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Loose Canons
Hell Is for Hagel
If you think Chuck Hagel is inept now, wait until he collides with sequestration.
(Page 2 of 2)
In short, Obama’s strategy cannot — as General Dempsey has said — be supported by so small a military. We will, as Dempsey has also said, have to give up certain missions. But which ones? If we abandon Europe entirely — breaking Obama’s promise to Poland, ending our failing NATO alliance — the military will still be unable to protect American interests and allies in the Pacific region.
Our adversaries know this. Last week, Russian jets circled our exposed forces in Guam. China is building new stealthy aircraft, new submarines and surface ships equipped with new ship-killing missiles to deny us the ability to interfere with its ambitions. It is also conducting an aggressive cyberwar against us with espionage and interference with the functioning of essential satellites.
How will Obama and Hagel deal with China’s aggression around Japan’s Senkaku Islands if it flares into war? We don’t have — and cannot afford to build — the ships and aircraft it will take to deal with this crisis, or with North Korea’s threats to target America with nuclear armed missiles. Which leads us to the third problem Hagel will face.
To put it bluntly, Hagel isn’t equipped by intelligence, experience, or expertise to deal simultaneously with the threats we face even with a fully-equipped, trained, and ready military. Hagel was a deer in the headlights in his confirmation hearing. He will be the weakest defense secretary since Clinton appointed former congressman Les Aspin to the Pentagon’s top job.
Aspin will be an unfortunate role model for Hagel. When Aspin was secretary of defense, as I’ve learned from people who were in high Pentagon positions at the time, he would rush in every morning and undo every decision that had been made the day before. Aspin tossed everything up in the air every day. But it was peacetime, and Aspin had a strong military around him that prevented his mismanagement from causing a real disaster.
Hagel will take over in the midst of a war, and on the brink of more and larger conflicts. He won’t make decisions unless Obama dictates them. And the military won’t object. They’ve neutered themselves by not not refusing to go along with what Obama has already done. To his credit, Gen. Dempsey warned Congress last week that the Pentagon can’t give Congress one more dollar in cuts. But he won’t do what is required to make the point.
It’s been seventeen years since a general resigned rather than go along with a decision he believed was wrong. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ron Fogelman quit rather than blame an innocent man for the Khobar Towers bombing. No general or admiral since has had that courage.
With the weakest defense secretary in two decades and a careerist military, Obama will continue our gradual abdication of the role of a superpower. Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and China — just to name the obvious — will continue their aggression unchecked.
Policy without money to accomplish it is as weak and ineffectual as diplomacy unsupported by military force. Obama’s policies are bankrupt in both regards.
We are entering an era of instability and war that will accelerate a global realignment dominated by our enemies. With Obama and Hagel in charge for the next four years, that realignment will mean that the 21st century will belong to them unless their successors can revive both our economy and our defenses. The longer it takes to begin that revival, the less possible it will be to accomplish.
Photo: UPI
About the Author
Jed Babbin served as a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush. He is the author of several bestselling books including Inside the Asylum and In the Words of Our Enemies. You can follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (94) | Leave a comment
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drudge ette obama| 2.18.13 @ 6:17AM
Hagel was uninspiring and inept during his hearings. And I think he is fibbing when he says he disavows his earlier statements. When is the last time one of us disavowed a statement made which had such underpinned personal policy.
Republicans need to get some alternative choices out there NOW. Hagel can't be the best out there. Even McCain would be better.
Jack in Wi| 2.18.13 @ 6:45AM
If Mr. Babbin is against him, he must be alright. The military budget needs to be cut about 50% at least. We have no business in Europe, Japan, Korea, the Middle East, or Africa. For almost 100 years we have been wasting America's blood and treasure on unnessesary wars. Bring the troops home now. All these countries are all capable and wealthy enough to pay for their own defenses. That they don't think they need to should tell us something.
Darin| 2.18.13 @ 7:50AM
Those and other countries may be able to pay for their own defense, but they don't have the capability to confront Russia and/or China today. Should the US leave Europe, the Middle East, and east Asia hanging, are we prepared for the consequences? Are we willing to let China invade Taiwan? To let Russia take eastern Europe? To see Iran launch nukes at Israel and for Saudi Arabia to be torn apart by civil war? To see even wider slaughter throughout Africa? Those will be the results. The media will play them up and the public will demand the US do something. Even though such things were completely preventable. The military is already strained, Russia and China are growing, and unrest in the Middle East is a constant. Does the US return to isolationist policies? Are we prepared for the higher prices in oil, clothing, and other imports? For US companies to have difficulty in international trade due to global unrest?
All these are the realities of cutting the military budget. If the country is willing to face them and ignore pictures of slaughter and starvation, than go ahead.
