Posted on 07/25/2008 11:56:10 AM PDT by kristinn
Was the Pentagon's exclusion of Obama foreign policy advisor Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, USAF (Ret.) from Barack Obama's planned visit with wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany the reason for Obama's cancellation of the visit?
Piecing together the information being reported in various news outlets points in that direction.
Der Spiegel first reported the story in a brief note on their live thread on Obama's visit to Berlin yesterday morning (EDT). Free Republic was the first to pick up the story. From there it was picked up by Hot Air, then spread through the blogosphere and into the the mainstream press.
Obama's campaign issued their first statement on the matter, saying Obama cancelled out of concerns the visit would be seen as political. That didn't wash when Obama opened his speech in Berlin saying he was not there as a candidate for president but as a 'proud citizen of the United States and a citizen of the world.'
The Obama campaign issued a second statement that blamed the Pentagon for the cancellation.
Today, Obama's staff held three briefings within forty-five minutes on O-Force One in an effort to get their story striaght. they added supposed Pentagon objections to the campaign plane and staff landing at Ramstein.
Last night NRO reported a confidential source informed them that an Obama staffer had a fit when told they couldn't participate in the visit to Landstuhl:
A very interesting email from a source I must protect suggests that Obama's visit to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center had the green light until a campaign staffer raised a stink about going with Obama. (There are rules meant to ensure candidates do not use soldiers or military bases for campaign purposes, and they state that personal and committee staff may accompany a sitting senator on a visit but campaign staff may not.) I am told that when one of Obama's campaign staff was told he or she would be denied access, the visit was canceled.
Today, responding to media queries, the Pentagon said they informed Obama that while he could bring a Senate staffer and a security team, he could not bring Gen. Gration and another campaign staffer named Jeff Kiernan.
Gen. Gration had served at Ramstein in the early 1990s.
The Pentagon informed the Obama campaign of the exclusions on Wednesday, even though the trip had been planned at least a week ahead of time. The Obama campaign says he decided to cancel the visit on the flight from Israel to Germany.
The Pentagon told the Los Angeles Times that Obama's campaign plane, dubbed O-Force One by his travelling press corps, was cleared to land at Ramstein AFB and that the press corps and Obama campaign staff would be accomodated in the passenger lounge while Obama visited the wounded at nearby Landstuhl.
This explanation by the Pentagon that Obama's plane would be allowed to land and his staff and press taken care of leaves a big question as to what was so objectionable that Obama cancelled.
It couldn't be the media restriction as some have speculated. Obama visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center last month without the press. He visited troops in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq without the media. The military released official photos of the war zone visits, the only exception being of Obama's visit to a military hospital in the Green Zone in Baghdad.
So that still leaves the question, what brought on the cancellation. The only thing that sticks out is the Pentagon's informing Gen. Gration that he would have to stay in the passenger lounge wth the other Obama staffers and the press. Was that too much for that retired general's ego to accept? And did Obama cancel the trip in order to assuage Gration's ego?
And, even more important, is Obama lying to the American people about it?
These guys make the Katrina aftermath look like a smooth operation planned by The A Team.
Good digging!
You would think these press persons travelling with Obama would be able to ferret out this stuff. They have connections with all the relevant parties. I guess they don’t want to offend their host, and that makes them not so objective. They fear retribution from the Obama campaign . . .
It would also be an opportunity to see a “reverse-Patton” whereby an injured soldier slaps the crap our of Barry for being a coward and stinking up a place of honor, then send Barry to the front.
Any retired high-ranking military officer associating with Obama isn’t doing this to promote the well-being of the armed forces. It’s personal ambition. I smell ego, and a sense of “entitlement denied.” I can see the former general declaring “Don’t you know who I am?” (And the perfect reply would be “I know who you were but that was then and this is now”).
Over-inflated egos do not promote wise decision-making. The whole trip was about Obama, not the troops.
ROFL!!
All NoBama had to say was, “What do I have to do to see the troops?”
He didn’t find a way to do it. He cancelled instead.
If this account is true, and it certainly sounds plausible in light of the time sequence and information you have provided, this certainly doesn’t bode well either for Obama’s ability to negotiate with or persuade foreign leaders whose views or interests differ from those of the US (he can’t handle his own advisors???) or his ability to talk straight with the American people about what he is doing or why he is doing it.
Throughout this campaign, Obama has displayed repeated instances of behavior suggesting an arrogant and self-absorbed individual who has come to believe that he can smooth-talk his way out of anything. This is not an admirable trait in any individual. In a president, it can literally be downright dangerous.
The EUCOM page doesn’t hint of the General’s retirement date....so I’ll assume it was fairly recent. Based on my years at Ramstein...all of these retiree generals all believe they still carry rank and are rarely if ever denied their “status”....so when the Landstuhl leadership stood up and said “no”...this was likely the first “no” this guy had heard in years. He probably didn’t take it well...and was creating a massive explosion within the Obama funnel. The moment that he picked up the phone and started calling active duty generals at the Pentagon and EUCOM....the Obama staff got real nervous because this was going to be a dismal news item when it got out that the guy got his way eventually....by personal favors.
The natural decision by any candidate or his controllers...is to end the fuse burning quickly and move on. To this degree....I agree with the Obama staff. The retired general was going to make problems for no value.
Prepare for more of these episodes over the next five months....as a number of folks believe they are still carrying “status”.
If Barack begins a statement “As I’ve said many times before”, you know he’s lying.
If Gration ever wanted to return and visit the troops in the hospital alone as a retired general, then I’m sure the Pentagon would have no problem with that whatsoever. I hope the McCain campaign and the RNC realize this now that the Obambi campaign is in meltdown spin mode. The news of the messiah’s snub has already passed through the ranks and is all over myspace and facebook, and the best part is the MSM can’t stop it or control it. Thank God for the internet and viral growth.
This is an example of, “he didn’t want to go in the first place and looked for an excuse to get out of going.”
His campaign then release an erroneous story that McCain was behind the cancellation. This rumor was reported by Andrea Mitchell.
This guy is dangeous. His immaturity and lack of experience and the fact that he is way over his head when it applies to military matters, is enough for sane people not to vote for him.
The only people who will vote for this guy are:
1. Most blacks esp those uneducated
2. Mostly uneducated whites...
3. Left wing liberals and other kooks.
I don’t care what you want to call it, “a vote against Obama”, a vote “for McCain” etc. We all need to bury our differences on the issue of John McCain and support him for president.
Thanks. I couldn’t find anything about him. I was looking to see if he had a military background also as he was one of the two campaign staffers singled out for exclusion.
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