Sunday, September 11, 2016

I am traveling, but, there is still much to examine in the idea "I am the Decider."

George W. Bush as president shed generals as if there was no need for a military anymore. The first to resign was General Eric K. Shinseki.  If you never understood why there were difference between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and "W" realize they completely disagreed with his war methodology.

By Editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica
...Shinseki remained on as army chief of staff (click here) during the administration of Pres.George W. Bush, but his tenure was marked by increasing tension with civilian leaders in the Pentagon. Shinseki subscribed to Secretary of State Colin Powell’s doctrine that military force, if used, should be overwhelming in size, speed, and power. This conflicted with the “small footprint” strategy espoused by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his assistant, Paul Wolfowitz, who believed that advanced battlefield technology and precision weapons made large bodies of traditional infantry obsolete. In the days leading up to the Iraq War, this doctrinal clash became public, when Shinseki testified before Congress in 2003 that an invasion of Iraq would require “several hundred thousand soldiers” and that a post-war occupation could awaken “ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems.” These statements were immediately refuted by Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, and Shinseki retired a few months later....

"I am the Decider."

Firing generals will bring into focus their benefits after decades of service. It will be a shock wave through the entire military structure.

8 September 2016
By David Usborne

Donald Trump (click here) has told a televised town hall on national security that he believes America’s top generals have been “reduced to rubble” under the leadership of President Barack Obama and insinuated that many of them would be fired if he takes the White House in November.
And in an exchange that surely raised eyebrows the Republican nominee suggested he was happy to accept flattery from Vladimir Putin and again offered the Russian leader his praise, regardless of his record of aggression in eastern Europe and assisting Iran and the Syrian regime. 
He made the remarks to NBC anchor Matt Lauer during a special ‘commander-in-chief’ forum broadcast live from on board the retired USS Intrepid in New York where both he and Hillary Clinton were given nearly half an hour each to explain their foreign policy priorities....

"I am the Decider."

Fascism - an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.  (In general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.

One of the first step toward a military that will operate according to the commands of the president is to raze the current leadership and instill new generals that will be loyal to the commander and chief. 

During the years of "W" the USA military lost a lot of top generals and were replaced with lower ranking officers moved into positions such as Captain than traditionally authorized. What the USA military had on the first day of President Barack Obama administration was a hollowed leadership. The leadership was being reconstituted with less qualified officers with limited understanding of a traditional battlefield in practice.

If Donald Trump has his way, the generals serving under President Obama will be razed and again the USA military will be hollowed out and replaced once again with lower ranking officers with less experience than those found in President Obama's military. And on top of all that, Donald Trump wants to reignite the war in the middle east as a promise to voters during his campaign in order to annihilate Daesh. It is "W" all over again.

April 12, 2007
By Jim Lobe

Washington - President George W. Bush's (click here) ongoing "surge" of some 35,000 troops to add to the 140,000 already deployed in Iraq is highlighting growing concern, particularly among the military brass, that the U.S. army is overstretched and fast becoming "broken".An increasing number of senior retired officers, some of whom had previously expressed optimism that the active-duty force of some 500,000 soldiers could handle U.S. commitments in the "global war on terror", now say the current situation today reminds them of 1980, when the service's top officer, Gen. Edward Meyer, publicly declared that the country had a "hollow Army".
"The active army is about broken," former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who also served as chairman of the Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush 15 years ago, told Time magazine this week, while another highly decorated retired general who just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan described the situation in even more dire terms....

It appears to me Donald Trump does not only admire Vladimir Putin, but, took lessons as well.

Remember who is the decider.

Until later!