Jack in Wi| 2.18.13 @ 8:04AM
Darin that is all a pile of hooey. Russia can barely feed itself and ans abandoned an empire. China isn't stupid enough to go to war. We are bankrupting ourselves for no sane reason. As for Israel, it has 400 atomic bombs and is led by lunatics. Iran has zero bombs and hasn't attacked another country since 1750.
Jacob McCandles| 2.18.13 @ 10:30AM
I can just hear the chants in the 1930s: "the Germans will never be a problem again...they can barely feed themselves!!"
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 11:17AM
If, as seems likely, we are bankrupting ourselves it is through social service and executive agency spending, not through financing a military.
Now we can talk about whether or not the continuing presence in nation building activities is necessary, but that the U S military should be second to none is not debatable. Sadly, The Left sees Americas military as an international problem not as a national security matter.
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 1:01PM
Driven by an insatiable greed the moneyed elite like Mitt Romney export jobs, capital, and knowhow to future adversaries while millions of unemployed or underemployed become increasingly dependent on government redistribution of the diminishing wealth of a once great nation. America grows weaker while China grows stronger. Sometime before the end of this decade China will pass the United States as the world’s leading economic power then in the following decade China becomes the world’s leading military... the stage is set nuclear war or capitulation.
Drunken Sailor| 2.18.13 @ 1:40PM
Your begging is all flawed but the same outcome may yet happen.
Drunken Sailor| 2.18.13 @ 1:40PM
Sorry, should be your beginning, not begging.
WhiteBikerTrash| 2.18.13 @ 2:09PM
Hey, Vespa! Cleaned it up for you.
Driven by the insatiable greed of the Progressive Socialist Government tax system. The few productive moneyed non-elite export jobs, capital, and know-how to less restrictive places run by future adversaries while millions of unemployed or underemployed become increasingly dependent on government redistribution of the diminishing wealth being sucked from the productive few of a once great nation. America grows weaker while China grows stronger. Sometime before the end of this decade China will pass the United States as the world’s leading economic power then in the following decade China becomes the world’s leading military... the stage is set nuclear war or capitulation. Yet the Progressives ether don't understand or hope for this, the outcome of their own actions.
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 2:56PM
So, you’re ok with jobs, capital, and know how fleeing the country to a totalitarian regime and the totalitarian regime China wining the future because you think the productive moneyed might be paying too much here at home in taxes?
Would you have been cool with Phil Johnson the head of Boeing during WW II setting up his heavy bombers plants in Nazi Germany…provided he received a tax break?
WhiteBikerTrash| 2.18.13 @ 7:03PM
Vespa,
you're okay with Government pushing producers away and others welcoming the production on their shores? Can you really be this foolish? So you would be okay with Boeing closing up shop in 1937 because of a tax rate, and onerous regulations by Progressive Government being so unreasonable and greedy that no worker could be paid a living wage or profit be made? By the way the move is only partly because of tax rate, the majority is because of regulation. An industry I use to work in is now majorly offshored because of regulation. "You can't build that here!"
Anthony| 2.18.13 @ 2:40PM
vtwin the troll's mantra, Blame Bush, blame Romney. Leave our trillion $$ spending into oblivion golfing god alone.
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 3:08PM
In 2009 the year Bush left office we were at war with at least two countries, we went from Clinton's surpluses to trillion dollar projected deficits, and we were experiencing the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression but Bush had nothing to do with any of it?
CJW| 2.18.13 @ 3:54PM
When Bubba left, the budget was balanced because of the House Republicans. We still had a deficit of about 6 billion when Bubba left the WH, not counting the dishes and silverware Bubba and Mrs Bubba stole on their way out the door.
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 4:39PM
CJW, if “the budget was balanced [when Clinton left] because of the House Republicans” why wasn’t the budget balanced in Bush’s first year, second year,…or sixth year the Republicans still controlled the House each of these years?
CJW| 2.18.13 @ 5:09PM
vtwin,
Because we had two wars to fight and the recession after 9/11.
Of course, if Bubba had done his job to protect our country after we were attacked in WTC 1993, Khobar Towers, the two embassy attacks in Africa, the USS Cole, the cut and run in Mogadishu, then the muslim terrorists may not have perceived as weak, and not attacked.
Also, the Reps did spend too much, aside from the wars. I have no trouble saying the Reps spend too much under Bush.
You asking the question why the Reps did not balance the budge assumes the Dems never want to balance the budget. So, why didn't the Dems try to cut the Bush spending and balance the budget? Your answer is probably the Dems wanted to raise taxes, as usual, right?
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 7:10PM
CJW, didn’t Obama have to fight the same two wars and a recession after Bush left office?
Why are Bush’s deficits more acceptable to Republicans than Obama’s?
