Monthly Archives: September 2021

Current Events

An Open Letter To General Mark Milley

10 Comments

I do not know Mr. Quentin L. Smith and research only came up with the scumbag who shot two police officers, and I am certain they are not the same. Therefore, I know not the validity of this letter,  but it sure caught my radar. I hope you do not mind Mr. Quentin L. Smith, whoever your are sir, if i make a slight adjustment to the title of your wonderful letter, by removing the word “General,” and replacing it as I did with Mattis and use the term “Mr.” He is not a general in my eyes or to most of my brother and sister veterans. In my professional opinion, today we have no “real generals” in service to our once great nation. In sum, thank you for your service to our country in both the U.S. Army and the FBI. 

General (Mr.) Milley:

During testimony before the Congress of the United States you stated:

“I want to understand white rage, and I’m white…What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America?…I want to find that out.”

Well, General, (Mr.) I am a 76-year-old white man, a former officer in the United States Army (1967-70), and a retired Special Agent of the FBI with nearly 29 years of service (1971-1999).  I attended Trump’s rally on January 6th and I think I may be able to help you understand the reasons for “white rage.”

You impugn the motives of hundreds of thousands of patriotic citizens: whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, male, female, young and old.  They weren’t trying to overturn the Constitution!  They wanted nothing more than to make their voices heard and, if possible, delay the certification of an election they believed, with probable cause, was stolen.  You and the media repeatedly claim Trump’s allegations of a “stolen election” are false.  Neither you, I, nor anyone else know whether this is true or not because the evidence (hundreds of witness affidavits signed under penalty of perjury, pristine mail-in ballots, Xeroxed ballots, the synchronized shutdown of ballot counting in 5 swing states until observers were removed from the election headquarters, etc.) has never been tested in court or disclosed to the people.

Apparently, my presence in Washington, DC on January 6th qualifies me, in your estimation, as one of those “outraged white people” you want to understand.  Since you appear to be somewhat intellectually challenged, let me give you just 13 easy to understand reasons for my “white rage” as you like to call it.

  1. I’m outraged that a duly elected President, the most effective President in my lifetime, was harassed, falsely accused of being a Russian agent, undermined, and lied about by “Deep State” career officials like yourself and a media that has become the mouthpiece of the Democrat Party; he was impeached and acquitted, not once but twice, during his entire 4-year term of office on clearly fraudulent charges.
  2. I’m outraged that BLM, Antifa, and other Marxists rioted during the summer of 2020 in cities across the country, and “heels-up” Kamala Harris led an effort to bail those who were arrested, out of jail.  Over 500 people, arrested for trespassing and vandalism at the Capitol on January 6th, remain in jail without bail and, in some cases, are held in solitary confinement.  This is not a defense of vandalism, but, how does the damage from the riots of summer 2020 compare to that at the Capitol on January 6th?
  3. I’m outraged that a president who accomplished more for the American people in four years than his three immediate predecessors did in 24 years having restored the US economy, cut taxes and regulations, made the US energy independent, brought unemployment rates down to their lowest level ever, destroyed ISIS, brokered peace deals between Israel and other Arab nations, defended our southern border, put America first, etc., etc., was fought every step of the way by Democrats and the Deep State.
  4. I’m outraged that this same president, who received eleven million more votes than he did in 2016, was questionably defeated in an election in which election laws were unconstitutionally changed in the days, weeks, and months immediately preceding the election, supposedly because of a virus.
  5. I’m outraged that a senile 78-year old career politician, who can’t put a coherent sentence together, who accomplished nothing during his 36 years in the US Senate and eight years as Vice President, who didn’t campaign and seldom left his basement during the campaign for President, and who could never draw a crowd of more than 200 people at one time, was declared the winner over a President who drew tens of thousands of enthusiastic supporters at each of his multiple rallies, daily, during the campaign.
  6. I’m outraged that Candidate Biden bragged about having put together “the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics” (it’s on video) during an interview on October 24, 2020, with Crooked Media, a left-leaning media company founded in 2017 by former Obama staffers, and the media says that Trump lies when he claims the election was stolen!?
  7. I’m outraged that on January 28, 2018, before the Council on Foreign Relations, Joe Biden bragged  how he once threatened to withhold $1 billion in authorized military aid to Ukraine unless the former President of Ukraine “fired” the prosecutor who was investigating the corrupt energy conglomerate, Burisma, with whom Biden’s son, Hunter, was being paid $84,000 per month to serve on the Board of Directors.  Can you say, “quid pro quo?”  But, when Trump congratulated the newly elected President of Ukraine, who campaigned on fighting corruption, and encouraged him to follow through on his campaign promise, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) blatantly lied about what Trump said and Trump got impeached!
  8. I’m outraged that the FBI was given Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop computer, the hard-drive of which contained emails reflecting the corrupt practices of the Biden family vis-à-vis Ukraine and China and the FBI did nothing with it since crazy ol’ Joe was running for President.  Can you say: “Hillary Clinton and unauthorized servers containing top secret documents?”  Do you see a pattern here?
  9. I’m outraged that the “New Oligarchs” of high tech are censoring virologists of their right to voice their thoughts and opinions when those opinions are in conflict with the Democrat Party or the CDC.
  10. I’m outraged that an agency for which I proudly worked for nearly 29 years was politicized and corrupted by James Comey who was accurately described as being “out of his mind” and a “crooked cop” by a former Deputy Director of the FBI.
  11. I’m outraged that thirteen U.S. Marines were recently killed in Afghanistan by the Taliban just because our senile President was too arrogant to follow the blueprint put together by President Trump and his military advisers for the “conditioned” withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan.  Perhaps, you and our incompetent Secretary of Defense objected, but were either too cowardly or too busy promoting Critical Race Theory to push back and provide needed oversight of this withdrawal.  You succumbed to “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and now, as a result, you have the blood of thirteen dead Marines on your hands.
  12. I’m outraged about how the precipitous withdrawal of U.S. military personnel from Afghanistan was carried out “before” securing the removal of tens of thousands of U.S. citizens, Afghani interpreters, and others who assisted the U.S. military over the past twenty years, leaving them and Afghani Christians to be tortured and killed by the Taliban.  And you didn’t even give advance notice to our NATO allies.
  13. I’m outraged that you and Lloyd Austin carried out the withdrawal of the U.S. military without first securing the removal of $85 billion worth of military equipment, weapons, ammunition, Humvees, and aircraft, which you left behind for the Taliban, al Qaeda, and a re-emerging ISIS to use.  I agree with a retired British Colonel who recently publicly stated that President Biden shouldn’t be impeached, but rather he should be court martialed.  You should be, as well…for dereliction of duty and cowardice.

