Ultimately, someone down the line asks, “On what authority?” I am asking a sincere question here because this is not a movie or action novel. If the captain of a destroyer is given an order to fire upon a foreign vessel, he is likely to ask who is authorizing the action.
““On what authority?””
Are you thinking the president could wake up one morning and just decide to nuke Canada and no one in the country could stop him, that his orders to nuke are absolute?
Think about that for a minute.
The Benghazi 9-11-2012 event carries some instruction about the NCA etc in times of crisis.
During the ongoing “Alamo” in Benghazi, Obama deliberately hid from dusk til dawn in order NOT to be put on the spot to either grant or withhold Cross-Border Authority (or whatever the current acronym/jargon is).
With Obama the Drone King, and the national security staff ballooning from 40 to 400, they are acutely aware of POTUS regs, protocals, etc. How many times have we read or heard about missions ready to launch that were scrubbed or delayed for days/weeks because POTUS would not grant CBA?
And when he does, almost always, the hostage is moved, or ISIS has moved, etc. “Gee, it’s almost like he is trying to help the other side.”
In any case, he sure knew that if he just hid on Benghazi night, no CBA from POTUS down the NCA, there would be zero chance of a “Black Hawk Down” fiasco/disaster/tragedy 2 weeks before the election. Better to write off “My Friend Chirs” and the other Americans on scene. A small price. They even had the standard “Team Obama False Narrative” videotape in the cabinet ready to deploy. “Look over there! Squirrel! We had nothing to do with it!”
Long winded, sorry. Obama broke with the BIGGEST BIGGEST on the hour crisis decision that ANY American fighting man would do. There is an ALAMO RIGHT NOW and we are going in heavy to rescue them! The battle lasted 10 hours, 9 hours in, it might have lasted 48 hours. Nobody knew. It could have been Americans cornered in an airport building, who knows? Y
You send the Marines. And anybody else in range. “GO!!!”
And Obama hid, to avoid giving CBA. This is really, really, dishonorable. AMERICANS ARE DYING RIGHT NOW! GIVE US PERMISSION!”
But when no CBA came, all the rescue forces held in position. No mythical General Ham sad, “Screw it! We’re going in!” And sent his rescue forces. He didn’t. None of them did.
They obeyed orders, at least. That’s not the same as obeying orders to nuke Canada, but letting Americans in an Alamo die, that’s pretty bad.