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 7:19PM
The USS Cole occurred on 12 October 2000 90 days before the end of Clinton Administration. What did Bush do about the USS Cole during the next eight years? What did Bush do about Osama during the nearly eight years post 9/11?
CJW| 2.18.13 @ 7:39PM
vtwin
You must have misssed the Iraq and Afghan wars approved by Congress, the capture of terrorist sent to Gitmo for interrogation that led to the killing of Osama.
Oh yes, you and your lefty pals were against all that response to 9/11.
We did not get attacked after 9/11 during GWB's administration. Now it is open season on our embassies and Fort Hood..
Obama racked up 6 trillion in four years primarily because of his spending. Bush racked up 6 trillionin eight years. See the difference, 6 to 4, 6 to 8?
Anthony| 2.18.13 @ 7:16PM
Hey troll,can you send me a copy of
obozo's talking points for trolls. Does it come with troll crayons too?
CJW| 2.18.13 @ 3:52PM
vtwin
How about the moneyed elite like Jean and Teresa Heinz who will make fortune selling their Heinz stock to Buffet and a Brazilian investor? Will these Dems pay the 15% cap gains tax or will they pay their fair share to reduce the deficit and pay for the social programs you like?
So the rise of China is the fault of Romney, who is not president, and not Obama who is president? You have the brains and logic of a purp.
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 4:54PM
I think capital gains should be taxed at the same rate for both Democrats and Republicans and at the same rate as earned income.
I said “like” Romney. Mark my words; no good will come of the American Corporate fueled rise of the totalitarian regime known as People's Republic of China.
CJW| 2.18.13 @ 5:10PM
How about we have a flat income tax for all income of whatever type?
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 6:58PM
Flat tax where everyone pays the same amount or a flat rate where everyone pays the same percentage?
Do you included Social Security and Medicare taxes in your rate? What about federal excise taxes? Example: gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon for everyone. Shouldn’t this tax be a percentage of income too?
CJW| 2.18.13 @ 7:48PM
vtwin
Flat rate is what people have been discussing for years. For example, in Pa we pay 3.1%. Most municipalities tax at 1%. The FICA taxes are flat rate.You do know it is impossible to have everyone pay a flat amount.
Flat income tax rate. Same for everyone.
Sales tax are the same for all purchasers. Think about what your write before you write. If you want the sales or gas tax to be taxed as a percentage of income, you need an IRS agent at the gas pumps to verify your income. You lefties would probably like that.
What is your moral justification for a progressive income tax? Why should one pay a higher rate if he earns more?
vtwin| 2.18.13 @ 10:14PM
The moral justification for a progressive tax is simple the more income one earns the more one has benefitted from the stable socioeconomic community that taxation has provided.
Try Googling Marginal Tax Rates.” Nobody is required to pay a higher rate for the same level of income. It is the income above and only the income above a certain level that is taxed at the higher rate.
CJW| 2.18.13 @ 5:13PM
vtwin
What did Bubba and Obama do to stop American companies from investing in China? You do remember the Bubba Commerce Dept actively encouraging investment in China.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 4:04PM
I wonder what JFK would have said?
Occam's Tool| 2.20.13 @ 4:49PM
Russia may be having problems feeding itself---just like it did during WWII. China is looking for an excuse to push, and Iran is the country led by lunatics, not Israel, Jack.
But I expect this from the man who supports child rape and the torture of little girls, the Wisconsin Fudgepacker himself.
Stephie| 2.18.13 @ 8:11AM
Jack, your thoughts are so simplistic and are over the top frightening. In a perfect world perhaps, but in today's world, no.
Bob Grant| 2.18.13 @ 9:05AM
Jackin Wi,
What should that tell us?
Bob Grant| 2.18.13 @ 9:15AM
Jackin Wi,
I do believe you are correct to some extent. If not for our "umbrella" over Western Europe all these decades, perhaps these pissant countries wouldn't have dabbled in socialism to the extent they have.
We gave them the luxury to social engineer while we picked up the tab for their defense.
A mistake on balance? That's debatable.
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.18.13 @ 9:43AM
I don't agree with Jackboot's McGovernite reasons for cutting the military, but I do agree that it should be cut.
If the Pentagon is now going to indulge in social engineering (gays in the military, women in combat, and who knows what's next), then perhaps they have too much time and money on their hands.
There's nothing like running out of money to show oneself what's really important in life. So too with the Pentagon. It's about time we cut the budget of an organization that has now become a facilitator of evil in our world.
(BTW, I don't blame individual soldiers for this, who are forced to follow the policies of their wicked leaders.)
Jacob McCandles| 2.18.13 @ 10:28AM
Our impending bankrupcy and or currency collapse is an entitlement problem, not a defense problem. Look at the numbers.
