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Posts Tagged ‘Wars and Conflicts’

Gunny G: Re: What Should Americans Die For? Pat Buchanan ~ Smedley Butler on Interventionism…

May 17, 2013 2 comments
A picture of a double medal of honor recipient...

A picture of a double medal of honor recipient . (Note that the light blue ribbons (at the top of his ribbon rack) appear almost white in this overexposed photo.) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Re What Should Americans Die For? Pat Buchanan

URL:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3020829/posts

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» Video: Surviving The Great Culling with Filmmaker Chris Maple Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!

April 22, 2013 Leave a comment
gophum

gophum (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

 

 

Film-makers Paul Wittenberger (What In The World Are They Spraying?) and Chris Maple explore what are the real threats to your life, your offspring and your genetic integrity?

 

How can you protect yourself from those threats? Why is a global depopulation agenda being pursued?

[[The Great Culling: Our Water]]

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The Hottest Trend out of Hollywood: “War Sells!” | Global Research

March 1, 2013 1 comment

In this day and age, “selling war” on the big screen has become a vastly lucrative enterprise, and business is booming.This past week, television broadcasters worldwide have been particularly enthusiastic in celebrating a glorified image of war and violence as promoted by big media and the film industry.

sgtstryker

sgtstryker (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

Last Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony generously bestowed its highest accolades on films unsurprisingly produced by the West that effectively and insidiously distort the truth on armed conflict and feed large demographics completely biased and inaccurate views of war theatres around the globe.

What the corporate-funded Hollywood propaganda machine counts on is that not only will the broad viewing public buy into its invented “truths”, but that in doing so the idea of war – in particular the absurd oxymoron of “humanitarian war” – will come to be increasingly accepted by a populace growing more and more numb to the violence being splashed across its screens.

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Andrew Breitbart – War…

March 1, 2013 Leave a comment

Andrew Breitbart – War

Youtube ^ | Mar 6, 2012 | quaker34667

speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on Februar...

speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 12, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Posted on Friday, March 01, 2013 11:49:00 AM by Nachum

Andrew Breitbart, Breitbart.com, Tea Party

(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com …

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Fighting Manifest Destiny – Book Review – Truthdig

December 17, 2012 2 comments

Thus it can come as no surprise that “A Wicked War” is a study of “the rise of America’s first national anti-war movement.”

 

In outlining her book’s purposes she writes: “Looking closely at the writings of politicians, soldiers, embedded journalists, and average Americans watching events in Mexico from a distance, it contends that the war was actively contested from its beginning and that vibrant and widespread anti-war activism ultimately defused the movement to annex all of Mexico to the United States at the close of the war. …

 

gophum

gophum (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

‘A Wicked War’ reveals how frequently volunteer and regular soldiers, as well as their officers, expressed their own ambivalence toward the conflict.”

 

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Why US Air Corps Servicemen Were Allowed to Wear Such Badass Bomber Jackets in World War II

December 7, 2012 Leave a comment

Why US Air Corps Servicemen Were Allowed to Wear Such Badass Bomber Jackets in World War II

 

IO9 ^ | Dec 7, 2012 | George Dvorsky

 

Posted on Friday, December 07, 2012 4:22:52 PM by DogByte6RER

 

Badass Bomber Jacket – World War II

 

Why US Air Corps servicemen were allowed to wear such badass bomber jackets in WWII

 

In honor of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Lisa Hix of Collectors Weekly has put together a fascinating and sobering article that both commemorates and explains why members of the US Army Air Corp were allowed to customize their bomber jackets to such outlandish and extreme degrees.

 

The kind of man Hitler wishes we didn't have. ...

The kind of man Hitler wishes we didn’t have. A bomber pilot, captain in a bombardment squadron, just before he climbs aboard his huge YN-17 bombing plane (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)

 

 

 

The Army, not known for its lax uniform standards, allowed their air-bound servicemen to decorate their jackets with pictures of scantily clad pin-up girls, favorite comic characters, lucky charms, and any other assortment of icons. The reason, says historian John Conway, may have something to do with the age of these soliders — but also the tremendous risks they had to endure………….

 

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(GyG: EXCERPT) A War Is Coming? Nah! | Strike-The-Root: A Journal Of Liberty

December 5, 2012 1 comment

…..He loved that little car, and it was far from the last Toyota we had in our family.

But then, he was always pretty open-minded; I remember one war story he told. He was in charge of the engine room in an LCT (Landing Craft Tank).

GyGRet

GyGRet (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

At one point a Japanese pilot (wisely) decided not to give his life for the Emperor as a Kamikaze, and downed his plane in the sea.

The skipper told the men to just shoot the pilot, but Dad was having none of that.

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GyG ReBlog: Patrick Henry Predicted The Presidents Will Betray Us! ~ Time Has Proven Patrick Henry’s Predictions To Be True/THE SHERIFF: A NECESSARY OFFICE by Bernadine Smith…

November 1, 2012 Leave a comment

Patrick Henry Predicted The Presidents Will Betray Us! ~ Time Has Proven Patrick Henry’s Predictions To Be True

Patrick Henry Predicted The Presidents Will Betray Us!

“The president will lead in the treason. Your militia will leave you and fight against you.

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coming in on a wing and a prayer – Bing Videos

October 22, 2012 2 comments
RPREVOLU

RPREVOLU (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

coming in on a wing and a prayer10/27/2007music video world war 2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B69CquvLHgY

 

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Clover Korean War vet gets 30 days in jail for junk on property

October 5, 2012 Leave a comment

 

RPREVOLU

RPREVOLU (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

GyGRet

GyGRet (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

Johnny Ramsey, the 79-year-old Korean Warveteran who collected and sold junk to pay for medications for his ailing wife, said just minutes before court Thursday evening: “If I have to go to jail, I guess I am ready.”

 

 

 

 

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(Photos) U.S. Army Paratroopers with Mohawks – World War II

August 26, 2012 1 comment

 

ayersflag

ayersflag (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

(Photos) U.S. Army Paratroopers with MohawksWorld War II

 

Retronaut ^ | August 23, 2012 | Retronaut

 

Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 3:01:24 PM by DogByte6RER

 

U.S. Paratroopers with Mohawks – World War II

 

 

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The Silence of the Fallen – A Tribute to Gulf War Vets | Veterans Today

August 16, 2012 Leave a comment

 

EXCERPT…..

