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General Hawley Speaks Out About Post Sep-11th Idiocy(must read!)
The Southern Aviator ^ | June 2002 Issue | General Richard Hawely

Posted on 05/23/2002 1:42:56 AM PDT by SkyPilot

Let me share this letter by General Hawley regarding moral relativism in the post-Sep 11th world. He retired 3 years ago as a 4-star. He was a Vietnam hero, later flew A-10s and F-15s, and was commander of Air Combat Command.

His letter is a classic. I don't know if you will find it anywhere else--it was e-mailed by him and published as a letter to the editor for The Southern Aviator in a copy my dad sent me.

___________________________________________________________________________

General Hawley Speaks Out

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too.

1) "We're not good, they're not evil, everything is relative."

Listen carefully. We're good, they're evil, and nothing is relative. Say it with me now and free yourselves. You see, saying "We're good" doesn't mean "we're perfect." Okay? The only perfect being is Jesus.

The plain fact is that our country, with all our mistakes and blunders, has always been and always will be the greatest beacon of freedom, charity, opportunity and affection in history. If you need proof, open all the borders on Earth and see what happens. In about half a day, the entire world would be a ghost town and the U.S. would look like one giant line to see "The Producers."

2) "Violence only leads to more violence."

This one is so stupid you usually have to be the president of an Ivy League university to say it. Here's the truth, which you know in your heads and hearts already: Ineffective, unfocused violence leads to more violence. Limp, panicky half-measures lead to more violence.

Complete, fully-thought-through, professional, well-executed violence never leads to more violence because afterwards the other guys are all dead. Not "on trial," not re-educated, not nurtured back into the bosom of love. Dead.

3) "The CIA and the rest of our intelligence community has failed us."

For 25 years we have chained our spies like dogs to a stake in the ground, and now that the house has been robbed, we yell at them for not protecting us. Starting in the late 1970's under Jimmy Carter appointee Stansfield Turner, the giant brains who get these giant ideas decided the best way to gather international intelligence was to use spy satellites. After all, they reasoned, you can see a license plate from 200 miles away.

This is very helpful if you've been attacked by a license plate. Unfortunately, we were attacked by humans.

When we bought our spy satellites, we fired our humans, and here's the really stupid part. It takes years to infiltrate new humans into the worst places in the world. You just can't have a guy who looks like Gary Busey in a Spring Break '93 sweatshirt plop himself down in a coffee shop in Kabul and say, "Hiya, boys. Gee, I sure would like to meet that bin Landen fella."

4) "These people are poor and helpless, and that's why they're angry at us.

Uh-huh, and Jeffrey Dahmer's frozen head collection was just a desperate cry for help. The terrorists and their backers are richer than Elton John and, ironically, a good deal less annoying. The poor, helpless people are the villagers they tortured and murdered to stay in power.

Mohammad Atta, one of the evil scumbags who steered those planes in the killing grounds, is the son of a Cairo surgeon. But you knew this too. In the '60s and '70s, the marchers against the war were upper-middle class college kids who grabbed any cause they could think of to get out of their final papers and spend more time drinking. It is the same today.

5)"Any profiling is racial profiling."

Who's killing us here, the Norweigians? Just days after the attack, the New York Times had an article saying dozens of members of the Bin Laden family, living in America, were afraid of reprisals and left in a huff, never to return to studying at Harvard. I'm crushed. I think we're all crushed. Why don't they just change their names? It's happened in the past. How many Adolfs do you run into nowadays?

Shortly after that, I remember watching TV with my jaw on the floor as a government official said, "That little old grandmother from Sioux City could be carrying something." No, she couldn't. It would never be the grandmother from Sioux City. What are the odds? Winning a hundred Powerball lotteries in a row? And then a Secret Service guy gets tossed off a plane and we're all supposed to cry about it because he's an Arab? Didn't it have anything to do with the fact that he filled out the form incorrectly---three times? And then left an Arab history book on his seat as he strolled off the plane? And came back? Armed? Let's stop singing "We Are the World" for a minute and think practically. I don't want to be sitting on the floor in the back of a plane four seconds away from hitting Mount Rushmore and turn, grinning, to the guy next to me to say, "Well, at least we didn't offend them."

So, here's what I resolve for the new year: Never to forget our murdered brothers and sisters. Never to let the relavists get away with their immoral thinking. After all, no matter what your daughter's political science professor says, we didn't start this.

Have you seen that bumber sticker that says, "No More Hiroshimas"? I wish I had one that says, "You First. No More Pearl Harbors."

Richard Hawley
General, USAF (ret)

General Hawley Biography


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Free Republic; Government; News/Current Events; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: hawley; opinion; september11th
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To: SkyPilot
I'd like to know what General Hawley thinks of the government's inability to:

Control our borders,
Whereabouts of all foreign nationals in America,
The ownership of critical industry by foreign investors,
The flow of uninspected and unknown materials through the Chinese docks in Long Beach, California, and
The patriotic corruption of our political leadership through their acceptance of foreign money into the American political process from enemies of the American people.

