Posted on 05/05/2012 7:10:09 AM PDT by evilrooster
“After a series of 'troubling incidents,' US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta tells troops bound for Afghanistan he needs them to display 'the utmost integrity in everything you do.”' - - The Telegraph - May 5, 2012
The biggest mistake those who have not served, or in Panetta’s case, served minimally with no combat experience, make is to provide direct guidance to the troops. There are very few that can garner the respect of warriors, outside of warriors themselves. And make no mistake about it, our troops are warriors. It’s what they signed up to do and it’s what they consistently train for.
As Secretary of Defense, Panetta’s job should be to provide general guidelines to the Commanders in charge, and let them do their job. The same is true for other members of the executive staff with the exception of the Commander in Chief who should limit his comments to a “job well done”.
Simply put, our civilian leaders should define the mission and leave it to soldiers to command soldiers.
We are at war, and ugly things happen in war. To dispute that fact is ignorant. A few pictures displaying the dead corpses of those who minutes before tried to kill you is not going to increase insurgent recruitment two or even three fold. The same people who tried to kill our soldiers yesterday are the same ones trying to do so today. And quite frankly, we’ve seen worse depicted on cable news on the part of the insurgents. The beheading of Daniel Pearl comes to mind.
Court Martialing three soldiers for giving an insurgent a bloody lip during an interrogation seems a bit over the top,
That’s not to say certain atrocities should go unpunished. The actions of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib were uncalled for and those involved were deserved of the punishment dispatched by the military. The recent killing spree by SSG Bales cannot be condoned under any circumstances, though there certainly may be underlying issues that caused the tragedy. Let’s hope our Military doesn’t just hang Bales out to dry without considering potential underlying issues caused by multiple combat deployments.
The United States Military is, without a doubt, the finest fighting force this world has ever seen. Day in and day out they perform their duties in a manner reflective of the morals of the United States. Caution is undertaken to limit collateral damage, medical care is provided to enemy combatants, and prisoners of war are treated with dignity and respect.
The problem with the war in Afghanistan is the same problem we’ve had in every military engagement since World War II, the war is being directed by civilians instead of the commanders on the ground. Political consideration is given more latitude than military necessities, and our troops suffer.
They suffer because goals change from week to week, they suffer from rules of engagement that prevent development of effective battle plans and the suffer most of all because they are being used in a manner they are not trained for. Soldiers are trained to defend this country by eliminating enemy threats. They are not trained to act as a police force. Get in, eliminate the threat and get out. Ten years of fighting and multiple engagements per troop is a roadway for defeat. One that we should be well aware of after Korea and Vietnam, where we won the battles but lost the war because of the reasons discussed above.
Panetta has a history of communist sympathies.
http://www.usasurvival.org/ck06.16-1.2011.html
NOW he and The One are on their high horses giving what for to the honorable military. They just want to see the troops grovel, like Bambi does to every tin horn tyrant and dictator.
“If soldiers think they can behave like the administration, this is their indication that they are behaving unethically, improperly, unlawfully, or pervertedly. Therefore they should not do this.”
“Oh, and it is up to us to decide, after the fact, if you did what you were supposed to do, or neglected to do what we wanted you to do, or did not do what you were supposed to do, or did things that were acceptable when you did them but are not acceptable now.”
I wonder if the troops were disarmed once again to listen to him.
I’m sure his secret service men were armed to protect him from arms, fists and hands.
This is a little off subject, but seeing the weenie leadership in command, and the pentagon, makes me wonder how many of them are homosexuals pushing females into combat positions so they don’t have to go.
I have to go shoot snakes so I don’t go crazy from this stuff.
And you dare not post the number of our brave men who are being killed every day.
Hey Leon!
“Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.”
I caught some of this on C-Span.
If you have a barf bag handy, you can probably find the full video on the C-Span website.