 

RPREVOLU

RPREVOLU (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

The booming silence made as warriors fall,

 

One by lonely one,

 

Felled not by shrapnel, nor by bullets from a gun.

 

Silent sounds that echo loudly, sadly heard by very few,

 

Warriors felled by chemical agents, experimental vaccines, and D. U.

 

Exotic potions and fancy tools of war, made right there close to you,

 

In labs securely hidden away from the nuisance of scrutiny’s view,

 

And the outrage that would surely come, if the public only knew.

 

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“I Only Hang With Sheepdogs” an oldie, but goodie… (“… an extract from the book, ‘On Combat’ was written by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, U.S. Army Ret.”)

July 21, 2012 Leave a comment

 

takethngsawayfryou

takethngsawayfryou (Photo credit: GunnyG1345)

 

“The following essay an extract from the book, ‘On Combat‘ was written by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, U.S. Army Ret. Director, Killology Research Group http://www.killology.com.

 

Colonel Grossman is a somewhat controversial figure – he authored the book – “On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society” – a very interesting topic that our politically correct society would rarely discuss…….”

 

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Prison Planet.com » How Will History Remember You?

April 23, 2012 Leave a comment

…In the old days, the elite pretty much had a monopoly on mass communication. But today the Internet has totally changed that.Something that you post on the Internet today could end up being seen by tens of millions of people.

Without ever leaving the comfort of your own home, you could literally change lives on the other side of the world.Ideas are incredibly powerful, and today we are in the middle of a global information war. Use the Internet to make a difference while you can, because the free and open Internet will not be around forever. Already the elite are taking stepsto clamp down on it. That is why you hear so much chatter about SOPA and ACTA and CISPA. The powers that be do not like what the Internet has turned into and they want to get it under control.Even now, everything that you do on the Internet is being watched by governments all over the world.

But that is no reason to quit spreading the truth. Perhaps some of the “watchers” will even be persuaded by what you have to say.It is when times are the darkest that the greatest heroes are needed. The world has become a very dark place and things are going to get a lot darker before it is all said and done.But that just means that we need as many heroes as possible.The great war between good and evil is reaching a climax. Do you want to spend your life doing things that will make a permanent difference or do you want to spend your life on your couch staring at your television?

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Patrick Henry Predicted The Presidents Will Betray Us! ~ Time Has Proven Patrick Henry’s Predictions To Be True

April 12, 2012 4 comments

Patrick Henry Predicted The Presidents Will Betray Us!

“The president will lead in the treason. Your militia will leave you and fight against you.

US Postage stamp, Patrick Henry, 1955 issue, $...

US Postage stamp, Patrick Henry, 1955 issue, $1, violet Česky: Americká poštovní známka s portrétem Patricka Henryho v hodnotě 1 dolaru, fialové barvy, vydána roku 1955 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

What will you do when evil men take office?

When Evil men take office the whole gang will be in collusion.

They will keep the people in utter ignorance and steal their liberty by ambuscade.

When government removes your armaments, you will have no power, but government will have all power.”
….Patrick Henry

Time Has Proven Patrick Henry’s Predictions To Be True

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WE ARE A NATION OF GREATNESS

March 29, 2012 Leave a comment
Rush Limbaugh at CPAC in February 2009.

Rush Limbaugh at CPAC in February 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WE ARE A NATION OF GREATNESS

Rush Limbaugh ^ | 03/07/12 | Rush Limbaugh

Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2012 10:03:44 AM by sunny48

Well, the fact of the matter is, we are a nation of greatness because we are good. We are an inherently good people and inherently good nation, and we do wonders for people around the world. We have liberated people from bondage and tyranny and slavery. We have rebuilt whole continents after destructive wars. We have provided disaster relief for people who’ve been wiped out. There’s no greater people on this planet than the American citizens. None greater! And I really resent this implication here that we are selfish, greedy, un-sharing exploiters.

How about this, folks. Two percent of the world’s population, and we won World War I; we won World War II. We have invented most of the medicines in the world. We feed a huge portion of the world. Our president has no appreciation for the people that he is supposed to govern or represent. He has contempt for this country.

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My Dad the Marine (Fighting cancer-prayers)

November 10, 2011 Leave a comment

My Dad the Marine (Fighting cancer-prayers)

11/10/11 | arbee4bush

Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2011 8:32:58 AM by arbee4bush

Today is a special day for my dad Dan. He is a veteran of the Korean War. He fought in the battle at Chosin Reservoir. He has won a purple heart and bronze star. He is the most amazing man to his seven kids and wife of 58 years.

1st Marines advance during the Korean War

Image via Wikipedia

via My Dad the Marine (Fighting cancer-prayers).

Fred On Everything: A Culture in Regression ~ We Don’t Need No Steenking Books

September 11, 2011 Leave a comment

A Culture in Regression

We Don’t Need No Steenking Books

September 10, 2011

The night closes in. Read the surveys of what children know, what students in universities know. Approximately nothing. We have become wanton morons. As the intellectual shadows fall again, as literacy declines and minds grow dim in the new twilight, who will copy the parchments this time?

No longer are we a schooled people. Brash new peasants grin and peck at their iPods. Unknowing, incurious, they gaze at their screens and twiddle, twiddle. They will not preserve the works of five millenia. They cannot. They do not even know why.

Twilight really does come. Sales of books fall. Attention spans shorten. Music gives way to angry urban grunting. The young count on their fingers when they do not have a calculator, know less by the year. We have already seen the frist American generations less educated than their parents. College graduates do not know when World War One happened, or what the Raj was. They have read nothing except the nothing that they read, and little of that. Democracy was an interesting thought……………..

MORE…..

via Fred On Everything.

The Cult of the Uniform | Veterans Today

August 26, 2011 Leave a comment

The new Cult of the Uniform

I believe that Deresiewicz coined the phrase – new cult of the uniform – accurately noting that it began with the piety and call to “support our troops” during the Iraq war. The [political] slogan played on a collective desire to avoid repeating the mistake of the Vietnam War, when hatred of the conflict spilled over into hostility toward the people who were fighting it.

Supporting the Troops Now Meant You Had to Support the War(s).

William tells us that now the logic’s inverted: “supporting the troops, we were given to understand, meant that you had to support the war. In fact, that’s all it seemed to mean. The ploy was a bait and switch, an act of emotional blackmail. If you opposed the war or questioned the way it was conducted, you undermined our troops.”…………….

