All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting. - George Orwell
Sound familiar? NONE of the bozos ranting at the last Republican debate have ever served in the military yet they talk tough and act as if they know what theyy're doing. The only one talking sense was Rand Paul in stating just how important it is to use discretion and intelligence when discussing the effective ways of countering an enemy as virulent and intelligent as that of ISIS, an entity the US created when "W" stupidly invaded Iraq based on a lie whereupon he DID NOT HIRE THE PEOPLE YOU CONQUER, the policy the Brits used to great advantage when they had an empire back in the day where the sun never sets.
From this "debate", where skin in the game does NOT apply to the participants in question, the reaction of the military, who do, is most profound and thoughtful, something these fools did not anticipate when trying to show America that they are the ones who should be invested with power that can end civilization with a touch of a button.
To whit:
The U.S. military still is rebuilding after a decade of repeated deployments and overworn equipment. And the prospect of endless quasi-war thousands of miles away—even if it’s fought mostly by drones and elite special operations forces—is not tenable, they argue. These commanders are too focused on recovering from the last war to hear politicans talk about the prospect of a future one.
And so in the course of conversation, plots of a different kind emerge—contingencies in case Trump really is elected to the White House.
“This is not the country I joined to defend.”
“I am turning in my papers.”
“I’m moving to a farm.”
None of the candidates’ proposals appeared to gain traction at the building Wednesday.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz announced that he wanted a bombing campaign on places like Raqqa, Syria—ISIS’s capital—that was both indiscriminate—he used the term “carpet bombing”—and ultra-precise.
“You would carpet bomb where ISIS is, not a city, but the location of the troops. You use air power directed—and you have embedded special forces to direction the air power. But the object isn’t to level a city. The object is to kill the ISIS terrorists,” Cruz said.
“Did you hear what Cruz said? How the hell do we do prick point carpet bombing?” asked one service member Wednesday to a colleague.
“Like we can just level a city,” responded another.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he would shoot down Russian jets flying in a no-fly zone that would be in place over Syria under his presidency.
“I remember the no-fly zone over Iraq [during the 1990s]. That was so expensive,” one Air Force officer responded about the proposal.
Neurosurgeon Ben Carson suggested that flattening ISIS-controlled cities would be “merciful,” even if it killed civilians as it would eliminate the threat.
“How does brain surgery prepare you to be president?” one Marine asked.
And Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said “we need to destroy ISIS in the caliphate” by investing in the military, but didn’t spell out how that would happen.
Still another soldier said, “Good luck with that.”
Last but not least, yours truly served so listening to the Repugs spouting off, without knowledge of all things relating to the military, makes me rather skeptical as to the overall competency of this sorry crew when it comes to leading a nation that's in serious trouble in more ways that can be articulated in a post such as this.
End of Rant.
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