Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Mutiny at Ft. Bragg

Read First:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-11-23-palin-bragg_N.htm?csp=YahooModule_News

OK....I am going to take heat for this one. So I will start with saying that I firmly support the military and the men and women in uniform that serve the cause of liberty, defending not only our freedom but our interests, both here and abroad. These men and women lay their lives on the line, their families sacrificing peace and unity for a life of danger, solitude and sometimes loss. They SHOULD get special treatment because they do a SPECIAL job, one that the rest of us do not, and some cannot do. My dad was military, my brother was military and a combat and wounded veteran. I was raised with these ideals deeply engrained in the fiber of my being, and no matter how far left I may lean, those values have not and never will change.

Those values,however, do not exempt them from criticism when it is appropriate. I love my parents, but that love does not make them perfect and above reproach. We love and respect despite differences and despite what mistakes are made. Where love becomes sick, respect becomes blind worship is when we ignore and defend those flaws.

Now I probably have already lost the brainwashed to their rhetoric,and am already a traitor that does not love this country and does not support the troops, but if you are still reading I wanted to make those facts clear before I continue.

What happened at Ft. Bragg today was nothing more and nothing less than mutiny. Sarah Palin was giving access to a military installation for her book signing by military personnel regardless of the fact that her, her entourage and the fans lined up would be protesting the commander in chief. This is a break in military protocol and practice as they themselves have stated.

The exception was made on a very thin and weak argument...she is not a politician. Are flipping kidding me??? She is the VP candidate that ran against the current Commander in Chief! She is, arguably, the face of the current Commander's opposition, the republican Party, who have and continue to fight every action the president takes, regardless of what it is, just on the political value of slowing down every action he takes for their own political gain, regardless of the cost to the country. She is also, arguably, the front runner of hopefuls that will oppose the Commander in Chief in the upcoming election of 2012. And she isn't a politician? This is obviously a hair split between the difference of being a POLITICIAN and being POLITICAL. And it is reprehensible, hypocritical and flat out a disrespect to the values they claim to uphold.

Now I asked a military person very dear to me, whom I respect and admire. He states that this is the silent way of the military to show the president they disapprove of certain actions. Much as the child that finds subtle ways to express their displeasure without out right disrespecting their parent that has the power to beat the piss out of them. When I asked what in particular are they protesting, I was giving the delay in the president's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. Now here is my problem with that. Gen. McCrystal made a claim that the deaths of men and women in uniform would ESCALATE if more troops were not sent...NOW. Are there deaths taking place? Yes, regrettably and I mourn those deaths with my fellow Americans. But have they ESCALATED? No...they have not. At least not as far as the American people have been informed. (Enter the conservative fear mongering and victimization act about a controlled media that is keeping it from the American people.)

When President Bush sent troops to Iraq under the auspices of WMD in Iraq, the American people asked for evidence. We were not given it. We were told that the information was too delicate and we just needed to trust our leaders. We did and ended up with congressional report that clearly stated these WMD were no where to be seen. Now some still state that they were there. I will not go so far as to call them a liar, but WILL state that I can only make my decision of support for an administration's decisions based on information I HAVE...not on information I am promised is there but is too top secret for me to know.

This president is trying to make an informed decision. One that is not fast enough for the men and women in uniform, the same people that want us to swallow President Bush's claims, while they blatantly defy and disrespect the current President for wanting to make an informed decision and not moving fast enough for their time table??? They are penalizing the president based on actions that COULD happen, playing childish games with childish politicians. Wait till the play goes wrong before you fire the coach. You do not know the future, you do not have a magical looking glass to KNOW that the actions THREATENED will actually happen.

What happened at Ft Bragg was mutiny, plain and simple. It was like a football team walking off the field because they disagree with the coach's choice of a play. It was a clear political act by the military to show support to a politician (and yes she is a politician...even by FOX new's standards retard!) that is in opposition to the current Commander in Chief, a rule they have held in the past when it suited them, but now it doesn't. For crying out loud...her bus had a message on it encouraging donations to her PAC!!! How much more of a politician do you have to be??? I am sorry but this defies the concept of military intelligence! I refuse to believe that these Commanders (or whatever rank they are) are that stupid. So if it is not stupidity...then it is blatant mutiny.

Sure they did not provide her a platform. But the media was there to interview her father who clearly called out Obama on his handling of the military, as supporters stood in line with their "Impeach Obama" shirts. You do not have to give a platform of wood today for a politician to have a platform. No ribbons of red, white and blue with nice little buttons have to be present for an effective politician to make a platform.

And there in lies the crux of it all. The military dislikes Democratic Presidents. Democratic Presidents look to the needs of the citizens, and not exclusively to the needs of the military. This sounds harsh but the Roman Republic was taken down by a man named Julius Caesar, a man that put the military first...and it was the sound of military horns that played, drowning out the death throes of the Roman Republic...ushering in an empire.

For shame to the men that allowed this, and for shame to those that support this blindly, without thinking of the consequences.

6 comments:

Opinionated Gifts said...

Here here.

And again I say, here here.

USMCZarr said...

Ok so I know that I am not in My stomping grounds and by the looks of things in this group I am vastly out numbered. That does not stop Me from plunging head on into the fray recklessly. Being the afore mentioned brother and a former Marine I feel that it might just fall on Me to set something straight on the post that was posted here. Now I know this is not My platform and this is not My dumping grounds. So I try to make these comments with respect to both the author and readers, but hey I am a Jarhead so don’t expect too much. Enough with the disclaimer lets get to it.

I know bro that you are not a military hater and I would never in My life expect you to become one. I do however think that once again you jumped into this one a little blindly with out checking the facts. So with a bit of facts and good dose of sarcasm let’s get this ball rolling.