MORE……..

via The Cult of the Uniform | Veterans Today.

Patton Discovered The Truth And Was Killed For It (via ~ BLOGGER.GUNNY.G.1984+ ~ (BLOG & EMAIL))

August 22, 2011 1 comment

As General Patton started to actually become acquainted with the defeated Germans and America's Soviet allies, Patton finally realized what he was in the midst of, and his opinions about the war, and both our enemies and allies changed drastically. What Patton realized was recorded in his diary, and in letters to everyone from his family and friends, to other military and government personnel. It's a good thing that these writings were preserved, … Read More

via ~ BLOGGER.GUNNY.G.1984+ ~ (BLOG & EMAIL)

Satan’s Demonic Complex – Setting the Stage For 666

July 16, 2011 Leave a comment

As a biblical fundamentalist (one who believes in the realities and ETERNAL truths of the Holy Bible) I have one critique with those who give political commentary and analysis.

The average media personality today – whether they be a Left-wing reprobate or a Conservative, REFUSES to see the world, the events at hand and the overall picture of why the world is the way it is from Almighty God’s ETERNAL perspective (2 Cor. 4:3-4, Eph. 6:12, 1 John 2:16-17). These blinded individuals (Left or Right), posses an unbelieving subjective world view which blinds them to the true realities at hand, which is they are subjects to the highly organized Demonic Complex of heaven’s fallen angelic host (2 Cor. 4:3-4, Eph. 2:1-2).

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]” (Eph. 6:12)

You see, more radical than a passionate conservative to the godless Left here in America is a fundamental Bible believer who Almighty God has rescued from this doomed and fallen world (Gal. 1:4, Eph. 2:1-10). The Demonic Complex which is driving this world’s godless and lawless agenda truly hates reality, but is enraged and psychotic when it comes to Divine reality (John 3:19-21). The great war of the ages at hand is the rebellious agenda of darkness against ETERNAL light and reality (Isa. 5:20, John 3:19-21, Acts 26:18, 2 Cor. 4:3-6, Eph 2:2). As fallen mankind partakes and places their necks under Satan‘s rule in unbelief, they become his slaves and allies in the War against………………….

via Satan’s Demonic Complex – Setting the Stage For 666.

THE TRUTH ABOUT LINCOLN’s WAR

June 21, 2011 Leave a comment

THE TRUTH ABOUT LINCOLN’s WAR

THE TRUTH ABOUT LINCOLN’s WAR

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/lincoln-arch.html

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Hey, See the Reader Responses on each article,

they are gems in themselves!

**********

via BLOGGER.GUNNY.G.1984(+): THE TRUTH ABOUT LINCOLN’s WAR.

Dancing Towards Doomsday

May 25, 2011 1 comment

Dancing Towards Doomsday

Dancing Towards Doomsday:

“The Bible speaks of a time to come in the ‘last days’ that will involve the whole world at war. Jesus himself says in Matthew 24 that in that war everyone on earth would die unless God himself stepped in. II Timothy 3:1 calls these last days ‘perilous times’, and they are.

Think about it.

Throughout most of earth history the entire population of the earth being wiped out simultaneously was hard to picture. That changed, however, with the invention of the atomic bomb in 1945. Suddenly the prediction Jesus made didn’t seem far-fetched at all!”

Posted by Gunny G at Wednesday, May 25, 2011

via BLOGGER.1984.GUNNY.G: Dancing Towards Doomsday.

Hidden WWII Military Base in California

March 15, 2011 Leave a comment

This is a version of special effects during the 1940′s. I have never seen these pictures or knew that we had gone this far to protect ourselves. During World War II the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant to protect it from a possible Japanese air attack.

They covered it with camouflage netting to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air.Excerpt Read more at stories-etc.com …

via Hidden WWII Military Base in California.

Al Duncan — World War III…

March 4, 2011 Leave a comment

…The following are extracted from Pike’s letter to Mazzini, revealing the three World Wars:

“The First World War must be brought about in order to overthrow the Czars in Russia and to make that country a fortress of atheistic Communism. The British and Germanic Empires will be used to foment this war. At the end of the war, Communism will be built and used in order to destroy the other governments and in order to weaken the religions.

“The Second World War must be brought about so that Nazism is destroyed and to institute a sovereign state of Israel in Palestine.

During the Second World War, International Communism must become strong enough to balance Christendom until the time when we would need it for the final social cataclysm.

The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by Illuminati agents acting as advisers and specialists to governments and leading institutions of the political Zionists Israeli heads of State and the leaders of Islamic World Moslem Arabic nations. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam and political Zionism mutually destroy each other.

Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion.

”In three New Testament accounts Jesus gives his disciples a warning that is strikingly similar to Pike’s letter. These warnings are found…

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War Uber Alles ~ “As General Smedley Butler told the jingoistic American population, to no avail, “war is a racket.”

February 27, 2011 Leave a comment

War makes money for the politically connected. While the flag-waving population remains proud of the service of their sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, cousins, wives, mothers and daughters, the smart boys who got the fireworks started are rolling in the mega-millions.

As General Smedley Butler told the jingoistic American population, to no avail, “war is a racket.”

As long as the American population remains proud that their relatives serve as cannon fodder for the military/security complex, war will remain a racket……..

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New George S Patton speech: Iraq & modern world

September 27, 2010 Leave a comment

Incredible!

New George S Patton speech: Iraq & modern world


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Patton Discovered The Truth And Was Killed For It

September 20, 2010 2 comments

As General Patton started to actually become acquainted with the defeated Germans and America‘s Soviet allies, Patton finally realized what he was in the midst of, and his opinions about the war, and both our enemies and allies changed drastically.

What Patton realized was recorded in his diary, and in letters to everyone from his family and friends, to other military and government personnel. It’s a good thing that these writings were preserved, so that we could see how even America’s “most fightingest General” knew that something was wrong with the outcome of WWII. In those writings it is clear that Patton realized that these new “allies” of ours were more of a danger than the Germans ever were. I only wish that Patton were still alive today to see with the hindsight that is available to us now.

We can only wish that Patton would have known then what many of us know now about the dangers of jew Bolshevik communists, but Patton quickly caught on that something was a miss when the war ended.

