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THE REAL PROBLEM OF MICHAEL FLYNN
boblonsberry.com ^ | 05/09/17 | Bob Lonsberry

Posted on 05/09/2017 6:36:35 AM PDT by shortstop

It's not the 24 days Michael Flynn was a national security adviser that worry me, it's the 33 years he was an Army officer.

How does a guy spend his entire adult life a commissioned soldier and still compromise himself and his position so completely and cavalierly?

When a tree bears bitter fruit, you wonder about the tree.

Michael Flynn clearly used his position to enrich himself, and he actively violated policy to do so. He failed to get permission to receive money from a foreign and hostile power, and then engaged in deception to conceal his conduct.

In doing so, he made himself subject to coercion or blackmail by that foreign power and its intelligence services.

And coincidentally -- or not -- when describing to the vice president of the United States the nature of a conversation with the ambassador of that foreign and hostile power, Michael Flynn lied.

It is clear this man was a compromised bad actor who had rendered himself unworthy of his position and the trust of the American people. This sort of conduct should put people in Fort Leavenworth.

And what's troubling to me is that this sort of full-blown and dangerous misconduct was engaged in by a man who had 30-plus years of supposedly being steeped in the Army values of integrity and trust. Further, over his career he was primarily an Intelligence officer, meaning he has dealt with secrets and security matters for decades.

He ultimately led the Defense Intelligence Agency.

And how such a person, understanding what's at stake and how things are supposed to be done, can sit next to Putin and take a check, and have a chit chat with the Russian ambassador that he keeps on the down low, is unfathomable.

It's the sort of conduct any soldier would be warned away from. It's the sort of conduct any person of integrity, honor and patriotism would know to avoid. It is the sort of conduct that violates regulations, ethics and the law.

And yet Michael Flynn chose to engage in it.

That makes me worry about the culture of Army leadership that produced Michael Flynn. It either failed to root out his sinister predilections or it encouraged them.

This man was commissioned in 1981, at the latter height of the Cold War, and he knew specifically the evils of the Soviet Union and Russian imperialism. And yet he chose to -- for money -- sit beside Vladimir Putin. It was two longtime intelligence officers sitting beside one another and one was giving money to the other.

Such high-level contacts might not necessarily be bad. They might actually be spycraft. It is possible a retired three-star American general was trying to influence or surveil the leader of Russia. That would be a reasonable intelligence operation.

But it's something that would be disclosed to the American government, and which would comply with American law and Army regulation.

Michael Flynn's Kremlin moonlighting did neither of those things.

And then he lied to the vice president, completely disqualifying himself.

And my question remains: How could our Army have had this man for three decades and not have either discovered him or ennobled him? How did a person of such easy virtue gain such rank and become the nation's top military intelligence officer?

And if he was crooked in 2016 and 2017, how was he in 2001 and 1995 and every other year and day of his military career?

Donald Trump has said that he wants to rebuild the military's numbers and capability. He may also want to re-examine its culture. After decades of political generals and ass-covering officers, and eight years of the force feeding of political correctness and social engineering, and a general pussification of training standards and rigor, it might be good to look into the military heart and see what it's all about.

Michael Flynn -- like David Petraeus before him -- has shown us that brass on the shoulder does not mean character in the heart. We need to make sure this isn't a broader problem of senior military culture.

Like I said, it's not the 24 days Michael Flynn was a national security adviser that bother me, it's the 33 years he was an Army officer.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: flynn; russia; security
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Just think, a Cankles administration would have been loaded with people like this. They would have been her chief enablers.
1 posted on 05/09/2017 6:36:35 AM PDT by shortstop
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To: shortstop

Jr came out with a series of interesting tweets recently that people have saved. He deleted his account again. Maybe yesterday. Don’t know the timing.

He is a loose cannon. He was defending his dad. Whether true or not...what he said seems plausible.


2 posted on 05/09/2017 6:41:01 AM PDT by RummyChick (can we switch Don,Jr for Prince Kush and his flak jacket. From Yacht Party to Warzone ready to wear.)
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To: shortstop
it's the 33 years he was an Army officer.

Following in the footsteps of Gen. Wesley Clark.

3 posted on 05/09/2017 6:42:15 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob
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To: shortstop

>>How did a person of such easy virtue gain such rank and become the nation’s top military intelligence officer?

Observe the culture of rape covered up by the “leadership” at the AFA...

“To do what is right for some else, even though you know it may not go well for you, that is the character trait we are missing in the Air Force today. I believe integrity has gone to the waste side at USAFA “
—Staff Sergeant Brandon Enos, (USAFOSI “Operation Gridiron”)
http://cryptome.org/2014/08/brandon-enos.pdf


4 posted on 05/09/2017 6:43:55 AM PDT by HLPhat (It takes a Republic TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS - not a populist Tyranny of the Majority)
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To: shortstop

well-written article.


