“Outside your lane” Part II
Last night, we talked a little about General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who suddenly thought it was his duty to counsel American citizens about their rights to free speech. Well, our buddy DrewM (from Ace of Spades and DrewMusings) had the same thoughts and went a step further to contact the good general’s spokesman and asked if he was pressured into making the statement. Drew sent us a link to the Tweet;
Yeah, that’s not my jaw on the floor. Either he lied, or Dempsey is just that stupid that he thought it was his job, either way he looks bad. The video is not the reason our troops are in danger – the troops are in danger because the jihadists think they can get away with anything and this administration won’t do anything. The same way they felt before January 20th, 1981, but then thought differently on that day.
Category: Big Army
Once President Reagan had taken office, the Ragheads couldn’t wait to get rid of their hostages. They knew that they had become rocket magnets and bomb test dummies.
Jonn, spot on… The hostages were released because they (Iranian Revolutionists) knew President Reagan was about to put a man sized boot straight up their ass!
If Ronnie (as Nancy called him) was in charge. A carrier and amphibious task group would be in the region as we speak!
His spokesman lied or Martin Dempsey does not have the intellectual capacity and moral courage to properly do his job. Any random Army Specialist or Marine Lance Corporal in the fight can explain why islamists want to kill us.
Isn’t blaming the video similar to blaming the victim of rape or assault?
The answer isn’t “he shouldn’t have released that video” or “she shouldn’t have been dressed like that” or “he didn’t give up his wallet so he got shot”.
The answer is “some people act more like animals and need to be put down like animals”.
What is absolutely ludicrous is that his spokesboy, Col. Dave Lapan, was quoted as saying that Marty called to ask the pastor to withdraw his support for the film. Think about it. Withdraw his support? I mean, okay, he withdraws his support. So then….what? All the bad guys stand down? None of us goes to see the film?–which most of us didn’t know existed and weren’t about to see if it is indeed being shown anywhere but the wall of a cave somewhere in the Sierra Madres. Yes, we are stupid, Marty.
@5, Weren’t we recently told that the pastor is a fringe element and shouldn’t even be considered? (True, but that’s not the point) Weren’t we told that his actions were a part of an extreme minority and shouldn’t be considered representative this country? (Also true, and also not the point)
If these are true…why on Earth would anyone give a shit whether or not that idiot supports or disavows the film? Why would anyone blow their credibility over stupid shit like this?
@5 Honest answer? Then we spread information that the administration, generals, and even the pastor in question don’t support the film, and we get several small effects. First, the real bad guys get emboldened, seeing their actions have an effect, but don’t publicly spread word of this. Second, some people -not a large amount, but some- see this anti-Islam attitude isn’t synonymous with all people in the West, and either go home or stay home, feeling like it’s stupid politics much like we have here.
Crowds, and riots for that matter, have some interesting dynamics where even small shifts in their size result in large changes to the probabilities of things going real bad, real fast. This is an effort to lower those probabilities. Unlike kinetic actions which tend to have clearly quantifiable results, this is much more of a MISO / PSYOP type thing where results are harder to measure but generally do have a positive effect.
If Romney gets elected, the first thing he should do after getting sworn in is call that clown and tell him to turn in his shit.
@7: Don’t matter one whit. This was a completely unacceptable action by a military officer sworn to protect and defend the Constitution.
I have no doubt, however, that it was explained to him what he was supposed to do, by someone from the White House.
If this General had a single ounce of honor, a single ounce of respect for our Constitution and our military, he would issue a public apology for this action, followed by his resignation to take effect at once.
This sort of crap, if left unchallenged, is exactly what leads to the sort of thing postulated by the film “7 Days In May”.
IF this General had a brain and the balls to stand up straight , he’d of told the WH there was no way in hell that he was going to sound off.
Remember when officers stayed out of politics until AFTER they retired?