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Iconoclast Publisher’s Suspicious Stroke — a warning to all patriots — By Captain Eric H. May

September 13, 2010 Leave a comment
Iconoclast Publisher’s Suspicious Stroke
— a warning to all  patriots –

+ + + + + + +


By Captain Eric H. May
Intelligence Editor
The Lone Star Iconoclast

<captainmay@prodigy.net>

Please discuss and publish the compelling piece below, published by the family of the bravest man I know, W. Leon Smith. It is the introduction to my essay (which follows it). In a free country, a paper like The Iconoclast would receive awards for heroic journalism; under the Obama Nation, Barry’s Boys and Bibi’s Boys are targeting truth for assassination.

+ + + + + + +

This May Be The Last Iconoclast Editorial
– By the Daughters of W. Leon Smith –


As Iconoclast publisher W. Leon Smith was planning for perhaps the most intense Iconoclast editorial to ever be written, one involving false flags and the upcoming anniversary of 9/11, forces were working to see that this did not happen.

On Thursday, Aug. 26, he had just completed writing the lead story in this issue of the Iconoclast entitled “How Many Total War Deaths In Iraq?” As he was giving the story one last click with his computer mouse he suffered what has been termed by medical professionals as a stroke. He had lost the function of his right hand, some of his speech, and part of his right leg, but he was able walk uphill half a block to get assistance.

Much of his speech and right hand movement had returned after a couple of hours. He spent the night in a Central Texas hospital undergoing CT scans, MRI’s, multiple ultrasounds, and many more tests.

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War story: US vet who caught Japan’s Tojo speaks

September 11, 2010 Leave a comment

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. —

John J. Wilpers Jr. went decades without publicly revealing details about his international headline-making exploits at the end of World War II, a string of silence befitting a former Army intelligence officer-turned-career CIA employee.It took the belated awarding of a Bronze Star to the upstate New York native to finally loosen the lips of the man credited with preventing former Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo from committing suicide on Sept. 11, 1945, nine days after Japan officially surrendered.

Tojo was eventually put on trial for war crimes and executed in 1948.”I never wanted it in the first place,” Wilpers, 90, said of the attention he received after capturing Tojo and again earlier this year when he finally received the medal.

Excerpt

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A History of Treason | The Post & Email

September 8, 2010 Leave a comment

WHO IS GUILTY, AND WHAT WILL BE DONE ABOUT IT?

by Sharon Rondeau

Aaron Burr was elected vice president in 1800 and tried for treason in 1807. He was acquitted by a grand jury.Sept. 7, 2010 — Treason is defined as “Violation of allegiance toward one’s country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one’s country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.” The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia adds to that definition, “In the U.S., the framers of the Constitution defined treason narrowly — as the levying of war against the U.S. or the giving of aid and comfort to its enemies — in order to lessen the possibility that those in power might falsely or loosely charge their political opponents with treason.

See also sedition.”A second source defines treason as “the offense of acting to overthrow one’s government or to harm or kill its sovereign” or “a violation of allegiance to one’s sovereign or to one’s state.”Stated differently, treason is “the crime of betraying a nation or a sovereign by acts considered dangerous to security.”Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution states:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

excerpt…

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Tom DeWeese — The Third American Revolution, Part 1

September 6, 2010 Leave a comment

You seek help. You seek answers. You seek truth. You seek a way home. So do I.This year marks my 43rd year in the war against those who say there is no reason, no ability and no absolutes. 43 years in a war against those who say private property and profit are evil. 43 years in a war against those who have no problem ruling, regulating and taxing my efforts in order to fill their own pockets – all in the name of the “public good.”

What I have learned in that time is the true nature of the beast I oppose. I’ve learned his tactics and I’ve 1earned his purpose. And I know from where he came.I’ve also learned that there are those who profess to hold my values, who proclaim friendship, but who, when the chips are down, can be easiest found breaking bread at the table of my enemies.And these are perhaps the most dangerous foes of freedom because many have our trust and have helped drive us all to the brink of disaster and defeat.The Second American RevolutionI was there on the front lines at the origins of the Second American Revolution – the revolution under which America is still ruled. In the 1960’s I stood on college campuses, opposing those who sought to close down classrooms in the name of a “revolution.”Those who marched professed themselves to be Marxists, Leninist, Trotskyites, and Maoists.

Their revolution, they proclaimed, was to give power to the people over evil industry, to replace money and materialism with charity and benevolence for a “common good.”In the name of brotherhood they used violence and deceit, threw bricks into windows, burned down campus buildings, incited riots and spit on soldiers returning from Vietnam.

EXCERPT ~ CONTINUES @ LINK…

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1918 in “The War to End All Wars,” the Choctaw code talkers in WWI were sworn to secrecy in a TOP SECRET Government Program.

September 5, 2010 Leave a comment

1918 in “The War to End All Wars,” the Choctaw code talkers in WWI were sworn to secrecy in a TOP SECRET Government Program.  They were never recognized and their story was lost in the fog of war.
Click on the link below to learn about the Choctaw code talkers in WWI.
CONTINUES @ LINK…

The Third American Revolution

September 1, 2010 1 comment

The changes were basically undetectable, that is, until the start of the Second American Revolution. From the start of that revolution America began to change – rapidly – openly – ruthlessly. From the free, prosperous nation we once were, America is today drowning in a sea of rules and regulations.

Every aspect of our lives have become controlled by government edicts and intervention. From a mere trickle those government controls became a flood – until finally, today, the Republic of our founders is literally unrecognizable.When did such a drastic change take place? Who perpetrated it? How did they pull it off before our very eyes? Winston Churchill once said, “If you don’t look facts in the face, they have a way of stabbing you in the back.”

Excerpt

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Appleseed Project will be on Fox and Friends this Monday

August 27, 2010 Leave a comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEREVOLUTIONARY WAR VETERANS ASSOCIATION TO DISCUSS PROJECT APPLESEED ON FOX & FRIENDS

Ramseur, NC – 27 August 2010 –

Tune in to Fox & Friends on the Fox News Channel this August 30th, 2010 during the 8:00 a.m. ET hour to hear an engaging success story about how the Revolutionary War Veterans Association RWVA is teaching early American history and rifle marksmanship through a nationwide, all-volunteer program called Project Appleseed. Times may vary. Please check your local listings.Since its inception in 2006, the RWVA has doubled the number of Appleseed clinics and attendees served each year. This year, at least one thousand clinics will be conducted across the country.