5 posted on 05/09/2017 6:45:09 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: shortstop

Having spent his career in intelligence, you’d think he’d know to be more careful.


6 posted on 05/09/2017 6:46:43 AM PDT by Terry Mross (Liver spots And blood thinners.,)
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To: shortstop

Bullcrap. Flynn was out because he had tree wrong opinions about Islam and the new cold war.

All of that other garbage was the neocon explanation. I believe all that like I believe the Warren Commission.

Simply ask yourself, how do you know any of this is true? Don’t forget, he was fired by Obama because he wasn’t a Islam lover. He was against the war in Syria and b the new cold war with Russia. Everything else is BS.


7 posted on 05/09/2017 6:49:02 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up.)
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To: Terry Mross
Having spent his career in intelligence, you’d think he’d know to be more careful.

It's what you gather, not what you have in many cases.

8 posted on 05/09/2017 6:49:18 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: shortstop

Thoughtful article. When it comes to character, there is no such thing as a ‘little’ lie.


9 posted on 05/09/2017 6:53:37 AM PDT by Doug in CA
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To: HLPhat

wow. Off topic, but that is one hell of a statement.


10 posted on 05/09/2017 6:53:44 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: shortstop
We still dont even know what financial disclosure questions were on the forms completed by General Flynn

Accepting money for speeches from a foreign news network (RT) or foreign lobby group or think tank may be construed by liberals as “ taking money from a foreign government” - there is a legal distinction

One might also ask how many retired military and govt officials are working for multinational or foreign sources as consultants lobbyists or whatever
If a Lockheed consultant is being paid by Lockheed on a contract funded by Saudi Arabia - who is he accepting money from? This is rampant and common and long accepted practice in Flynn's world

The bigger issue is how many serving voting politicians are taking foreign
money or gray money raised offshore like Soros - who makes major donations to the The McCain Foundation which also gets Saudi money

11 posted on 05/09/2017 6:56:06 AM PDT by silverleaf (We voted for change, not leftover change)
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To: shortstop

not sure we have the real story, looks to me like a setup from Obamma to blame someone else and russia for their crimes..and held up by corrupt cia/fbi etc..we are in a coup..whats the truth?


12 posted on 05/09/2017 6:58:16 AM PDT by aces (Got Jesus?)
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To: babble-on

Not off topic.

It illustrates the culture of systemic corruption that manufactures “leadership” like Flynn and answers the question:

“How did a person of such easy virtue gain such rank and become the nation’s top military intelligence officer?”


13 posted on 05/09/2017 6:59:35 AM PDT by HLPhat (It takes a Republic TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS - not a populist Tyranny of the Majority)
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To: DesertRhino

Very odd how Flynn can be crucified but still not aa word about jailing the Clintons. Their nefarious acts are not even under scrutiny. Come on, Sessions, put the finger on the biggest traitors ever to “serve” the USA. They served up the USA to foreign agents for their own personal profit to the tune of how many millions starting with selling the Lincoln Bedroom like a tourist trap?


14 posted on 05/09/2017 7:00:03 AM PDT by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: DesertRhino

Flynn was also too close to the down low on pizzagate
That is what sealed his doom


15 posted on 05/09/2017 7:00:50 AM PDT by silverleaf (We voted for change, not leftover change)
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To: DesertRhino

I think there is an element of truth in what you say. It’s a small possibility.

Did Obama set up the General to take a fall? Was Flynn under orders to do what he did for the greater good of the Country?

Who knows!


16 posted on 05/09/2017 7:01:13 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: RummyChick

Really. So if a person searched on ‘Donald Trump Jr twitter,’ there’d be no account found.


17 posted on 05/09/2017 7:01:23 AM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: babble-on
It's well written because it really gets to the issue of what can be at stake with national security personnel who are not of the highest integrity. No wonder NSA uses the polygraph to find what a person may be hiding when they seek employment protecting the nations secrets. What better way for a foreign government to own the top level of an administration than to insert disloyal people into it to work with them. Talk about sleeping with the enemy and dining at the enemy's table. Sheesh.

Based on my own CI experience I would look closer at Flynn to be sure he has not done worse during his career inside military intelligence. He reeks of illicit contacts, greed, compromise and untruthfulness....badges of a spy.

18 posted on 05/09/2017 7:03:28 AM PDT by Rapscallion (The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, not Sharia, not Congress not President.)
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To: Fantasywriter

This story is about flynn. I am talking about Flynn Jr


19 posted on 05/09/2017 7:04:35 AM PDT by RummyChick (can we switch Don,Jr for Prince Kush and his flak jacket. From Yacht Party to Warzone ready to wear.)
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To: RummyChick

btw, it looks like his account may be back up again.


20 posted on 05/09/2017 7:06:20 AM PDT by RummyChick (can we switch Don,Jr for Prince Kush and his flak jacket. From Yacht Party to Warzone ready to wear.)
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