Tag: Seccretary of Defense

New Words From the DoD……

First of all…..for God’s sake STOP whining!  It is winter and it snowed…GET OVER IT!  In a couple of days it will be a memory for the record books.  Make babies….veg out with Netflix….bake cookies….the goddamn world will not end!

Whew!  I feel better now…..onward…..

DoD does one thing competently…talk out of both sides of their mouths at one time……but I expect that from “old school” dumbasses…….

The fight against ISIS has one thing that is constant…..an ever changing strategy….to me it says “throw crap at the wall and see what sticks” plan……at least I could argue they have a plan…..

Sec of Defense Ash Carter has written an op-ed for Politico……

The storied 101st Airborne Division will soon deploy 1,800 troops to Iraq to aid in the fight against ISIL. They will head there with the support of the American people and armed with a clear campaign plan to help our allies deliver the barbaric organization a lasting defeat, which I personally shared with them last week at Fort Campbell. I also traveled to U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, where I discussed the plan’s implementation with our top commanders. And this week I visited Paris, a city of determination and resolve, to discuss the plan with our allies.

A new day….a new plan…..but is it a truly “new” plan?

The Pentagon has revised its war plans against the Islamic State for 2016, based on a cold assessment of the state of combat, and lessons learned from the relat

Source: Washington Recalibrates anti-ISIL War: Plans Going Forward | Middle East Briefing

Recently Carter made a statement that I thought I would never hear coming from the mouth of a political pawn…….
Speaking today from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter departed from the usual script of praising the 65 nation anti-ISIS coalition to condemn many of the nations for “not doing enough” and several for doing “nothing at all.”

Though Carter avoided naming names, he later appeared on Bloomberg TV and faulted Sunni Arab nations in the coalition, saying they need to “carry their weight,” and saying nations will no longer be allowed to be “free riders.”

Recent reports have suggested that the US has been courting a number of nations to send more troops, including ground combat forces, into Iraq and Syria, and have been rebuffed publicly by some of those nations. The lack of acceptance for the planned escalations appears to be increasing Pentagon frustrations at the coalition.

Freeloaders?  I thought that was a term delegated of GOP candidates?

Once again the DoD is, to quote a GOP mouthpiece, “putting lipstick on a pig”…..none of this is a “new” thinking…..just an adjustment to the failed policies in this battle……

What will the “plan” be next month?

And then there is the statement from VP Biden on the situation in Syria….

Speaking at a news conference today in Turkey, Vice President Joe Biden sought to downplay the remote chances of any sort of political settlement coming out of this week’s planned Geneva peace talks, saying the US and Turkey are fully prepared to bypass the process and impose a “military solution” on Syria.

“We do know it would be better if we can reach a political solution,” Biden told the conference, insisting that absent that the US military was still fully capable of “solving” the situation.

I am sure the spin doctors will work overtime trying to explain what Biden meant…….NO need I think it is pretty obvious…..I’d say the course set……and yet the media has said NOTHING about the comment……go figure.

I’m not optimistic…..

How about you?

Say Good-Bye To Chuck

And hello to the new SecDef and a world at endless war….even more so than in the past…..

Carter has been confirmed by the Senate as the new SecDef………

The Senate easily confirmed Ashton Carter as defense secretary today, and while he’s got plenty of international problems to wrestle with, the Wall Street Journal suggests that his biggest challenge might be overcoming White House micromanagement. Predecessors Robert Gates and Leon Panetta complained of it, and Chuck Hagel was forced out after a relatively brief stint. Mitch McConnell touched on it in offering his endorsement for the 60-year-old Carter, reports AP: “The incoming secretary needs to have the courage to speak truth to power—to Congress, yes, but also to his commander in chief.”

Gates tells USA Today that it might not be a problem this time around. “The difference is that Ash has served more than five years with this administration,” he says. “So he knows this president; this president knows him. He knows all the players at multiple levels. They will be familiar to him, and he to them. That’ll make a big difference.” Carter, who happens to be a physicist by training, is expected to be sworn in as Obama’s fourth defense chief next week. In today’s 93-5 vote, only Republican Sens. Roy Blunt, Mike Crapo, Mark Kirk, John Boozman, and James Risch voted against Carter, reports Stars and Stripes.