The exponential growth and quality of instruction has caught the attention of national media – making this upcoming interview the third to offer nationwide coverage during the past thirty days.At each Appleseed, Americans discover things about their heritage they never knew, as they hear the story of the events of April 19th, 1775 – the one they never heard before – historically accurate, inspiring, encouraging.

They also learn the answer to four questions every American should be able to answer:

1. When and where was the American Revolution fought and won? The answer, directly from a Founder, will astound you!

2. When and where did the Revolutionary War break out? Not at Lexington, not at Concord, but at an obscure place few have ever heard of – until they come to an Appleseeed.

3. What caused the professional British Army to break and run at the North Bridge, after exchanging gunfire with colonial farmers and blacksmiths – for two minutes? We give you the numbers that answer that question.

4. Last but definitely not least, we’ll answer the question which has so bedeviled historians for two centuries:

Who fired the first shots at Lexington?

Yes, and we’ll offer convincing proof in the form of historical facts.About the Revolutionary War Veterans Association The mission of the Revolutionary War Veterans Association is to encourage civic participation, preserve the heritage of rifle marksmanship and to develop an understanding and appreciation of our nation’s founding. Project Appleseed brings about RWVA’s mission across the country through two-day clinics that teach everyday Americans about their heritage and rifle marksmanship fundamentals.

excerpt

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The New Battle: What It Means To Be AMERICAN!

August 20, 2010 Leave a comment

POLITICO The new battle What it means to be American
http
gunnygwordpresscom20100809gunnygmyselfiwouldrefertothesemultitudeoffoolsassimplyaino httpgunnygwordpresscom20100718gunnygdontsendthatoutragedemail
www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2574223/posts?page=2

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My Encounter With Robert Garwood, Part I of a Two Part Series by Ron Charest

September 26, 2007 6 comments

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On 9/25/07 I received the following in an e-mail from Ron Charest regarding Robert Garwood.

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Dear Gunny G,

I happened to spot your website post from Dec 2005 concerning the whereabouts of Robert Garwood. Robert moved next door to me in the Mississippi town of Gautier in April of 2000, just days after his wife Cathi passed on.

I am sorry to tell you this, but Robert Garwood is no friend of mine. When he first moved in, all I knew of him was that he was a recent widower, former marine, and new neighbor. I welcomed him to our community and treated him as a friend. Within two years Robert destroyed my marriage, spread lies about me more vile than anything I could have once imagined possible, and generally turned my life upside down.

I have just published a full accounting of my encounter with this man at my personal website. If you care to read it, the link is here”

“My Encounter With Robert Garwood, Part I”

http://www.charest.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=12&GallerySession=392ad6f91463e4e84ed3bfeee19e3d4d

“My Encounter With Robert Garwood, Part II”

http://www.charest.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=13&GallerySession=392ad6f91463e4e84ed3bfeee19e3d4d

Please use this info and contact me as you feel is appropriate.

Respectfully Yours,
Ron Charest
ETCS(SS), USN (Ret.)
http://www.charest.net

*****

I read the story, corresponded with him and asked permission to link to my Gunny G webpages, and he kindly consented.
Ron’s contact info is as follows:

<rcharest@yahoo.com>

This a short excerpt of a much longer, in-depth and thorough story, to continue to the rest of the story please use the url/links provided.
Thank You