I could go on but I believe you get “my drift” as to why I and so many others – white, black, Hispanic, Asian, male and female, rich and poor, young and old – are experiencing flashes of “rage” and “anger” against this current administration.  If you had any honor and decency, you would resign and retire.

Sincerely,

Quentin L. Smith

Amen and thank you sir!!

Current Events, Recent Posts

A Little History

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Failure in Afghanistan Has Roots in the All-Volunteer Military

For the past three decades, careerism among senior officers coupled with the disconnect between the American public and the All-Volunteer Force have led to failed and unnecessary overseas military interventions.
By Paul Cavallo

September 2021
Proceedings
Vol. 147/9/1423

The tragedy that unfolded over the past several weeks in Afghanistan began with the creation of the “all-volunteer” military in 1973 and the self-promoting careerism that has stalked the Pentagon ever since. Too few leaders have been willing to speak truth to power and say no to overseas military adventurism that had little bearing on the safety and security of this nation. And it goes without saying that those in charge when the war begins are never those who have to finish it.

We saw this most clearly when, in 1990-91, America sent its young warriors into the deserts of the Middle East. We called it “The Gulf War” and “Desert Storm,” but it was, in reality, America’s first mercenary war. The Bush administration cut a deal with the Saudis and Kuwaitis: our men, their money. Kuwaiti “princes” lived large in hotels from Saudi Arabia to Paris while our young soldiers and Marines dug fighting holes in the desert under a searing sun.

U.S. Marines in Desert Storm
U.S. Marines in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. (Naval Institute archives)
The peacetime, all-volunteer military, after all, was a good job with benefits and perks. And that “war” went relatively well and quickly with few American servicemembers killed or injured, to the high praise of the U.S. public who were entranced, awed, and seduced by the lethality, performance, and accuracy of our high-tech weapons, while forgetting that the troops on the ground, in the desert, held it all together and made the irrefutable success of the war possible. Yet it was also the start of the forever wars. Saddam Hussein remained in power after the war and the U.S. military remained in the Middle East—enforcing no-fly zones and oil embargoes on Iraq with naval forces in the Persian Gulf and air and land forces based in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

While it might be a “chicken or the egg” argument, it is hard not to see that the permanent increase of U.S. military presence in the Middle East went hand in hand with the rise of militant Islam and anti-American terrorism. How many Americans remember the 1996 terrorist bombing of a U.S. Air Force barracks in Khobar, Saudi Arabia? Nineteen U.S. servicemembers were killed and 498 wounded. Two years later, the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya killed 12 Americans and hundreds of civilians and wounded 4,500 people. Then came the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole (DDG-67) in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and injuring dozens of others. Less than a year later came the 9/11 attacks, answered shortly by the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. A little over a year later, under the false pretense that non-existent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction would be used against the United States, came the invasion of Iraq.

Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 in Saudi Arabia
The 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia killed 19 U.S. servicemembers and injured nearly 500 more. 