21 posted on 05/23/2002 4:42:51 AM PDT by Robert Drobot
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To: SkyPilot
I would like to see General Hawley accept a nomination as candidate for President of the united States of America from the Constitution Party.
22 posted on 05/23/2002 4:47:03 AM PDT by Robert Drobot
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
This is why I questioned the source link. I have been burned, as have many others, by misrepresentations of authorship on the internet. Now which is the misrepresentaion? Your post or SkyPilot's? I happen to agree vehemently with both but how can I forward either to anyone?
23 posted on 05/23/2002 4:48:54 AM PDT by Movemout
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To: SkyPilot
A great piece of writing -- enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately, doesn't appear General Hawley wrote it.

http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/hawley.htm

24 posted on 05/23/2002 4:55:21 AM PDT by JCG
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To: JCG
Damn, JCG, ya gotta be quick around here...
25 posted on 05/23/2002 4:57:21 AM PDT by JCG
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To: Movemout
Movement,

I am not sure how to answer your question. This one is in print...not the Internet...page 4 of the June issue, and continued on page 14.

I can't do much more than that, unless you want to call the magazine:

877-519-1662

or

800-426-8538.

26 posted on 05/23/2002 4:57:50 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: SkyPilot
bttt
27 posted on 05/23/2002 4:58:58 AM PDT by lodwick
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To: SkyPilot
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to impugn your integrity. I'll call and verify before I forward it to anyone. If he didn't write it, he should have. It does sound like an awful lot of common sense to be authored by any four stars I have been exposed to.
28 posted on 05/23/2002 5:01:29 AM PDT by Movemout
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To: SkyPilot; All
Tom Norton is my step-father (although I was in my mid-30's when my Mom remarried), a great friend and good man. I am sure he would appreciate hearing from any and all FReepers regarding this article or any aviation news you may have. I'm not sure, but I'd bet he lurks occasionally.

Regards, Slim

29 posted on 05/23/2002 5:07:43 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: SkyPilot
I don't know if this is true or not, but it is a great read. Thanks for posting.
30 posted on 05/23/2002 5:38:43 AM PDT by fnord
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
good catch, I was just gonna post that. Great words nonetheless ... Semper Fi
31 posted on 05/23/2002 5:42:11 AM PDT by fnord
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Comment #32 Removed by Moderator

To: SkyPilot
FIND THIS GUY!!

GET HIM TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT!! I'd MORTGAGE MY HOME TO HELP HIM RUN!!!!

33 posted on 05/23/2002 6:58:31 AM PDT by ZULU
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To: SkyPilot
The military needs more Generals like Hawley and less like Colon Powell.
34 posted on 05/23/2002 7:24:25 AM PDT by ohioman
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To: SkyPilot
Bump

This guy is good.

35 posted on 05/23/2002 8:09:07 AM PDT by chantal7
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To: MeeknMing
This is an excellent letter. Thanks Meek.
36 posted on 05/23/2002 9:34:56 AM PDT by Victoria Delsoul
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
It appears the posted "e-mail" might have been put out by "the intelligence community" to help cover themselves. It makes Strong Excuses for their Incestuous Family and failures because of that fact. Compare a Realist view vs. the Cover ----

"3) The intelligence community let us down: Well, maybe just a little. Lots of senior and not so senior intelligence people became just as enamored of high tech gadgets as their political masters. The protests over our evisceration of the human intelligence component of the agency were not very loud or forceful. Keeping spies on the ground is a high risk and often dirty business, and it wasn't just liberal politicians who didn't have much stomach for it." --- The Actual General Hawley

vs.----

"The CIA and the rest of our intelligence community has failed us."

"For 25 years we have chained our spies like dogs to a stake in the ground, and now that the house has been robbed, we yell at them for not protecting us. Starting in the late 1970's under Jimmy Carter appointee Stansfield Turner, the giant brains who get these giant ideas decided the best way to gather international intelligence was to use spy satellites. After all, they reasoned, you can see a license plate from 200 miles away.

This is very helpful if you've been attacked by a license plate. Unfortunately, we were attacked by humans.

When we bought our spy satellites, we fired our humans, and here's the really stupid part. It takes years to infiltrate new humans into the worst places in the world. You just can't have a guy who looks like Gary Busey in a Spring Break '93 sweatshirt plop himself down in a coffee shop in Kabul and say, "Hiya, boys. Gee, I sure would like to meet that bin Landen fella." ---In-Bred Apologist "intelligence" Type (Hint-- the General didn't need excess words)

37 posted on 05/23/2002 9:51:47 AM PDT by rdavis84
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To: SkyPilot
Outstanding!!                    BTTT!!!!!!!!
38 posted on 05/23/2002 10:43:55 AM PDT by upchuck
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To: MeeknMing
buuump!
39 posted on 05/23/2002 11:19:58 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: MeeknMing
keep me on your ping list....thanx
40 posted on 05/23/2002 11:29:34 AM PDT by tillacum
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