-RWG
~~~~~~~~~~

http://tinyurl.com/3bcofx

My Encounter with Robert Garwood, Part I
Part I of a Two Part Series

(Page: 1/8)

This narrative is about my personal experience with Robert (Bobby) Russell Garwood, PFC, USMC, DD. This story, as painful as it has been for me, is written for and dedicated to the many people who served our nation in the Vietnam war. There are many people still today who belive our nation abandonded our servicemen and women after the hostilities between North Vietnam and the US officially ended.

For those people who still belive, who still search for loved ones who never returned home, I hope one day they find the answers they deserve.

Prelude

These are the known facts about Robert:

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A Failure In Generalship

June 29, 2007 3 comments

A failure in generalship
By Lt. Col. Paul Yingling
for the Armed Forces Journal

“You officers amuse yourselves with God knows what buffooneries and never dream in the least of serious service. This is a source of stupidity which would become most dangerous in case of a serious conflict.” — Frederick the Great

For the second time in a generation, the United States faces the prospect of defeat at the hands of an insurgency. In April 1975, the U.S. fled the Republic of Vietnam, abandoning our allies to their fate at the hands of North Vietnamese communists. In 2007, Iraq’s grave and deteriorating condition offers diminishing hope for an American victory and portends risk of an even wider and more destructive regional war.

These debacles are not attributable to individual failures, but rather to a crisis in an entire institution: America’s general officer corps. America’s generals have failed to prepare our armed forces for war and advise civilian authorities on the application of force to achieve the aims of policy. The argument that follows consists of three elements. First, generals have a responsibility to society to provide policymakers with a correct estimate of strategic probabilities. Second, America’s generals in Vietnam and Iraq failed to perform this responsibility. Third, remedying the crisis in American generalship requires the intervention of Congress.

The Responsibilities of Generalship

Armies do not fight wars; nations fight wars. War is not a military activity conducted by soldiers, but rather a social activity that involves entire nations. Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz noted that passion, probability and policy each play their role in war. Any understanding of war that ignores one of these elements is fundamentally flawed.

The passion of the people is necessary to endure the sacrifices inherent in war. Regardless of the system of government, the people supply the blood and treasure required to prosecute war. The statesman must stir these passions to a level commensurate with the popular sacrifices required. When the ends of policy are small, the statesman can prosecute a conflict without asking the public for great sacrifice. Global conflicts such as World War II require the full mobilization of entire societies to provide the men and materiel necessary for the successful prosecution of war. The greatest error the statesman can make is to commit his nation to a great conflict without mobilizing popular passions to a level commensurate with the stakes of the conflict.

Popular passions are necessary for the successful prosecution of war, but cannot be sufficient. To prevail, generals must provide policymakers and the public with a correct estimation of strategic probabilities. The general is responsible for estimating the likelihood of success in applying force to achieve the aims of policy. The general describes both the means necessary for the successful prosecution of war and the ways in which the nation will employ those means. If the policymaker desires ends for which the means he provides are insufficient, the general is responsible for advising the statesman of this incongruence. The statesman must then scale back the ends of policy or mobilize popular passions to provide greater means. If the general remains silent while the statesman commits a nation to war with insufficient means, he shares culpability for the results.

However much it is influenced by passion and probability, war is ultimately an instrument of policy and its conduct is the responsibility of policymakers. War is a social activity undertaken on behalf of the nation; Augustine counsels us that the only purpose of war is to achieve a better peace. The choice of making war to achieve a better peace is inherently a value judgment in which the statesman must decide those interests and beliefs worth killing and dying for. The military man is no better qualified than the common citizen to make such judgments. He must therefore confine his input to his area of expertise — the estimation of strategic probabilities.

The correct estimation of strategic possibilities can be further subdivided into the preparation for war and the conduct of war. Preparation for war consists in the raising, arming, equipping and training of forces. The conduct of war consists of both planning for the use of those forces and directing those forces in operations.

To prepare forces for war, the general must visualize the conditions of future combat. To raise military forces properly, the general must visualize the quality and quantity of forces needed in the next war. To arm and equip military forces properly, the general must visualize the materiel requirements of future engagements. To train military forces properly, the general must visualize the human demands on future battlefields, and replicate those conditions in peacetime exercises. Of course, not even the most skilled general can visualize precisely how future wars will be fought. According to British military historian and soldier Sir Michael Howard, “In structuring and preparing an army for war, you can be clear that you will not get it precisely right, but the important thing is not to be too far wrong, so that you can put it right quickly.”

The most tragic error a general can make is to assume without much reflection that wars of the future will look much like wars of the past. Following World War I, French generals committed this error, assuming that the next war would involve static battles dominated by firepower and fixed fortifications. Throughout the interwar years, French generals raised, equipped, armed and trained the French military to fight the last war. In stark contrast, German generals spent the interwar years attempting to break the stalemate created by firepower and fortifications. They developed a new form of war — the blitzkrieg — that integrated mobility, firepower and decentralized tactics. The German Army did not get this new form of warfare precisely right. After the 1939 conquest of Poland, the German Army undertook a critical self-examination of its operations. However, German generals did not get it too far wrong either, and in less than a year had adapted their tactics for the invasion of France.

After visualizing the conditions of future combat, the general is responsible for explaining to civilian policymakers the demands of future combat and the risks entailed in failing to meet those demands. Civilian policymakers have neither the expertise nor the inclination to think deeply about strategic probabilities in the distant future. Policymakers, especially elected representatives, face powerful incentives to focus on near-term challenges that are of immediate concern to the public. Generating military capability is the labor of decades. If the general waits until the public and its elected representatives are immediately concerned with national security threats before finding his voice, he has waited too long. The general who speaks too loudly of preparing for war while the nation is at peace places at risk his position and status. However, the general who speaks too softly places at risk the security of his country.

Failing to visualize future battlefields represents a lapse in professional competence, but seeing those fields clearly and saying nothing is an even more serious lapse in professional character. Moral courage is often inversely proportional to popularity and this observation in nowhere more true than in the profession of arms. The history of military innovation is littered with the truncated careers of reformers who saw gathering threats clearly and advocated change boldly. A military professional must possess both the physical courage to face the hazards of battle and the moral courage to withstand the barbs of public scorn. On and off the battlefield, courage is the first characteristic of generalship.

Failures of Generalship in Vietnam

America’s defeat in Vietnam is the most egregious failure in the history of American arms. America’s general officer corps refused to prepare the Army to fight unconventional wars, despite ample indications that such preparations were in order. Having failed to prepare for such wars, America’s generals sent our forces into battle without a coherent plan for victory. Unprepared for war and lacking a coherent strategy, America lost the war and the lives of more than 58,000 service members.

Following World War II, there were ample indicators that America’s enemies would turn to insurgency to negate our advantages in firepower and mobility. The French experiences in Indochina and Algeria offered object lessons to Western armies facing unconventional foes. These lessons were not lost on the more astute members of America’s political class. In 1961, President Kennedy warned of “another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origin — war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of by combat, by infiltration instead of aggression, seeking victory by evading and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him.” In response to these threats, Kennedy undertook a comprehensive program to prepare America’s armed forces for counterinsurgency.