Let us first address the subject of Gen. McCrystal. If one would have done a simple Google search of “Americans Killed in Afghanistan War” it would have popped out a cool little page called http://www.icasualties.org/. Here it would give sear numbers as to the number of deaths in both the Iraq and Afghanistan war. With 2009 standing at the peak of deaths being the bloodiest yet in Americans deaths with 298 so far and there is still some year left to go. So can the numbers hold up the argument of and I quote “Now here is my problem with that. Gen. McCrystal made a claim that the deaths of men and women in uniform would ESCALATE if more troops were not sent...NOW.” I know numbers are not your strong point bro but hey you can look at these numbers and come to the same conclusion, or at least I hope.  I don’t know about you and numbers. But hey I might be FEAR MONGERING I don’t know. Do actual number make you scared….well anybody other than you bro cause after algebra I know number scare the shit out of you

Afghanistan Coalition Military Fatalities By Year
Year US UK Other Total
2001 12 0 0 12
2002 49 3 17 69
2003 48 0 9 57
2004 52 1 7 60
2005 99 1 31 131
2006 98 39 54 191
2007 117 42 73 232
2008 155 51 89 295
2009 298 98 87 483
Total 928 235 367 1530

USMCZarr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
USMCZarr said...

part 2
Ok moving on I find it quit funny that the audience is brought into questioning here and the clothes that they wore and I don’t think that should even be address but hey I will do it anyways. You know as well as I do that no speaker or book signer can control how the people come to his/her event clothed. That is why our founding fathers set up the current form of government so that way the mob did not rule. When once again doing a simple Google search for “Obama poll history” one finds the Rasmussen Report a much respected report used by all new venues. At http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history we find once again a simple number of percentages for President Obama’s approval rating, which at the start of 2009 was at 44% and today stands at 26%. I said all to prove My point on the American people are as moody as a 13 month pregnant woman. It can be safe to say that some of the people that voted for the 44th President could have been standing in that crowd of which you speak of. For shame for shame…….

With the hope that I have not been to sarcastic or that any grammar mistakes that I have done have not given you reason to mock and assume that I know nothing of which I speak of and write Me off. I will not address your main point in the blog. Was it the whole thing done on a technicality? YES! Was the whole thing kind of slim shadyish? HELL YES! But lets not get started talking about technicalities because there is an over 1990 page healthcare bill that just passed in the House that is full of technicalities and it was written by a Democrat, or lets not talk about the fact that Senator Landrieu From Louisiana got her state paid over 100 million dollars so she would vote in the bills favor. Technically Palin is not a politician. Truth yes or no? Technically Yes. She has put here support behind other politicians that are not republican. She is technically not on any ballot or running on any platform. Is she preparing for a race or is she testing the waters for a future platform? More than likely yes. However, that wont be for another two thee years. So while you rail against the Men and Women of Fort Bragg remember “those who live in a glass house.” Also it has been custom for years for candidates and incumbents seeking another term to go to military base with the premise of “checking on the troops” as they seek more votes. Ask President Obama why he went to the Middle East as a junior Senator that was on no commits that would take him out there.

So if I have not pissed off you off enough yet, I will conclude. If I have not pissed you off yet please tell Me and I will try again.  careful when you claim that any side of a political debate is and I quote “blatantly defy and disrespect” or are “mutiny, plain and simple” especially for military people this is very heavy words. When you take away there right to say what they think of the current administration soon your rights to say things like “This sounds harsh but the Roman Republic was taken down by a man named Julius Caesar, a man that put the military first...and it was the sound of military horns that played, drowning out the death throes of the Roman Republic...ushering in an empire.” Here you have addressed our military and compared them to traitors, because at the end Julius Caesar was nothing but a traitor. And on a sentimental note so were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams and a whole list of patriots that we hold dear in our history. If you totally push off their voice and their opinion you fall not only in the same trap but are as guilty as them. following blindly is not good whatever side you are on

HEY BRO IT IS CALLED GOOGLE.

Musing Madman said...

Oh look, its learned to count! :-P Bro I won't get into a deep argument here because as brothers I prfer our arguments not be so public and not get ugly. I will state, for the record, that I will concede your first point on the numbers. I will state, however, that just as the republicans claim that 'throwing money" at the economy will not solve the problem without a game plan, so "throwing troops" at the war will not solve the problem without a game plan, which is all the president has asked the country to give him time to do, come up with a definite plan...rather than the haphazard "throwing more troops" at a war that has been done in the past.

Furthermore, it is not the call of the commanders of Ft. Bragg (or any other Ft. for that matter) it is a call that must be made at the top, and when it is made he will have to live with the consequences of that decision. So I would be doing the same thing, not letting others force my hand on a decision that they can sit back and point the finger at me as making the wrong decision. Frankly, the President is in a no win situation. He will more than likely send the requested troops, and since the people trying to force his hand won't vote for him, and the people that DID vote for him will probably not vote for him again if he sends troops, the only one that will take a hit will be him. Not that that really matters to anybody.

As for the rest of your arguments we won't see eye to eye on them so really there is no sense arguing them. It was my opinion. That is it...and apparantly one not even shared by the media since not a bleep was made about it.

Anonymous said...

Um...bad call on the commander's part.

"Col. Billy Buckner, a spokesman for Fort Bragg, said the Army agreed to let Palin on post because she was no longer a politician.

"She fell into a little bit of a gray area," he said. "She's not a political figure per se, but she certainly carries a tremendous amount of interest and influence across the country.""

A bit of a GRAY area? Holy shit! What would qualify as not-gray? Regardless of everything else posted and whether or not it's right, the simple fact is that whether she was allowed in on a technicality or not, the spirit of her being there is clearly NOT in support of the current President and I think the commanders should be reprimanded. But they won't be.

 

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