By all accounts what Marty did was wrong and ill- considered. I’ve yet to see any evidence as to what the circumstances were surrounding the office of the POTUS pressuring GEN Dempsey. Until I know more, I’ll reserve judgement on the CJCS. Having served as a troop commander in 3 ACR when Marty was the 67th RCO, I’ll tell you he sure as hell ain’t dumb. Not only book smart and tactically savvy, he had the leadership skills that made you wanted to bust your ass to not let him down. Hands down, he was the second best tactical commander I ever served under ( the first being then CPT McMaster) and the Regiment had the best command climate of any unit In which I served in 24 years. It was not even close. He has superb people skills and treated us like family. Again, the best tour in my career. I’m not naive enough to believe that people are immune to the power of the stars and that there is constant pressure to compromise one’s principles for the sake of expediency or choosing the lesser of two evils. Yes, on the face of it, this looks very bad, but as the senior military officer of this nation I believe that we need to dig deeper on this issue before assasinating this fine officer’s reputation. He deserves better than that. And if the facts bear out the allegations, so be it. What I see is what is admittedly an ill conceived attempt to help deflect some of the anger towards our citizens abroad. Take some time to look at Dempsey’s performance as the 1AD CG during the surge. To allege that he does not understand the power dynamics in the mid east and the motivations of terrorist organizations and their targeting of our Nation’s representatives abroad. Firts reports are seldom correct or complete. We should not pass public judgement on such an accomplished warrior without much more fact finding. If you want to conduct some pattern analysis perhaps we ought to start with the WH’s long history of throwing it’s… Read more »
#12 Elric – Thanks. Your comments were most needed here as some folks were getting carried away. Emotions run high in situations like this. There’s more to this string of events that we aren’t privvy to, and it’s unlikely we’ll figure it out among posts within this blog.
I agree with Elric — we need to find out more. The bullet doesn’t travel nearly as far when it’s half-cocked.
I’m just as angry as the rest of you over what has been happening, but let’s see what happens today. Then we can all get together at the nearest biker bar, shoot some pool, get pizza and whatever, and pick a fight with a biker in the parking lot, if you like. And no chains and no brass knuckles. Cool it for now.
@12. I’m not there. For all of your fine words and loyalty (both of which I admire), he either said did what his spokesman said or he didn’t. What you seems to be making a case for is mitigation with respect to punishment in the court of popular opinion.
Okay, I butchered that. Sorry. Here it is w/o the errors:
@12. I’m not there. For all of your fine words and loyalty (both of which I admire), Marty either said and did what his spokesman related or he didn’t. What you seem to be making a case for is mitigation with respect to punishment in the sentencing court of popular opinion.
The State Department is trying to “correct” Bo’s statement that “Egypt is not our ally, but not an enemy”, saying that “ally” is a legal term of art. The definition of ally is united in a relationship with another (basically) in a legal sense as with a treaty. That’s a summary, not a copy from a dictionary. This is real obfuscation.
But this just in this morning (9:30AM CDT): the German embassy in Sudan has been attacked by protestors, who scaled the embassy’s walls topped with razor wire in order to break windows and get into that embassy. Looks like it’s becoming a free-for-all.
There is a link to comment on this story and also a link to contact the editor. Perhaps we could flush this TURD out and make them correct the story. Heres a copy of the letter I sent
To the Editor,
Much to my distress one of your articles on a Martial arts Instructor, a Mr Partain, was published in your paper. He had an impressive resume, including competing in the Olympics as a Wrestler, having numerous black belts, etc. What leads me to question the validity of any of the story is his claim to be a retired Marine Office with 4 tours of Vietnam and POW status. That is a bold faced lie, and if he is seeking financial gain he is in violation of the New Stolen Valor Act. A quick check of the national record will prove he never served a day in the military. Please correct your story and in the future inform your reporters to check facts before publishing them. A suggestion would be to have anyone making such claims to sign a statement acknowledging that the paper reserves the right to use the Freedom of Information Act to check their service and publish a correction.
Respectfully
E D Harless
1st Sgt USMC (ret)