Despite the experience of their allies and the urging of their president, America’s generals failed to prepare their forces for counterinsurgency. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Decker assured his young president, “Any good soldier can handle guerrillas.” Despite Kennedy’s guidance to the contrary, the Army viewed the conflict in Vietnam in conventional terms. As late as 1964, Gen. Earle Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated flatly that “the essence of the problem in Vietnam is military.” While the Army made minor organizational adjustments at the urging of the president, the generals clung to what Andrew Krepinevich has called “the Army concept,” a vision of warfare focused on the destruction of the enemy’s forces.

Having failed to visualize accurately the conditions of combat in Vietnam, America’s generals prosecuted the war in conventional terms. The U.S. military embarked on a graduated attrition strategy intended to compel North Vietnam to accept a negotiated peace. The U.S. undertook modest efforts at innovation in Vietnam. Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS), spearheaded by the State Department’s “Blowtorch” Bob Kromer, was a serious effort to address the political and economic causes of the insurgency. The Marine Corps’ Combined Action Program (CAP) was an innovative approach to population security. However, these efforts are best described as too little, too late. Innovations such as CORDS and CAP never received the resources necessary to make a large-scale difference. The U.S. military grudgingly accepted these innovations late in the war, after the American public’s commitment to the conflict began to wane.

America’s generals not only failed to develop a strategy for victory in Vietnam, but also remained largely silent while the strategy developed by civilian politicians led to defeat. As H.R. McMaster noted in “Dereliction of Duty,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff were divided by service parochialism and failed to develop a unified and coherent recommendation to the president for prosecuting the war to a successful conclusion. Army Chief of Staff Harold K. Johnson estimated in 1965 that victory would require as many as 700,000 troops for up to five years. Commandant of the Marine Corps Wallace Greene made a similar estimate on troop levels. As President Johnson incrementally escalated the war, neither man made his views known to the president or Congress. President Johnson made a concerted effort to conceal the costs and consequences of Vietnam from the public, but such duplicity required the passive consent of America’s generals.

Having participated in the deception of the American people during the war, the Army chose after the war to deceive itself. In “Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife,” John Nagl argued that instead of learning from defeat, the Army after Vietnam focused its energies on the kind of wars it knew how to win — high-technology conventional wars. An essential contribution to this strategy of denial was the publication of “On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War,” by Col. Harry Summers. Summers, a faculty member of the U.S. Army War College, argued that the Army had erred by not focusing enough on conventional warfare in Vietnam, a lesson the Army was happy to hear. Despite having been recently defeated by an insurgency, the Army slashed training and resources devoted to counterinsurgency.

By the early 1990s, the Army’s focus on conventional war-fighting appeared to have been vindicated. During the 1980s, the U.S. military benefited from the largest peacetime military buildup in the nation’s history. High-technology equipment dramatically increased the mobility and lethality of our ground forces. The Army’s National Training Center honed the Army’s conventional war-fighting skills to a razor’s edge. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 signaled the demise of the Soviet Union and the futility of direct confrontation with the U.S. Despite the fact the U.S. supported insurgencies in Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Angola to hasten the Soviet Union’s demise, the U.S. military gave little thought to counterinsurgency throughout the 1990s. America’s generals assumed without much reflection that the wars of the future would look much like the wars of the past — state-on-state conflicts against conventional forces. America’s swift defeat of the Iraqi Army, the world’s fourth-largest, in 1991 seemed to confirm the wisdom of the U.S. military’s post-Vietnam reforms. But the military learned the wrong lessons from Operation Desert Storm. It continued to prepare for the last war, while its future enemies prepared for a new kind of war.

Failures of Generalship in Iraq

America’s generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq. First, throughout the 1990s our generals failed to envision the conditions of future combat and prepare their forces accordingly. Second, America’s generals failed to estimate correctly both the means and the ways necessary to achieve the aims of policy prior to beginning the war in Iraq. Finally, America’s generals did not provide Congress and the public with an accurate assessment of the conflict in Iraq.

Despite paying lip service to “transformation” throughout the 1990s, America’s armed forces failed to change in significant ways after the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. In “The Sling and the Stone,” T.X. Hammes argues that the Defense Department’s transformation strategy focuses almost exclusively on high-technology conventional wars. The doctrine, organizations, equipment and training of the U.S. military confirm this observation. The armed forces fought the global war on terrorism for the first five years with a counterinsurgency doctrine last revised in the Reagan administration. Despite engaging in numerous stability operations throughout the 1990s, the armed forces did little to bolster their capabilities for civic reconstruction and security force development. Procurement priorities during the 1990s followed the Cold War model, with significant funding devoted to new fighter aircraft and artillery systems. The most commonly used tactical scenarios in both schools and training centers replicated high-intensity interstate conflict. At the dawn of the 21st century, the U.S. is fighting brutal, adaptive insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq, while our armed forces have spent the preceding decade having done little to prepare for such conflicts.

Having spent a decade preparing to fight the wrong war, America’s generals then miscalculated both the means and ways necessary to succeed in Iraq. The most fundamental military miscalculation in Iraq has been the failure to commit sufficient forces to provide security to Iraq’s population. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) estimated in its 1998 war plan that 380,000 troops would be necessary for an invasion of Iraq. Using operations in Bosnia and Kosovo as a model for predicting troop requirements, one Army study estimated a need for 470,000 troops. Alone among America’s generals, Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki publicly stated that “several hundred thousand soldiers” would be necessary to stabilize post-Saddam Iraq. Prior to the war, President Bush promised to give field commanders everything necessary for victory. Privately, many senior general officers both active and retired expressed serious misgivings about the insufficiency of forces for Iraq. These leaders would later express their concerns in tell-all books such as “Fiasco” and “Cobra II.” However, when the U.S. went to war in Iraq with less than half the strength required to win, these leaders did not make their objections public.

Given the lack of troop strength, not even the most brilliant general could have devised the ways necessary to stabilize post-Saddam Iraq. However, inept planning for postwar Iraq took the crisis caused by a lack of troops and quickly transformed it into a debacle. In 1997, the U.S. Central Command exercise “Desert Crossing” demonstrated that many postwar stabilization tasks would fall to the military. The other branches of the U.S. government lacked sufficient capability to do such work on the scale required in Iraq. Despite these results, CENTCOM accepted the assumption that the State Department would administer postwar Iraq. The military never explained to the president the magnitude of the challenges inherent in stabilizing postwar Iraq.

After failing to visualize the conditions of combat in Iraq, America’s generals failed to adapt to the demands of counterinsurgency. Counterinsurgency theory prescribes providing continuous security to the population. However, for most of the war American forces in Iraq have been concentrated on large forward-operating bases, isolated from the Iraqi people and focused on capturing or killing insurgents. Counterinsurgency theory requires strengthening the capability of host-nation institutions to provide security and other essential services to the population. America’s generals treated efforts to create transition teams to develop local security forces and provincial reconstruction teams to improve essential services as afterthoughts, never providing the quantity or quality of personnel necessary for success.

After going into Iraq with too few troops and no coherent plan for postwar stabilization, America’s general officer corps did not accurately portray the intensity of the insurgency to the American public. The Iraq Study Group concluded that “there is significant underreporting of the violence in Iraq.” The ISG noted that “on one day in July 2006 there were 93 attacks or significant acts of violence reported. Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence. Good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals.” Population security is the most important measure of effectiveness in counterinsurgency. For more than three years, America’s generals continued to insist that the U.S. was making progress in Iraq. However, for Iraqi civilians, each year from 2003 onward was more deadly than the one preceding it. For reasons that are not yet clear, America’s general officer corps underestimated the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of Iraq’s government and security forces and failed to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions in Iraq. Moreover, America’s generals have not explained clearly the larger strategic risks of committing so large a portion of the nation’s deployable land power to a single theater of operations.