Chuck Hagel is gone!  The only SecDef that had combat experience and knew the horrors of war first hand….now we have a physicist that will be a yes man for the M-IC……Neo-Cons rejoice…..

The Democrats’ Dick Cheney – Michael Crowley – POLITICO

Recall how actively Dems attacked Cheney back in the day?

I have given my opinion on the newest nominee for SecODef……..Carter is a neo-con…..I do not care who put him up for the nomination…..is this the legacy that Obama craves?

If so, then the world just got to be a more dangerous place!

 

The Democrats’ Dick Cheney – Michael Crowley – POLITICO.

Ashton Carter—Neo-Cons Rejoice!

First, let me say that I believe that Chuck Hagel would have been one of the best Sec of Defense but he was too much a person of the 60′;s and saw war for what it really is……a program not about right or wrong but rather about the true God of Americans….MONEY.

Move on!  Yes dear!

The new Sec of Defense will be grilled by the Congress in days to come and he should win support of a GOP lead Congress….why?  He is a neo-con and will lead us into more and more conflicts……

The president’s nominee to be the next Pentagon chief says he would consider changing the current plans for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year if security conditions worsen.

In written comments to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Ashton Carter responded “yes” when asked if he would consider recommending changes to the current pace and size of the drawdown plan to address security concerns. He also said he is aware of reports that Islamic State militants may try to expand into Afghanistan, and said he will work with coalition partners to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Carter’s comments were included in his answers to a committee questionnaire that was obtained by The Associated Press. They come as Afghan leaders express concerns about the U.S. troop withdrawal and worry that local forces may not be ready to secure the country on their own.

Like it or not…..we are in for a decade, possibly more, of troops being sent to do the job that diplomacy cannot do……Ashton Carter will be the best man for that job.  And look for constant intervention in global affairs.

The M-IC is jerking off at the idea of this person taking the reins of the Pentagon……they can smell the profits from their offices.

Ashton Carter: Yes Man Cometh

By now if you are a bit interested in the direction of the country you know Hagel is departing…..and after much debate on the news shows we have a frontrunner for replacement……..

(Newser) – President Obama has apparently chosen a new candidate for Pentagon chief—a relative unknown on the national stage who worked as former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s “alter ego” for about two years. That candidate is Ashton Carter, whose public profile was boosted by his role in planning the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. He would be Obama’s fourth secretary of defense if nominated—as senior GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe said today he would be—and confirmed. That would thrust Carter out of his comfort zone as a behind-the-scenes confidante and into the center of more defense and foreign policy problems, arguably, than Panetta faced in his 20 months as defense secretary. Carter’s name was among the first to surface after Chuck Hagel abruptly resigned last month.

That is largely because of Carter’s academic and government credentials and his reputation as one of the brightest minds in the national security establishment. During the administration of President Bill Clinton he was assistant secretary of defense for international security policy. Before that he was director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School. He is associated with a concept he helped champion in the 1990s called “preventative defense”—the notion that after the Cold War, the US could forestall major new security threats by forging and strengthening security partnerships with China, Russia, and others. Carter also says America needs to focus on the threat of cyberattacks.

This person is a hawk and that is just what Obama needs now…….someone who can appeal to Repubs and follow the lead of the prez….Hagel was not a ‘yes’ man…….this man is the quintessential YES man.

Look for an escalation of hostilities in the Middle East and possibly beyond.

Hagel’s Departure Should Open Debate on Obama’s Wars « Antiwar.com Blog

Hagel has resigned…..but why?  Could it have something to do with Obama the Hawk?

A debate should be pursued because of the resignation……a good long look at just what the prez has gotten the country into for the next decade…….

 

Hagel’s Departure Should Open Debate on Obama’s Wars « Antiwar.com Blog.