The daggers are out and the tongues are lashing now that our most brilliant men and women in the military and foreign policy fields are beginning to speak out against the failed policies of Barack Obama.
No better article to read on this subject of pushing back against Barack Obama than Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal Op-Ed “America’s Strategy Deficit“.
It all began with a military push back by our top military retired commanders prompted by the unprecedented terror Obama seems unable or unwilling to tackle seriously. Noonan described the U.S. military brass as “They are fed up, they’re less afraid, they’re retired, and they’re speaking out”
Using one passage from Noonan’s piece:
On Tuesday retired Gen. James Mattis, former head of U.S. Central Command (2010-13) told the Senate Armed Services Committee of his unhappiness at the current conduct of U.S. foreign policy. He said the U.S. is not “adapting to changed circumstances” in the Mideast and must “come out now from our reactive crouch.” … Sitting beside him was Gen. Jack Keane, also a respected retired four-star, and a former Army vice chief of staff, who said al Qaeda has “grown fourfold in the last five years” and is “beginning to dominate multiple countries.” He called radical Islam “the major security challenge of our generation” and said we are failing to meet it… Kimberly Dozier of the Daily Beast reported that Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a retired director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, had told a Washington conference: “You cannot defeat an enemy you do not admit exists.”
If this was Damascus, not Washington, tanks would be rolling down Abu Rumaneh and Mazzeh to take control of the city. We have a military revolt on our hands because Barack Obama and his NSC team have failed to address terror, curb terror, and fight terror as we should.
The pushing back against Barack Obama does not stop here. Noonan writes:
On Thursday came the testimony of three former secretaries of state, Henry Kissinger (1973-77), George Shultz (1982-89) and Madeleine Albright (1997-2001)… Mr. Kissinger observed that in the Mideast, multiple upheavals are unfolding simultaneously—within states, between states, between ethnic and religious groups… Mr. Shultz said we are seeing an attack on the state system and the rise of a “different view of how the world should work.” What’s concerning is “the scope of it.”… Mr. Shultz said his attitude when secretary of state was, “If you want me in on the landing, include me in the takeoff.” Communication and consensus building between the administration and Congress is key. He added: “The government seems to have forgotten about the idea of ‘execution.’ ” It’s not enough that you say something, you have to do it, make all the pieces work. When you make a decision, he went on, “stick with it.” Be careful with words. Never make a threat or draw a line you can’t or won’t make good on.
Three military and three foreign policy giants all criticizing the Obama Administration over its lack of focus and determination to defeat America’s enemies. Festering terror has become an Obama specialty.
I would have loved to see the 37-year old Ben Rhodes, who is running the US into the ground with his foreign policy inexperience, respond to these giants, but hélas we will have to wait for his book detailing how he fought terror by going along with his boss to the storming of Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
My sense is that Obama is aimless and plan-less when it comes to the terror of Assad, Khamenei, Hamas, and Hezbollah while refusing to fully meet the challenges of al-Qaeda and ISIS because he believes a strategy against terror means a commitment, and a commitment exerts pressure on him to act in ways he wishes not to act.
I think Barack Obama believes that without a strategy, he can deflect from the pressures of committing himself to conflicts he knows he does not have the will to confront or the Chutzpah to win.
As Noonan predicts, there will be more pushing back against Barack Obama in the next months to come. As we all know, when too much pressure is applied against him, Obama tends to recoil and spring on some golf course.
In other words, the more terror, the more golf for the community organizer.
Pushing back against Barack Obama
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