The intellectual and moral failures common to America’s general officer corps in Vietnam and Iraq constitute a crisis in American generalship. Any explanation that fixes culpability on individuals is insufficient. No one leader, civilian or military, caused failure in Vietnam or Iraq. Different military and civilian leaders in the two conflicts produced similar results. In both conflicts, the general officer corps designed to advise policymakers, prepare forces and conduct operations failed to perform its intended functions. To understand how the U.S. could face defeat at the hands of a weaker insurgent enemy for the second time in a generation, we must look at the structural influences that produce our general officer corps.

The Generals We Need

The most insightful examination of failed generalship comes from J.F.C. Fuller’s “Generalship: Its Diseases and Their Cure.” Fuller was a British major general who saw action in the first attempts at armored warfare in World War I. He found three common characteristics in great generals — courage, creative intelligence and physical fitness.

The need for intelligent, creative and courageous general officers is self-evident. An understanding of the larger aspects of war is essential to great generalship. However, a survey of Army three- and four-star generals shows that only 25% hold advanced degrees from civilian institutions in the social sciences or humanities. Counterinsurgency theory holds that proficiency in foreign languages is essential to success, yet only one in four of the Army’s senior generals speaks another language. While the physical courage of America’s generals is not in doubt, there is less certainty regarding their moral courage. In almost surreal language, professional military men blame their recent lack of candor on the intimidating management style of their civilian masters. Now that the public is immediately concerned with the crisis in Iraq, some of our generals are finding their voices. They may have waited too long.

Neither the executive branch nor the services themselves are likely to remedy the shortcomings in America’s general officer corps. Indeed, the tendency of the executive branch to seek out mild-mannered team players to serve as senior generals is part of the problem. The services themselves are equally to blame. The system that produces our generals does little to reward creativity and moral courage. Officers rise to flag rank by following remarkably similar career patterns. Senior generals, both active and retired, are the most important figures in determining an officer’s potential for flag rank. The views of subordinates and peers play no role in an officer’s advancement; to move up he must only please his superiors. In a system in which senior officers select for promotion those like themselves, there are powerful incentives for conformity. It is unreasonable to expect that an officer who spends 25 years conforming to institutional expectations will emerge as an innovator in his late forties.

If America desires creative intelligence and moral courage in its general officer corps, it must create a system that rewards these qualities. Congress can create such incentives by exercising its proper oversight function in three areas. First, Congress must change the system for selecting general officers. Second, oversight committees must apply increased scrutiny over generating the necessary means and pursuing appropriate ways for applying America’s military power. Third, the Senate must hold accountable through its confirmation powers those officers who fail to achieve the aims of policy at an acceptable cost in blood and treasure.

To improve the creative intelligence of our generals, Congress must change the officer promotion system in ways that reward adaptation and intellectual achievement. Congress should require the armed services to implement 360-degree evaluations for field-grade and flag officers. Junior officers and non-commissioned officers are often the first to adapt because they bear the brunt of failed tactics most directly. They are also less wed to organizational norms and less influenced by organizational taboos. Junior leaders have valuable insights regarding the effectiveness of their leaders, but the current promotion system excludes these judgments. Incorporating subordinate and peer reviews into promotion decisions for senior leaders would produce officers more willing to adapt to changing circumstances, and less likely to conform to outmoded practices.

Congress should also modify the officer promotion system in ways that reward intellectual achievement. The Senate should examine the education and professional writing of nominees for three- and four-star billets as part of the confirmation process. The Senate would never confirm to the Supreme Court a nominee who had neither been to law school nor written legal opinions. However, it routinely confirms four-star generals who possess neither graduate education in the social sciences or humanities nor the capability to speak a foreign language. Senior general officers must have a vision of what future conflicts will look like and what capabilities the U.S. requires to prevail in those conflicts. They must possess the capability to understand and interact with foreign cultures. A solid record of intellectual achievement and fluency in foreign languages are effective indicators of an officer’s potential for senior leadership.

To reward moral courage in our general officers, Congress must ask hard questions about the means and ways for war as part of its oversight responsibility. Some of the answers will be shocking, which is perhaps why Congress has not asked and the generals have not told. Congress must ask for a candid assessment of the money and manpower required over the next generation to prevail in the Long War. The money required to prevail may place fiscal constraints on popular domestic priorities. The quantity and quality of manpower required may call into question the viability of the all-volunteer military. Congress must re-examine the allocation of existing resources, and demand that procurement priorities reflect the most likely threats we will face. Congress must be equally rigorous in ensuring that the ways of war contribute to conflict termination consistent with the aims of national policy. If our operations produce more enemies than they defeat, no amount of force is sufficient to prevail. Current oversight efforts have proved inadequate, allowing the executive branch, the services and lobbyists to present information that is sometimes incomplete, inaccurate or self-serving. Exercising adequate oversight will require members of Congress to develop the expertise necessary to ask the right questions and display the courage to follow the truth wherever it leads them.

Finally, Congress must enhance accountability by exercising its little-used authority to confirm the retired rank of general officers. By law, Congress must confirm an officer who retires at three- or four-star rank. In the past this requirement has been pro forma in all but a few cases. A general who presides over a massive human rights scandal or a substantial deterioration in security ought to be retired at a lower rank than one who serves with distinction. A general who fails to provide Congress with an accurate and candid assessment of strategic probabilities ought to suffer the same penalty. As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war. By exercising its powers to confirm the retired ranks of general officers, Congress can restore accountability among senior military leaders.

Mortal Danger

This article began with Frederick the Great’s admonition to his officers to focus their energies on the larger aspects of war. The Prussian monarch’s innovations had made his army the terror of Europe, but he knew that his adversaries were learning and adapting. Frederick feared that his generals would master his system of war without thinking deeply about the ever-changing nature of war, and in doing so would place Prussia’s security at risk. These fears would prove prophetic. At the Battle of Valmy in 1792, Frederick’s successors were checked by France’s ragtag citizen army. In the fourteen years that followed, Prussia’s generals assumed without much reflection that the wars of the future would look much like those of the past. In 1806, the Prussian Army marched lockstep into defeat and disaster at the hands of Napoleon at Jena. Frederick’s prophecy had come to pass; Prussia became a French vassal.

Iraq is America’s Valmy. America’s generals have been checked by a form of war that they did not prepare for and do not understand. They spent the years following the 1991 Gulf War mastering a system of war without thinking deeply about the ever changing nature of war. They marched into Iraq having assumed without much reflection that the wars of the future would look much like the wars of the past. Those few who saw clearly our vulnerability to insurgent tactics said and did little to prepare for these dangers. As at Valmy, this one debacle, however humiliating, will not in itself signal national disaster. The hour is late, but not too late to prepare for the challenges of the Long War. We still have time to select as our generals those who possess the intelligence to visualize future conflicts and the moral courage to advise civilian policymakers on the preparations needed for our security. The power and the responsibility to identify such generals lie with the U.S. Congress. If Congress does not act, our Jena awaits us.

Army Lt. Col. Paul Yingling is deputy commander, 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment. He has served two tours in Iraq, another in Bosnia and a fourth in Operation Desert Storm. He holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Army or the Defense Department.
© Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-28-failure-generalship_N.htm

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