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 11:19AM
The Left, as personified by this administration has long seen the military as a probelm and a social experimentation agency not as a matter of national security. If pressed, they will state that national security is not an issue as no one can match our capabilities. However, they seem to want to marginalize those capabilities as well.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 4:06PM
You left out: Guinea Pigs for New Vaccines.
Trust me.
I was there.
Gary B| 2.18.13 @ 7:11AM
It looks like Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and China plan to do to us what Reagan did to the Soviets - spend us into oblivion. The difference is that our Dear Leader is aiding and abetting them. Sad fact: the Greatest Generation that won WWII has lived long enough to see a traitor in the White House, who rules unopposed. What a mess. I wonder when we'll fix it?
SUBVET| 2.18.13 @ 11:44AM
It's not up to us...........Daniel 2:21
SPQR| 2.18.13 @ 7:57AM
So General Dempsey says the Pentagon can't cut even one dollar. The prior Defense Secretary said he was paying $58,000. a year pensions to Sergeants who were retiring at the age of 38. Panetta said that the TriCare premiums of $360 a year would have to be $15,880 if its members and employees paid the same as a private corporation. My brother-in-law is a civilian employee of the Pentagon who brags after his operation that it didn't cost him a cent. Nice. No co=pays or anything, unlike the private sector. Compliments of the taxpayers who don't have the same gold-plated medical coverage. By the way, he doesn't work on Fridays in the summer so he can play golf. He is retiring next year at age 56 and expects to be re-hired for the exact same position - collecting a pension and salary for the same job. Where can I sign up for that kind of deal?
My mother-in-law won't move away from her military town because she wants to continue to get her free drugs on base, and boy, does she like taking all her pills. Drove her once to the base for her free drugs and the pharmacy there looked like Grand Central Station at rush hour. Free stuff for everyone. Under my medical insurance I have to pay the first $5,000 . I do wish I knew about government jobs when I was younger. Panetta said the costs of health care alone are 10% of the budget. The Pentagon is the largest civilian employer in the world. Can't even cut one dollar? Pure nonsense.
Mike W| 2.18.13 @ 8:15AM
An F-35 costs 135 million dollars and you want to cut the poor schmoe enlisted man's pension? He has put up with ungodly amounts of bs, in peace and in war. He is 38 but looks 58 and you want to cut his pay instead doing the right thing - gut the F-135.
It is an over-complicated un-reliable POS but defense contractors are getting rich off of it. Cut it.
Occam's Tool| 2.20.13 @ 4:56PM
Well, I'm sure the poor grunt will be happy to fight without the most modern tools.
We are going to see our allies attacked and our own borders threatened---we will learn AGAIN the lessons of what being unprepared does to us. And again American kids will pay in blood. I'm 50---it won't be me. My son has no right ear---it won't be him. And I don't like my nephew Lukas anyway. He's a little shit, and my sister's son. So if it's him, no biggie.
But some of you will lose some people you love. And I wanted them to have the best weapons money could buy, and you didn't.
c. j. acworth| 2.18.13 @ 8:16AM
How about we start by cutting out the stupid bio-fuel program. Iknow that it is just a small part of the budget, but hey, you gotta start someplace. I'm not sure I can agree with those who want to cut the military by 50%, but I think we should let the sequester happen and force some prioritizing on the Pentagon.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 8:28AM
Exactly.
Obviously, nobody learned anything from the endless "Freon Free" Shuttle Disasters, and Near Disasters, after Freon was removed from the Cooling Proccess, and replaced with Green Kool-aide, or some such Nonsense.
When are we gonna round up these P.C./Global Warming/Green Energy/Food in our Gas Tanks/No Large Sodas/Nanny Bloomberg Types, and dump'em off on some deserted Atoll, out in the middle of the Pacific, somewhere?
Stephie| 2.18.13 @ 8:18AM
SPQR, I was conversing with a gal yesterday and the subject of healthcare came up. She told me the exact thing you just spoke of. She and her hubby were civil servants and are now retired. She has multiple health problems and bragged about having no co pay, pays nothing for surgeries and little to nothing for her meds. We also have the $5000 a year deductible per person along with the premium of $8,000. a year. It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut and not pop off with something unkind. Where is the fairness in this situation?
Who Knows?| 2.18.13 @ 11:17AM
“We also have the $5000 a year deductible per person along with the premium of $8,000 a year.”
Awesome!
There is health, there is health care, and there is health care insurance.
Then, there is moral hazard---let Joe or Jane pay for it.
Instead of each person maintaining, or even—dare I say it?---enhancing,, their OWN health, they look to others aka doctors for “care”, and THEN in order to cover that expense, they look to other “others”, known as insurance companies!
$8,000 per year! At today’s interest rate, that is more than what one could earn with assets of over a MILLION dollars!
