Posted on 02/20/2010 6:17:25 AM PST by tsmith130
WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who served Republican presidents and ran for the office himself, has died.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
In your world, George Washington would have never been President.
“FWIW, his comment about being “in control here” was a directed response to the Soviets...”
I had a military history prof back in college (a 20 year USAF veteran, btw) who taught us that exact thing. Reagan had been shot and H.W. Bush was out the country. Haig was telling the Soviets in no uncertain terms that we were not leaderless.
There was a pretty good discussion about Haig (and the Soviet angle to the statement) here on FR some time back. Here’s the thread:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2312323/posts
RIP, General Haig.
That was in the day of the MSM dominance. I was in the Navy when it happened and remember the entire quote, but the lib media took it out of context. That, amongst other things, made me realize how biased the MSM was/is. Yes, he was a little over-bearing and extremely hawkish, but he was a leader at a time we needed to stand up against the Soviet threat/machine.
RIP and thank you Sir for being a true American patriot and not a top brass politician wannabe.
Wrong. See post 63...and that's if we even accept the ludicrous idea that Haig was trying to take over the presidency.
Thank you for your post,
He was underrated and what I liked about him is that he spoke his mind and when he did he forgot political correctness.
Shame on you!
RIP General Haig. You served your country with great distinction.
Thanks for the history...but you have brought on tears because I miss such men/leaders.
I would love to hear what General Haig had to say about Johnson/McNamara micro-managing the Viet-Nam war and running out even after our obvious success against the Tet Offensive, not to mention the memoirs of NVN General Giap. Quote:
“What we still don’t understand is why you Americans stopped the bombing of Hanoi. You had us on the ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder, just for another day or two, we were ready to surrender! It was the same at the battles of TET. You defeated us! We knew it, and we thought you knew it. But we were elated to notice your media was definitely helping us. They were causing more disruption in America than we could in the battlefields. We were ready to surrender. You had won!”
I blame the then god of media, Walter Cronkite, for that one. He incited the hippies to strangle our efforts against a righteous war against totalitarianism. That SOB helped waste some 58,000 American lives (not to mention the countless wounded) because of his bias. I will despise the man and his ignorant hippie/student followers until the day I die...maybe even beyond.
I wonder why it is that we have people who say they watched it live but have gotten the quote bizarrely wrong? Could this be the same as that thing where millions of people were sure they saw or heard (live!) Uncle Don, Soupy Sales or Buffalo Bob from Howdy Doody saying “That oughta keep the little bastards satisfied” when it never happened?
...HAIG NEVER RESIGNED HIS COMMISSION...HE STAYED ON ACTIVE DUTY AND WAS RUNNING THE WHITE HOUSE DURING NIXON’S LAST DAYS...IT’S VERY DANGEROUS WHEN AN ARMY GENERAL IS MAKING DECISIONS ON BEHALF OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT...THAT’S WHY THE ARMY SHOULD STAY OUT OF POLITICS AND POLITICS SHOULD STAY OUT OF THE ARMY...OTHERWISE YOU GET MILITARY DICTATORSHIPS...WHICH BY THE WAY, IS ONE REASON WASHINGTON RESIGNED HIS COMMISSION BEFORE HE STOOD FOR PRESIDENT...HAIG CROSSED A VERY DANGEROUS LINE WHEN HE TOOK HALDERMAN’S JOB AND STAYED ON ACTIVE DUTY.
You don’t have to shout...
Prayers for the repose of his soul, and for the comfort and consolation of his family and friends. He now knows Who is “in charge”:).
In a system with checks & balances I prefer a conservative General running the executive branch, over a secular, thuggish, dead-fish Rambo Emmanuel, or over a Hildebeast, anytime. Particularly during the Cold War.
While I agree that politics should not be a factor in military policies, I also agree that we have TOO many frigging lawyers in our civilian leadership. Remember, our Nation was founded on the idea of the military being subservient to civilian elected representatives. Although, it's getting more difficult by the day to stand by that belief.
One of my many points of Constitutional restoration I've posted on this forum is an Amendment that requires our Commander-in-Chief (President) to have served some time in the military.
Now, we have a "community organizer" as CiC. Thankfully, he must be listening to his Joint Chiefs of Staff and continuing the war in Aftganashit. Maybe he has no other choice if he wants to look like a hero and get re-elected. For whatever reason, he is not pulling out when we are so close to shutting down the al-Qaeda backed Taliban resurgence. Of course the idiot did vote against the "surge" in Iraq which became a total success.
Our Marines, SpecOps, CIA, and Pakistani forces/intel deaded many of those Islamopr*cks in a big operation within the last days, and captured Osama's number (3) guy, amongst others. From what I read, he is already giving up intel. I wonder why? Could it be that he wasn't read his Miranda rights and lawyered up? End rant.
THANK YOU FOR SHOUTING...IT MAKES YOUR POINT SO MUCH MORE COMPELLING, AND I SO OFTEN SURF THE INTERNET WITHOUT MY HEARING AID IN.
Seriously, though...the idea that an officer serving as CoS, where he works directly for the President and can be fired in a millisecond without a peep from Congress, skirts military dictatorship is just silly. If a General can be head of the CIA, then CoS is a no-brainer.
Rest In Peace General, and prayers up for your loved ones.
A true war hero. Events like this always saddens me. The General had two Silver Stars, a Bronze Star for Valor and the Distinguished Service Cross. He killed a lot of North Vietnamese, Viet Cong, Chinese and North Koreans. Probably some Soviets.
He is a battle hardened warrior.
Bet he was furious over the election of Obama. Rest in Peace General.
All and all I liked him. I know he’ll be remembered for his “I’m in charge” line after the Reagan assassination attempt but he as far as I could tell was a good man who served his country honarably.
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