Some observations as we face another year of turmoil and strife, both at home and abroad. Many are castigating President Trump for his continued shakeups in the White House hierarchy. Here are my thoughts on all of this.
I was delighted when Trump brought General Kelly into the administration. Doubly so with “Mad Dog” Mattis. However, I wish he would have left Kelly as the head of Homeland Security instead of making him Chief of Staff. We need a military mind to finally figure out how to secure the Southern border.
Now, about Mattis. I am a student of history, and have been so since junior high, when I had a teacher who made history come alive to the class. He showed us that it wasn’t about memorizing a bunch of places and dates, but instead about what HAPPENED at those places and dates, and how it affected the people at the time and future generations.
I am not in awe of generals or admirals simply because of the stars on their collars or stripes on their sleeves. History shows that many of those officers clawed their way to the top over the backs of better men and women, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. They are the “go take that hill” officers, rather than the “follow me!” type of leader, and historically the military has had too many of the former, and too few of the latter. I suspect, however, that both Kelly and Mattis fall in the second category.
With that said, it is the job of the President, as Commander In Chief, to make the final decision as to whether to send the military in harms way. Because of that, I believe we should never elect someone to our highest office who hasn’t served in the armed services, and preferably in a front line position. Trump didn’t, but at least attended a military school, and as such has some concept of military structure and discipline. Obama and both Clintons, as well as most, if not all of the future potential Presidential candidates from both major parties, don’t have a clue. That is why I am pleased to see combat veterans being elected to the Congress on both sides of the aisle.
Unlike most people in high political office, Trump seems to believe that campaign promises should be more than a mechanism to use to get elected. He is generally a “what you see is what you get” type of person. Some don’t like what they see, but many others do, including myself. Here’s my take on the whole Middle East situation, and how Trump is handling it.
First, we must understand that Islam is not, in the traditional sense, a religion. It is a political construct much like communism, which controls all aspects of the adherent’s lives, with breaches of the doctrine punishable by death. In its middle years, Christianity was guilty of the same sins, and millions died in wars fought in the name of the gentle Christ, who only preached love and forgiveness. Mortal men, both Protestant and Catholic, perverted that message, but its truth finally prevailed. Not so with Islam.
Its core still rests in the violent period of the seventh century, and though there are some believers who would bring it into the twenty-first century, they are a tiny minority, and considered apostate to the majority, including the supposedly “Radicalized” group. That concept, by the way, is flawed. One cannot be a believer in Allah and the teachings of Mohammad and coexist with non-believers. The Quran is very clear about that. All true Muslims are radicalized to the extent that they will not willingly expose the most violent in their midst.
We should never have gone to Iraq or Afghanistan in the first place, except to insert special forces with the mission of targeting those, like al Qaeda, who attacked our country. We did that very efficiently in the aftermath of 9/11. We have the capability of stand off weapon strikes which could drive those groups, if not back into the stone age, at least into underground bunkers which we could then seal off with “MOABs”. We should follow Teddy Roosevelt’s Doctrine. “Speak softly, but carry a big stick”. Our big stick is a modernized military which is more powerful (but not necessarily larger) than any others we might face. Such was the goal of Ronald Reagan, and he nearly accomplished it. That was quickly squandered under Bush’41, Clinton, Bush ’43 and Obama, all of whom either used it improperly, or attempted to destroy it, in the case of BHO.
Bush ’41 brought Iraq to its knees in Desert Storm, but then failed to administer the final blow, leaving Saddam Hussein in power, to be dealt with at great expense later. The Clintons, who “loathed the military” played with it a bit after the fall of Yugoslavia, getting us involved with a civil war in Kosovo, and later in the Somalia of “Black Hawk Down” fame. Clinton could have taken out Osama bin Laden early on, but refused to do so.
Bush ’43 committed ground forces to both Iraq and Afghanistan, with no clear goal or objective in mind, except to bring “democracy” to the region. Nearly eighteen years later, we are no closer to achieving that goal, but have tens of thousands of dead and maimed military members and a bankrupted economy as a result.
Finally Barack Hussein Obama decimated the military as part of his goal to “Fundamentally Transform America”. He placed unqualified individuals into high places in our military, based on their race or sexual orientation, not their leadership skills or ability. He drove many of our best and brightest out of the military in a “cleansing” of the military leadership who didn’t agree with him.
Then, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the forefront of the effort, he allowed the destabilization of the Middle East by supporting the “Arab Spring” and allowing the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan Dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Both these men ruled their nations with an iron fist, but kept the forces of “Radical Islam” in check. Obama/Clinton then supported the rebel side in Syria, destabilizing that country and allowing the rise of ISIS, which in combination with the forces of Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad killed and tortured tens of thousands after Obama failed to back up the “Red Line in the Sand” threat to intervene. All this then created the “Refugee” crisis which has so adversely affected Europe.
Unfortunately, many of the people Obama put in place are still there, and to his discredit, “Mad Dog” did little if anything to cull them from the ranks. Unbelievably, even the order by Trump to eliminate “transgenders” from the military was not accomplished by Mattis. His resignation, because Trump announced a withdrawal of our troops from Syria was appropriate. He was indeed not on the same page with the Commander In Chief on many issues.
It is my hope that President Trump will survive the coming onslaught from the Democrat controlled House. There are too many things of importance that this nation needs to deal with, to get us involved with purely politically motivated squabbles. We must get control of our southern border. We must address the millions of illegal aliens in our country. We must quickly deport all known gang members among them, with the threat of a death sentence should they return. No more Kate Steinle fiascos. We must aggressively address the potential threat of terrorists crossing both borders with weapons to be used to attack our nation and the intent to use them.
Finally, we must eliminate the insanity of “Political Correctness”. Much of the animosity that has surfaced over the last few years is due to a majority of the population feeling that they have no right to express their opinions because it might “offend” another individual or group. This has become “The Tyranny of the Minority”, and totally violates our First Amendment rights to free speech. Nowhere in that document, or anywhere else in the Constitution for that matter, is a guarantee that you will not be offended. The stifling of civil debate leads to frustration and anger. There are no “safe spaces” from the realities of human existence. Only when we accept that basic fact will we be able to achieve the phrase in our Pledge of Allegiance which guarantees “Liberty and Justice for All”.