There are a lot of “sick puppies”, and the whole system is rotten---except for the “crazies”, like yours truly, who’s never paid others, doctors or insurance companies, short of a few visits to the acupuncturist and chiropractor, to stay super healthy.
Poor and stupid America.
Worst is STILL to come.
Drunken Sailor| 2.18.13 @ 11:40AM
Who knows,
Just so you understand your condescending attitude over others health and your assumption that it is all their fault is getting rather old.
I congratulate you on your good health and you should take comfort in the fact you have never been struck with a major, debillitating medical condition.
Other than your irratating, I'm in good health, sucks to be you, moments I enjoy reading your post.
Who Knows?| 2.18.13 @ 11:56AM
I'm WAY BEYOND "condescending", sir.
It makes ME sick, and sad, and MAD that so many people chose to be less than healthy. Oh, if only it were not true!
I hope you don't think I'm glad people like my sister took the standard American diet "fork", back in the 70's, when I tried to convince her to take mine on the health food one, and thereby ruined her body--2 cancers, so far suffered and survived.
Ah, but she tells me, the doctors say that even though it will come back, they can again use stem cells to MAYBE KILL IT, one more time.
My theory?
Who knows doesn’t care.
What goes around deserves to come around!
Perhaps you haven’t been reading American Spectator as long as me. Back in the early days, it was common for Mr. Tyrrell to make fun of vegetarians. Despite his error, I forgave him, and focussed on the wisdom and worth he brought us, such as exposing the truth about Clinton.
Now, why not tell my truth, and all others who’ve spent their lives righteously laughing at vegans, etc, can be exposed to some of their own medicine? Besides, the truth CAN set you free.
It is never too late. Even someone who ate shit their whole life COULD wake up, and in their next life eat better.
Lessons can be learned.
Drunken Sailor| 2.18.13 @ 12:11PM
So your whole tirade is payback for someone mocking your vegetarian lifestyle? Pretty petty if you ask me, but it's your boat. Sail whatever course your heart dreams, just know, no one is listening.
Who Knows?| 2.18.13 @ 12:24PM
Not my WHOLE tirade, sir.
Didn't you read the "sad" and "mad" words?
Just as I'm totally sad and mad that Americans chose the black hole, Obama, as president, I am likewise sad and mad about the individual choices made, and being made, bite by bite, by you know who.
I'd much rather NOT appear "petty", believe you me. In my preferred reality, my sister (and all people) would have at least equaled my diet, and health. So, we'd be celebrating our bodily health, as septuagenarians, not bemoaning it.
Drunken Sailor| 2.18.13 @ 12:39PM
Perhaps, though vegetarians have health risk as well. The subject is not quite cut and dry. I wish you luck on your quest, just think your methods are counter productive.
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 1:53PM
Vegetarian? Simply a matter of personal choice. My objection would be to those who attempt to impose it on others as some moral imperative. We have a very good Indian restaurant in my town which I enjoy on occasion. The darjeeling tea with cream and cardomon is wonderful.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 4:11PM
I think that Gays should pay out the asss (so to speak) because of their propensity to Contract Aids, and other STDs.
Right?
squalis| 2.18.13 @ 5:51PM
Bad news...unless you are one of the fortunate few, you will not be "healthy" up until the day you die. Despite your diet and ignorance, you are likely to develop a debilitating illness over time.
Lifestyle may delay it, but not prevent it. I'm not wishing it on you, it's just a fact.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 4:08PM
She sounds like an Illegal Alien.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 4:12PM
That's for Stephie.
JP| 2.18.13 @ 10:50AM
SQPR,
It's called the cost of an all volunteer military. Even Prussia under Friedrich the Great paid out handsome stipends and government positions to his NCOs - and the Prussian King mandated retirement for his NCOs after 12 continuous years of military service - not 20, like we have.
If the cost of freedom is a few hundred thousand federal double-dippers, so be it.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 4:09PM
Absolutely.
Drunken Sailor| 2.18.13 @ 11:29AM
"The prior Defense Secretary said he was paying $58,000. a year pensions to Sergeants who were retiring at the age of 38. "
Somehow I doubt this seeing as I retired one pay grade higher and my retirement checks only come it at roughly 15K a year. Retirees used to get 50% of their base pay when retiring under the old program (same one I got), New recruits today that stay in 20 years loook forward to 35% of their top pay.
And to compare DOD govt employees pay and benifits to the enlisted and officer staffs benifits just show you have no idea what you are talking about. Different systems and the DOD govt employees (at least most) are union.
That being said, there is fat to be trimmed. But it should be done in a methodical manner, not with a meat cleaver.
Drunken Sailor| 2.18.13 @ 11:36AM
Just a thought but perhaps you meant a 0-5, not the enlisted E-5 retirment pay. That would be closer to the $ you mentioned.