By the end of 2003, U.S. special operations forces had completed much of their mission in Afghanistan to capture or kill senior leaders and high-value targets within both al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The Pentagon, however, rather than putting their “swords” away somehow decided to “nation build” a medieval land of warring tribes into a Western-style democracy, ignoring the fact that our democracy took centuries and many great wars to achieve.

For the past 31 years, the brunt of the cost has been borne by the all-volunteer force. The majority of American citizens have not served (none were required to), and most know few who have. A few dozen—or even a few hundred—servicemembers killed per year was the cost of doing business. But where were the generals and admirals who should have stood up to the civilian leaders, without compromise, to say “enough,”—that foreign wars too often leave our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines dead and forgotten, and for what? Were the military’s senior leaders just following along in-line, waiting for their moment, their chance for another star, or a richly coveted post-retirement job with a “vendor.” Were they just inured to the burdens of the profession? Unable to see the giant machine in which they were cogs—the failed foreign policy that resulted in the spilling of blood and national treasure for questionable (if any) gain.

It is no surprise that the “war” in Afghanistan eventually became a bottomless money pit. More than a trillion dollars was spent; did it make our nation safer, or did it just make Washington-connected corporations rich? Some of that money was funneled back to Congress through campaign donations and favors, all the while young Americans were being killed and wounded. Walk into any Veterans Administration hospital and see first-hand the reality that was brought home.

So, with the most recent deaths and injuries at Kabul International airport—clearly caused by a lack of planning, foresight, and courage at the top—we witness more evidence of the ongoing tragedy and travesty that is American “foreign policy” and the willingness of senior military leaders to go along with it. Will we ever learn? History suggests, no.

Postscript: While some commenters on the  actual article disagree with the author, I do not. I understand where he is coming from and follow his line of thought completely. The disconnect between the American public in general and the military and their assigned missions is indeed relevant. A quick “war story” if I may.

Serving as a temporary Chief of Staff at a command when the actual made a quick decision to retire, I had to handle my job as well for a few months while the Corps had to find a colonel for the billet. After a few months of this double duty my general, a fresh-caught BG, comes in my office with a cup of coffee to shoot the bull. Out of the blue he calmly says, Jim you know you will never make general.” To which I laughed telling him all I ever wanted to be was a Gunny. He asked if I wanted to know why, and of course I knew he wanted to tell me so I said yes.

He told me he knew several generals who would jump at having me as their COS because I had a knack of letting seniors (and juniors) know that if they cannot handle your answer they should never ask me the question. He said generals cannot do that. They must always speak the party line or they will never move above one star, which is why so many generals retire as a BG. They spoke outside the party line once and were passed over, or they  want nothing to do with it and retire.

Personally, I took his comments as compliment as that philosophy helped me to rise from private to colonel, and I was not about to change it. When a general speaks, understand he is never telling you what he truly believes in his heart. He is simply a mouth piece for the admisntration at the time.

Current Events

Labor Day?

Since today is that day, here’s a look at what this holiday really means and how it came about. I learned something and I am sure you will also. From my favorite blogger, a Marine , and brother — Mustang. I loved it. Your comments here after you read it please.

Click on this link and ne enlightened.

Why Do Americans Celebrate Labor Day?

Current Events

Lairs

Image 9 Comments

You probably don’t know this about me, and it may surprise some of you. I am an devote animal lover. My bride says I would wreck the car rather than run over a squirrel, and you know what? She’s probably right. She also asks why I don’t have the same compassion and affection towards the human race as I do for the animal kingdom. That’s an easy one to answer. Humans are stupid, they are in charge of their own destiny, but many are too ignorant to understand that. They are inherently selfish, egotistical, or just plain idiots. I mean, look around you folks.

On the other hand the animal kingdom may be considered selfish, but only to the point of survival. I used to be an avid hunter like my Dad. The last animal I killed was a cow Elk back in my Montana days. I did not need the meat, but I did it, and felt awful about it for days. I will admit the meat was superb unlike venison. For the uniformed, Elk are grazers like cattle, while deer are browsers. That was around 2001, and I have never killed an animal since, and never will.

So, why am I telling you all this about me? Well, that POS and his Sec State lied to us. But then, from what I can gather they worded their comments in such a matter that they weren’t actually lying. “We did not leave any dogs in cages at the airport.”  LOL. Now it appears the key word  was “cages.” They turned them loose before they departed and allowed them to run wild. 

Some of you may be thinking so what, their animals, save the American citizens. Really? Let me pose this to you. If you were an American citizen there and knew the withdrawal date was nearing and having lived with these barbaric scum and seen what they are capable of, would you not have packed up your trash and got the hell, out  of there? If you say no, you are what I am talking about when I said humans have control of their own destiny, animals do not. Those American citizens made choices and remained for whatever reason,  even those who worked for our Govt. I’m not saying we should not go in and get them, but those dogs had no choice so they are as important to me as those citizens — same priority!

Why could we not have loaded the dogs on the aircraft? Because there was no plan for this operation.