SecDef Cleaning House
The top two people in the US Air Force were fired today. Okay, they’re calling it resigned but we know what it really was.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The military and civilian chiefs of the Air Force are resigning, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne to step down.
A public announcement was expected later in the day.
Remember last August when a B52 bomber with six nuclear missiles flew across middle America?
Then the USAF sent a bunch of fuses for ballistic missiles to Taiwan. Then Mosely was implicated in a scandal to steer a $50 million sweetheart contract to an old pal.
These incidents were probably enough to make the Secretary a bit concerned but this is not what finally sunk these two.
This was a matter of following orders. In the military, when your boss says to do something and it is not illegal, unethical or immoral, you need to do it. You certainly may protest the order and try to lead your boss in a different direction but simply ignoring the order or actively undermining it will get your ass fired every time.
Secretary Gates has been on these men’s asses since last year to streamline the procedures necessary to get more armed UAV’s into battle. They didn’t do it. In fact, it is rumored that through the USAF legislative liaison office, they encouraged the exact opposite.
Remember Gates is an old CIA hand. These two are lucky they didn’t get water-boarded.
Category: Politics
Jonn said:
This was a matter of following orders. In the military, when your boss says to do something and it is not illegal, unethical or immoral, you need to do it. You certainly may protest the order and try to lead your boss in a different direction but simply ignoring the order or actively undermining it will get your ass fired every time.
Secretary Gates has been on these men’s asses since last year to streamline the procedures necessary to get more armed UAV’s into battle. They didn’t do it. In fact, it is rumored that through the USAF legislative liaison office, they encouraged the exact opposite.
I was part of MAC during the time I served in the USAF. Most specifically, I was in Air Weather Service. I had good duty during the course of my enlistment.
It sounds like Gates did the right thing in asking for Moseley’s and Wynne’s resignations. UAV’s were needed in the conflicts in Afghanistan, but especially Iraq, where Iran has been aiding the insurgency by providing shaped IED charges to the terrorists. We all know where those IED’s are coming from. We really need to take out the Iranian facilities that are providing tbose IED’s that are killing both Iraqis and Americans. Let’s take out their nuclear facilities while we’re at it. The Israeli’s will help us out…
Don’t forget the decision to buy that pile of shit from northrup-grumman-airbus.
That is exactly what the a330 tanker is.
Anything from airbus is not worthy of a US Certificate of Airworthiness.
I hope ASSistant secretary sue peyton is next.
A couple of well-connected friends sent me the MSNBC version of the story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24988491, which asserts that Sec. Gates ordered AF Sec. Michael Wynne to fire General Moseley and that Wynne refuesed the order to fire the General, whereupon Gates sacked them both. Since that version comes via MSNBC accuracy would be in doubt, except that my friends are in the know, and raised no question. The only comment was “too few too late?”
Once Wynne refused to fire the General, that was a challenge which Gates could not ignore, unless he was prepared to be ruled by his subordinates.