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 11:43AM
Oh and by the way, Ted Cruz is taking the proper stance on this nomination instead of pretending to be gentlemanly ala McCain.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.18.13 @ 12:00PM
Maybe a Sergeant Major w/ 30 retires at $58K per year (but I doubt you'll find one 38 years old, as they would have enlisted in the 3rd grade).
Of course, calling one Sergeant instead of Sergeant Major might lead to a young enlisted service member's survivors learning the benefits of SGLI.
Drunken Sailor| 2.18.13 @ 12:20PM
I recall watching a young Lance corporal dutifully asking a Gunny Sergeant where the prick E7 was (for those who don't know a PRC, or Prick 77 is a radio, a Gunny is a E-7).
The look on that LCPL's face when Gunny told him that the object he was searching for was standing in front of him, was priceless.
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 1:54PM
Do not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain. I resent the retired military nothing.
Occam's Tool| 2.20.13 @ 4:59PM
I work for the State of MN. When I turn 70 I will have an $84K a year retirement pension. I pay $130/mo for my kids and wife's health insurance, with a max deductible of $2500.00.
On the other hand, I am on call 24 hours 1:2, get no overtime or Holiday pay, and essentially work onsite or on call between 208-224 hours every 2 week payday. I wish I had your brother's job, I suppose---I guess I could double dip at age 66, but I won't---that would screw up my pension.
Stephie| 2.18.13 @ 8:08AM
God, what a depressing article. Not the right way to start the week, which I already have to make myself be grateful for as we continue to struggle along.
A big effing thank you to all of you fools who voted this dangerous man into the presidency.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 8:41AM
I'm guessing that the guy in the picture with Senator Jack in Wi, is his Committee Hearing Guide Dog, so to speak. Keeping a sharp eye out for questions that might trip him up.
He's just one more Jew Hater for this Jew Hating Administration.
Even the Jews in this Administration, Hate the Jews.
Think about it: In this Administration, and in the Democrat Party as a whole: The Jews hate the Jews. The Whites hate the Whites. The Women hate the Men and Babies. The Men (if that's what you wanna call'em) hate the Women and Babies. The Blacks hate everyone. And, all of them Hate This Country.
Is it me?
Or, is that a recipe for a Clusterflucke?
Bob Grant| 2.18.13 @ 9:10AM
TLP,
That guy in the pic is The Blink Sheik in whiteface.
Mike W| 2.18.13 @ 8:18AM
Confirm Hagel and be done with it. The mooslims aren't going to take us over and those eyeranians aren't going to attack New York.
Israel might get a cut in the rate of growth for their military aid from us but with the neocon loons in charge, I am not sure of that.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 9:09AM
Why?
Why should we confirm this Piece a Garbage?
Why should we confirm the other Muslim Lovin POS - Brennan?
They've been Blocking Our People for 30 Years!
John Tower, Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, every single Minority Appellate Court Nominee, put forth by GWB.
I've had enough of the John McCain types, who apparently believe that a President deserves to have the people that he wants, as long as that President is a Democrat.
I say: What's good for the Goose, is good for these Lying B*stards, and Payback's a Kathleen Sebelius.
BLOCK EVERYONE, until these Sons a Pelosis get a Budget Passed.
We don't need POTTED PLANTS.
We need an Opposition Party that's actually got some Hair down there, and ain't afraid to stand up this America Hating Cult.
Sic Semper Tyrannus!
Stephie| 2.18.13 @ 9:25AM
THANK YOU TIM!!!!! why do we have to let the prez have his pick? Isn't that why we have 2 parties? Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the world has turned upside down!!!!!
Occam's Tool| 2.20.13 @ 5:01PM
No, Mike---they're (the Iranians) going to hit Galveston bay. Much more effective than NYC.
And I seem to recall that no one thought NYC would be hit on 9/10/01, too. Some people learn slowly.
PCC| 2.18.13 @ 8:37AM
"And the military won’t object. They’ve neutered themselves by refusing to go along with what Obama has already done."
Unless I misunderstand Mr. Babbin, I think he means the opposite of what he has written above.
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 8:38AM
The U S Senate is not designed as a rubber stamp for the executive. They are collectively to use their best judgement when they advise on nominations requiring their consent. Remember Robert Bork? The same treatment should have greeted the unindicted traitor now Sec. of State. Likewise it should greet Hagel and the others put forward by this administration. If the policy views of the nominees do not coincide with the views of the Senate rejection should follow by whatever means necessary. McCain is wrong in attempting to keep a gentlemanly decorum in the Senate which has never existed in truth. It was the failure of the Roman Senate to defy the Imperators which led to Imperial tyranny. The failure of the U S Senate to defy this executive move toward ideological appointments over competence will have sad results for this nation.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.18.13 @ 9:07AM
“He will be the weakest defense secretary since Clinton appointed former congressman Les Aspin to the Pentagon’s top job... But it was peacetime, and Aspin had a strong military around him that prevented his mismanagement from causing a real disaster.”
