I'm sick and tired of listening to Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity taking cheap shots at the President. Some of the latest shots have been about his being in Brazil and Chile while the current Libyan Crisis spun out of control. It's apparent to me that neither O'Reilly nor Hannity have ever been in upper or military management positions. In both of those, totally different, types of management there a few common threads. First off, the CEO or the military commander gets all of the credit for a successful task. He also receives all of the blame for mission failure. Second the "Top Dog" doesn't do the job himself. He brings in the subordinates he needs at the time (Secretaries of Defense and State in case of the Libyan conflict) and tells them what he wants done and when he wants it done by. From that point on, the ball was in the hands of Secretaries Gates and Clinton. Now the President can do other items that fall under his purview, such as going to Brazil, Chile or the Congressional Country Club. Third this is the 21st Century not the 19th Century. There is absolutely nothing that Mr. Obama can do in the Oval Office that he cannot do from his office in Air Force One, except step outside for a smoke. So with all deference to Msrs. O'Reilly and Hannity and both sides of the aisle in Congress - get off the man's back. You want to take shots at him for not doing his job, that's fine - but before you do, make sure he's not doing his job. Whether he does it correctly or not will become apparent as the mission completes. Than do what I'm going to do, vote for the other guy!
By the way, speaking of missions that most of you are probably unaware: Did you know that the US Army had a regiment engaged in combat against the Bolsheviks, in Asia, immediately following WWI? Did you know that the US Navy and the US Marines made 25 assault landings, under fire, between 1920 and 1940? Do you know how many of our service members were killed by communist forces during the Cold War? Do you know that during the Cold War, the Eskimo Scouts of the Alaska Army National Guard had numerous engagements with Soviet troops in and around the Bering Strait? How many of you have ever heard of the Plain of Jars? What about the Quemoy and Matsu Island engagements? You'd probably be surprised by the number of combat evolutions our troops have had in the past hundred years that were never reported by the media! Why? Because the Commander-in-Chief didn't tell them!
I've worked on the edges, in support roles, of Navy Special Operations. Anyone of who's ever served in the military knows that we have Special Operators on the ground in Libya. However, the people of this nation have neither the right nor the need to know that - and that includes members of Congress and the Senate who are not members of the appropriate committees or sub-committees. FOX, putting a pair of retired Army officer "talking heads" on the air to tell us about these Special Operators, was stupid and allowed an unauthorized release of mission critical classified information. Commander-in-Chief Obama needs to recall these two officers to active duty and court-martial them!
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, earlier this week, opined that Mr. Obama should be impeached for conducting the Libyan mission without Congressional approval. The Constitution does not require the CinC ask approval from the Congress for anything short of a declaration of war. The Congress requires it, and the last time I looked, Mr. Obama did NOT work for the Congress. Kucinich also wants to cut off funding for the Libyan operation. Well that should be simple enough since they've failed in their own Constitutional requirement of funding the Army and the Navy. It's easy to stop spending money from a non-existent budget. Kucinich also wants all of our military personnel withdrawn from Libya immediately. Well, other than the Special Operators, we have no military in Libya, and these men and women could be CIA and not military! The US Air Force is flying its fighter and tanker missions from bases in Europe and its stealth bomber missions from bases in the United States. The US Navy and US Marines are flying their missions from ships in the Mediterranean. Who's he going to withdraw from Libya? (Marines you say? Who do you think flew in and picked up those two USAF fliers who's airplane crashed in Libya? Only the Marine Corps operates the Osprey.)
I don't think we should be in Libya, I also didn't think we should be in Iraq. However, once the Commander-in-Chief makes the decision to commit the military, you back his decision, you don't stab his back.
Gunner Sends.
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