success!

This is brought up because of the outrage many have about Anthony Weiner, who lied about his private obsessions and compulsions.

It is not that we should approve of his behavior, but the question remains why is there a double standard as to who stays in office and who leaves after private misbehavior!

Under pressure from Democratic leaders and even President Obama, Anthony Weiner resigned today, even though his constituents showed their support of him in public opinion polls.

Anthony Weiner was a great spokesman for his beliefs, and really cared for the middle class and the poor, and his resignation is a loss to the nation at large.

A special election in a heavily Democratic district will now have to be scheduled, and it is a fact that IF Anthony Weiner chose to run for his vacated seat and his constituents chose to reelect him, that would be perfectly justified and should end the issue of him being a political liability. Democracy should rule, and it is now up to Anthony Weiner to decide if he wishes to pursue this strategy!

The Ignorance Crisis In America: Belief In Conspiracy Theories Runs Amuck, Danger Sign For America’s Future!

Ronald 6 Comments

America is in deep trouble for the future in so many ways, but it is likely that the greatest crisis the country faces is the Ignorance Crisis, in which Conspiracy Theories run amuck!

It is shocking how many people, and we mean adults over the age of 18 but working its way up to include even the elderly, display such ignorance and lack of a sense of reality, that they truly believe in conspiracy theories, accepting false evidence as factually true. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but millions of citizens seem to be unwilling to face reality and accept factual details, choosing to believe what they want to believe, no matter how crazy or loony it is!

Among the Conspiracy theories widely believed are the following:

1. President Franklin D. Roosevelt engineered the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, crippling our naval fleet, in order to get us into World War II!

2. Aliens landed in Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, and our Defense Department has covered it up ever since, keeping the aliens under lock and key!

3. The assassination of John F. Kennedy was engineered by elements within the government, and involved multiple gunmen who made Lee Harvey Oswald the patsy!

4. American astronauts did not land on the moon in July 1969, but were instead part of a great coverup by the news media and government officials, and they actually were landing in the deserts of Arizona!

5. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld engineered the attacks of September 11 on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, in order to increase Presidential power and put us into a world wide war against Islamic civilization!

6. Barack Obama was born in an Islamic country, either Kenya or Indonesia, not the United States, and there was a great conspiracy to plant a birth announcement in Hawaii newspapers in 1961, so as to allow us to elect him the first black President, and allow him to promote Sharia law and Socialism in America fifty years later!

7. In a more generalized way, the Masonic Order has been involved in a conspiracy to control the government and economy of the United States from George Washington to the present!

8. The Federal Reserve Banking System, created under Woodrow Wilson in 1913, is part of a great conspiracy by powerful capitalists and bankers, many of them foreigners, to control and manipulate the American economy, so as to exploit the average American citizen, and enrich the international conspiracy against America’s interests!

9. There is a great conspiracy by people from Latin America, particularly Mexico, to take over the American nation, and dilute it with the “inferior” racial stock that Hispanics and Latinos represent!

10. The United States is threatened by “old Europe”, the “inferior” nations and laws of nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and other countries all over Europe, who are trying to undermine our laws and traditions! Also, all international organizations, including NATO and the United Nations, are working to undermine American “exceptionalism” and values!

When one examines all of these conspiracy theories and how many Americans truly believe them, despite lack of evidence and facts, one must mourn for the long term future of this great nation, which has allowed the development of an inferior education system and poor family values to undermine what was once a great nation, but is now in great danger and under great threat of collapse over the next few generations!

All good, educated, sensible people want our nation back to what it once was, and mourn the serious mental illness we are now suffering through!

Appointment Of Leon Panetta To Defense Department And David Petraeus To CIA: Great Steps On National Security!

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President Obama has decided to nominate CIA head Leon Panetta to succeed Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense this summer.

He has also decided to name General David Petraeus, head of the war command in Afghanistan, to become head of the CIA.

Both moves can be seen as great steps forward on national security, both for the safety of the United States, and also politically, as both Panetta and Petraeus should have no opposition from Republicans when their nominations come up for consideration.

Panetta, a former Republican long ago, worked as Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton, and is seen by almost everyone as a solid figure to run Defense.

Petraeus, a registered Republican who some thought as a possible Presidential choice in the future, has gained a great amount of respect and even awe as he has contributed to his country in the struggle against terrorism over the past decade!

The departure of Robert Gates this summer should not be accomplished without paying tribute to Gates, as one of the best Defense Secretaries in American history, and a welcome relief from Donald Rumsfeld, arguably the worst we have seen since the Defense Department was created out of the old War Department in 1947!

Gates helped both President George W. Bush and President Obama, and he has given fantastic service to his country, and is entitled to a well deserved retirement, although one can be sure that Gates will still contribute in other ways in the future, as he is the ultimate example of a great public servant!

Defense Secretary Robert Gates And Future Land Wars In The Middle East, Africa And Asia

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A few days ago, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, speaking at West Point, made a very interesting observation regarding land wars and the American future.

He stated that if any future Secretary of Defense was to suggest to a future President that the United States engage in a massive land war invasion in the Middle East, Africa or Asia, that he should have his head examined!

This is a very outspoken statement for a person who is highly regarded, and has served in the CIA and other delicate national security and defense positions, and has been an outstanding Secretary of Defense during the last two and a half years of the Bush Administration and the first two plus years of the Obama Administration.

Gates has been a refreshing and inspirational leader, as he has also made clear that there is waste and fraud in the Defense Department that needs to be cleaned up to save money in the national budget. After having witnessed the tragedy of Robert McNamara during the Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson Administrations and Donald Rumsfeld in the second Bush Administration, committing us to what turned out to be long, drawn out, disastrous wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, it is indeed time for this nation to realize that it is our engagement in foreign wars, trying to impose our values on alien societies, that has led to mass loss of life on all sides and come close to bankrupting us!

The answer for the future is not committing our young men and women to impossible causes in the interests of the defense industries and those who wish to spread Christian doctrines around the world. Rather, it is to work to promote our own internal security from terrorism and to advocate advancement of our society from within!

So Robert Gates should be saluted for his courageous statement, and it makes one wonder: What is Barack Obama’s plan for the future? Isn’t there enough evidence already that it is time to withdraw ground forces from Afghanistan and get out of Iraq and work on the economic problems of this country, which would be so much better if we cut our defense budget from what has become a total tragedy economically, our constant warfare on the battlefields of Asia and the Middle East?