Aspin’s denial of appropriate armor assets resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen US Army Rangers in Mogadishu in 1993, leading to the mutilated bodies of Delta Force operators and pilots being dragged by ululating mobs through the streets. The surviving families of those lost as a result of Aspin’s malfeasance and incompetence might disagree on what the definition of a real disaster is, but I expect that should Hagel be confirmed, there will be many more of the same.
TLP| 2.18.13 @ 9:20AM
And ditto, President Party Girl, and Defence Secretary Political Hack in Benghazi.
Just don't you dare call Democrats "Weak on Defence" or "Question their Patriotism". Especially when they're doing things like Standing outside of Saddam Hussein's Palace, as Human Shields.
Things like - Refusing Armour that our besieged Troops are begging for, and Standing around doing nothing while an American Consulate is being overrun and Americans are being Killed, is the Height of Patriotism if and when, there's a Republican in the White House.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.18.13 @ 9:42AM
The State Department staff in Cairo did more than stand around while a mob overran that embassy, they actually issued a press release agreeing with the attackers on the issue of the trailer for "The Innocence of Muslims" video.
Apparently, shortly after the Cairo attack, an intrepid reporter attempted to contact US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens for comment, but was unable to reach him, as the person who answered the phone at the Benghazi consular annex that day didn't speak English.
The press release was silent on whether or not the US State Department concurred with those in the mob on 091112 who were chanting "Obama, Obama, we are all Osama", given the frequent boasts on the campaign trail and at the Democrat Convention the week before the attack. It is expected, though, that each embassy will have a black flag emblazoned in Arabic with "There is but one god and his name is Allah" packaged next to each consular flagpole as a convenience for less prepared mobs at our embassies in the caliphate in the future.
Louis Jenkins| 2.18.13 @ 9:44AM
It sounds as if Obama will get Hagel when Congress returns. Obama always gets what he wants. It's amazing, the Republicans turn belly up regardless.
JP| 2.18.13 @ 10:53AM
Yes, but Obama should mind the universal warning - Be careful for what you want, as someday you just might get it.
Hagel is a political hack who will loyally server Obama like a lap dog. Unlike Gates, he won't have the best interests of this nation or its military at heart. He will serve only Obama's and the Beltway's interests. Four years can be a very, very long time.
rjh| 2.18.13 @ 11:13AM
This article merely describes obama's wish list of outcomes with regard to our military. I really do not understand why he is still in office (I am speaking, of course, as if we lived in a sane country).
J.C.Eaton| 2.18.13 @ 11:27AM
Actually, a reduction in force, [RIF] would be a wondrous thing to do. I'd start with the Admirals and Generals, most of whom don't have either the combat experience[notice the dearth of Combat Infantry Badges on their left chest] or the testosterone to resign when they see plainly the planned evisceration of their Service. The military will not suffer in the least with. the early out of fully half of the top brass
Al Adab| 2.18.13 @ 11:46AM
Too top heavy, agreed. Nonetheless, where is the million man army, where the 400 ship navy where the air wings necessary to take the fight to our enemies (and we do have enemies whether the Left believes it or not) when required?
Anthony| 2.18.13 @ 11:39AM
As Mr. Croke opined, "we are history".
The death spiril of America, as witnessed by the insanity of the daily Kabuki dance of our Washington pols, will lead to the ultimate cataclysm. The end will be ugly and brutal.
And the billions of rounds of hollow point bullets purchased by our government won't do a damn thing to stop it.
Marc Jeric| 2.19.13 @ 2:52AM
That gallery of far-left rogues manning the new Obama administration – Kerry, Brennan, Hagel, etc. will complete the “transformation” of America. They are intent on implementing the unfinished portion of Obama’s April Spring program of installing jihadist governments all over Northern Africa and the Middle East, thus leading to a lasting piece there after the annihilation of Israel and the 2nd Holocaust. “Negotiations” with Iran and North Korea will end up by these acquiring full complement of nuclear arms and necessary rocketry. The second Nobel Prize for Peace for our Marxist Muslim President will surely follow after these “accomplishments”.
Hardcard| 2.18.13 @ 12:41PM
It's called absolute corruption, you scratch my back, blah,blah, quid pro quo.
John II| 2.18.13 @ 4:07PM
"With the weakest defense secretary in two decades and a careerist military, Obama will continue our gradual abdication of the role of a superpower."
Every photo I've seen of Hagel, including the one featured with this piece, tells the same story: the droopy eyes, the pasty face, the permanently huddled demeanor.