1) This address, if given privately to a large military unit by it’s commanding officer or above, where the offenders are a very small number of men, sends a message to the hearer which implies that the speaker has lost confidence in their ability to command, since it is a direct appeal bypassing the chain of command. While a dressing down of an entire unit is sometimes employed, and a discipline of the particular offenders is standard procedure, I would think most reasonably intelligent people would understand and agree that a whiny plea for the unit to behave is gravely wrong from every perspective.
2) This address was made not to on unit, but to the entire military force ! And beyond that, it was made public; it was publicized outside of the military. Public to not only all of America, but all of the world. Making this address publicly could not be more wrong and stupid in several ways. Leadership 101. Foreign policy 101. Is bean-brain trying to humiliate our entire military because of the actions of a few who require discipline ? In order to lessen that implication he had to several times insert phrases to the effect that he was specifically not trying to humiliate, he was proud of the military, etc. Then why the speech ? What are you saying bean-brain ? Most of the military is being good, so please-please continue to be good, and don’t be bad like those guys who are making trouble ? The soldiers and sailors who are being good are being good because they know their duty and they are fulfilling it, and pleading with them to be good is not necessary. If the whole speech was about commending those who are being good it would have made sense.
3) There is a right way to do what they were trying to do, which is done by following standard military doctrine.
4) True leaders throughout history have been able to inspire men to battle successfully in the most dire of situations. Shifty politicians do not inspire and they cannot lead men.
5) America as a nation is rejecting and defying God. America as a nation needs to turn to God. Her military, being an essential part of America, even as it is her sons protecting her, most certainly must be included in this exhortation.
There is, in America, a vile heresy called islam; it openly proclaims a perverted view of the Bible as well as a murderous hostility towards those who stand firm in their faith in the God of the Bible.
What is especially confusing (which is often the way Satan operates, through lies and half-truths) is that America as a nation is also rejecting the moral law of God’s Word the Bible, while some muslim laws punish acts that the Holy Scriptures declare to be sins. These punishments, however, do not impute any righteousness to muslim heresy.
Consequently, our government’s understanding of religion is confused; our government lumps together false and true religions simply as “religion”. In the first table of the law, the first given commandments are to refrain from practicing false religions. These first commandments surely invoke God’s wrath which is so often described throughout the Bible. I did not make this up, it’s in the Bible, I’m merely describing what’s there, which can easily be looked up.
God will not abandon his own; yet there is nothing that can protect from his chastisement or even wrath. The Christian does all he can to prepare himself for battle to defend his righteous Christian nation from attack. He fights with all possible cunning and force. But underlying it all, he knows that ultimately it is the Lord who decides the winners and losers in war; the Christian’s ultimate faith is not in his alliances or weapons or strategies or tactics, for they can all fail in the wink of an eye. His faith is in the Lord.
Some quick Bible verses evidencing the truth that it is God that controls (along with the rest of the universe, which makes perfect sense as He created it) the outcomes of battles and the fate of nations:
Psalm 18:39
For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
Psalm 55:18
He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.
Psalm 67:1
God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
Psalm 80:3
Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Psalm 119:135
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
Daniel 9:17
Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
There are many more relavent verses, of course.
The whole of Psalm 76:
1 In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.
2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.
3 There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.
4 Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
8 Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still,
9 When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
11 Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.
12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
The whole of Psalm 31:
Psalm 31
1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.
3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.
4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.
5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;
8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.
9 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.
17 Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.
22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
23 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
0bama ran crying and sent Panetta to shame an entire military force.
Aw. Somebodewy huwt Bawwy’s widduh feewings.
Here, Bawwy. Weon wiww kiss it and make it bettew, and teww evewywon not to huwt widduh Bawwy’s feewings anymowe.
Now, come bwoh youw nose wike a good widdle bowy. See? Aww bettew now, Bawwy.
Are you just another bystander exercising your 1st amendment rights?
I’m more qualified than 0bama and Biden together to understand our country’s interests in Afghanistan.
Guess we’ll have to take your word for it then..
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