Posted on 11/04/2012 6:13:38 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
When the presidential campaign began in what now seems like an eternity ago, only a fool would have bet that anything other than the economic future of the country would determine the outcome.
But as the hours count down to Election Day, President Barack Obama’s mishandling of the nation’s defense capability is coming front and center — and not only because Americans were slaughtered in Benghazi, Libya.
Among those raising grave concerns is Gen. Patrick Brady who asks: ‘Would I want this man with me in combat?’
Brady sports impeccable credentials having served more than 34 years in the Army in duty stations around the globe. During that time he earned both our country’s highest recognition, the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross, our nation’s second highest award.
In an article published at WND.com, Brady lays out his case in terse terms.
“For veterans and those interested in the security of America, the question is: Would I want this man with me in combat? Could he be trusted to lead a military squad let alone be commander in chief? Can you picture Obama in a duck blind — or even holding a gun? Has he ever held a gun? (Be assured he will assault the Second Amendment if he gets a second term.) Can you see him as a fighter pilot a la the Bushes? Or commanding a PT boat as did John Kennedy? This is not a man I would want with me in combat and neither should America.”
He continues: “For me and many veterans, President Obama’s military priority was initially evident at his Inauguration. One of the inaugural balls honors veterans, including Medal of Honor recipients. For the first time in memory a president, Obama, snubbed that ball. His ignorance and disdain for the military continued when he put victory in the hands of the enemy in Afghanistan by announcing the date we would quit. Weak leaders often try to project an image of toughness by ‘kicking ass.’ Accordingly, he fired a senior commander for a revealing story in that paragon of journalistic integrity — Rolling Stone.”
But even more to the point, Brady writes: “Under the leadership of the Obama/Gates/Mullen trinity, our military has suffered as never before. Gates supervised the waste and fiscal incompetence at the Pentagon (millions of dollars lost). He instituted an insane op tempo (60 out of 80 months deployed is not unusual), causing unprecedented suicide and PTSD rates among soldiers and depression and anxiety in their families. Military pay cuts are coming, and the administration actually lost graves and urns at Arlington. There is an effort to raise health insurance premiums for retirees. The number of stolen top-secret documents is unmatched in our history. On the silly side, Gates’ Pentagon actually considered giving medals to soldiers for not shooting!
Thankfully, Brady is not the only one calling out President Obama. An Oct. 31 column by Victor Davis Hanson serves to merge Brady’s criticism with the deaths in Benghazi.
“…Most likely, the political wing of the White House almost immediately made a decision that the attack on our Benghazi consulate should not endanger the conventional narrative of a successful commander-in-chief — ahead in the polls in part because he had highlighted a supposedly successful foreign policy. Key to that story was the notion that the hit on bin Laden and the drone attacks on other Islamists had rendered al-Qaida all but impotent …”
As Benghazi has shown, al-Qaida is far from impotent. Rather, as Brady and Hanson make clear, it is President Obama’s defense strategy that is impotent — something to seriously consider when voting for the next leader of the free world on Nov. 6.
It’s the Portsmouth/Dover area.
The Union Leader and the Nashua Telegraph have endorsed Romney.
And, as a point of clarification, the “d” is actually a small d. It is not a democrat party rag. Mostly the daily for Portsmouth/Exeter/Dover NH.
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