The apt term "careerist military" also recalls a story of my passing acquaintance with the referent of that term. Several years ago--in the early 1980's, as I recall--I was asked to serve as a civilian faculty member on an ROTC board of examiners charged with interviewing potential recruits into the University's ROTC program.
One of the young candidates said something or other that reminded me of my own experience in the military, a decade earlier, when I had first noticed that a fair chunk (maybe 35, 40 percent?) of the field grade officers in the command headquarters where I was stationed were not, to put it gently, warrior types. They struck me instead as get-along, get-ahead corporate hustlers with practiced habits of self-preservation.
John II| 2.18.13 @ 4:08PM
So I asked the recruit what he personally wanted as an officer in the Army: was he eager to make some specific contribution to the service and defense of his country, or was he thinking more along the lines of settling into a cozy desk job, advancing through the ranks "pushing papers" (yes, I used that term--looking back three decades later, I don't think I would be so blunt now) toward a comfortable retirement at a relatively young age.
The candidate responded very energetically that he was looking forward to a "leadership role" in combat arms. But as he was answering I glanced over at the others sitting on the board--all five of them Army officers. Two of them, ordinarily perky and outgoing, looked stonily uncomfortable.
Carter, Clinton, and now Obama: We've had several dress rehearsals for what's coming onto the stage now. Under those kinds of CinC's, the military doesn't just lose tons of needed equipment; it bleeds out untold thousands of real warriors.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.18.13 @ 7:16PM
It is ironic, but there is a difference between soldiers and warriors, just as there is a difference between managers and leaders. While a large organization requires all of the above, the bureaucratic clutches of our modern military creates many of the former examples in the career active duty ranks, but there seems to be not enough of the latter.
Marc Jeric| 2.19.13 @ 2:47AM
The article is right, except to say that these policies are aligned with the thinking of our marxist Muslim President from Kenya.
RAM| 2.19.13 @ 10:38AM
Obama's wish is to make our military unable to function. So we get women and homosexuals in combat roles, fight endless wars with no hint of a winning strategy, chop the budget to where it actually hurts readiness, and make sure no one in DOD or the military leadership will stand up for America.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.19.13 @ 5:09PM
We need to face the facts whether its Hagel or another Secretary of Defense the defense budget needs to be cut. We've been in Afghanistan for over 11 years and instead of stomping out terrorism the Taliban is making a comeback. Almost 10 years since our "shock and awe" campaign and the invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam the only thing halfway stabilizing the country is the Shia led government's close ties with our enemy the Islamic Republic of Iran. Our "intervention" in Libya has led to Islamists taking power in Mali and the weapons we armed those Islamist opponents of Ghaddafi ending up in Islamist hands across the Middle East. In Syria we are actively (via Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) arming, training and funding the Sunni Islamist FSA. Okay so China and Russia are competitors in their geopolitical spheres of influence. What's so important to our national security that we have to be in Russia or China's sphere of influence. I don't expect Chinese troops to be landing anytime soon on Ocean Beach here in San Francisco and its even less likely that Russian troops will be landing in Alaska. Instead of pursuing a hostile foreign policy to Russia and China we should be taking our cue from Moscow on utilizing our own vast oil and natural gas reserves and be taking a cue from Beijing on protecting and expanding our industrial base that would put millions of Americans back to work.
Occam's Tool| 2.20.13 @ 5:07PM
Unfortunately, we weren't aggressive enough with the Afghans. We should have set the casualty ratio at 1,000:1. And enforced it.
My dear Dmitry, you need to re-read your Gibbon. Obama looks a lot like Commodus to me. A little under 3 centuries passed from Commodus to the pathetic Augustulus, whose end is not even noted in history. But things move much faster now, and power abhors a vacuum.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.20.13 @ 10:57PM
When a journalist was interviewing a few Afghan farmers a few years back he asked the middle aged men if they had heard that the United States had sent a man to the moon. The men looked at each other and then laughed loudly and told the journalist he was crazy. Now how would killing men like that at a ratio of 1000:1 change anything in the region? Afghan herders are no threat to the United States. It's the angry 20 year old Wahhabist who is Western educated and holds a US, UK or EU passport who can really do some damage and how can you defend against such fanatics who will always be drawn to Islamist ideas? Even Shiite Muslims cannot defend themselves against such fanatics just the other day a bomb went off in a Shia neighborhood of Baghdad killing 21 and another went off in a Hazara Shiite market place in Quetta, Pakistan killing 83. Short of identifying and killing every Wahhabist/Deobandi Sunni fanatic in the world and marrying their widows and daughters off to Sufis there's no way win in the war against Sunni Islamist terrorism except for removing ourselves from the Muslim world and taking away all their rally cries for Jihad against the West.
hrgfue | 2.20.13 @ 2:32AM
Kickoff to you with the online store 2013