The Center for Security Policy posted an article on Monday about recent threats to America’s military–not external threats–internal threats.
The article begins with a reference to Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell‘s book, Lone Survivor. I read the book in 2007, but after reading Frank Gaffney’s article at the Center for Security Policy, I realized that there were some basic concepts I did not understand. The book is the story of a SEAL team in pursuit of a high-value terrorist. Early in the story, three farmers stumble on the SEAL team. The team takes a vote as to whether to kill the farmers or take a chance on the farmers telling the Taliban where the SEAL team was.
The article at Center for Security Policy tells the story:
When Luttrell cast the deciding vote to turn loose the farmers who had stumbled upon him and three other SEALs shortly after they had been dropped behind enemy lines to take down a particularly dangerous Taliban leader, he described the thought-process:
“If we kill these guys, we have to be straight about it. Report what we did. We can’t sneak around this….Their bodies will be found, the Taliban will use it to the max. They’ll get it in the papers, and the U.S. liberal media will attack us without mercy. We’ll almost certainly be charged with murder….”
As a result of the decision to let the farmers loose, Petty Officer Luttrell is the only survivor of that SEAL team operation.
The article continues:
Such concerns prompted Luttrell to make the call to release the goatherds, setting in train calamity for his buddies and sixteen others dispatched to rescue them from the massive Taliban assault that ensued. It turns out those concerns were well-founded, as was most recently demonstrated in a case before the U.S. Military Court of Appeals. By a 3-2 vote, the judges outrageously determined that an Army Ranger, First Lieutenant Michael Behenna, was deemed to have no right to self-defense when he killed the Iraqi prisoner he was interrogating after the latter threw a concrete block at him and tried to seize his firearm. Unless he is pardoned, Lt. Behenna will remain incarcerated for the next twelve years.
War is ugly. Innocent people get killed. Don’t go to war unless you are willing to do what is necessary to protect our soldiers and win the war.
The article lists a few ways that President Obama is fundamentally transforming America’s military–losing wars rather than doing what it takes to win them and drastically cutting the defense budget. Even though defense spending accounts for approximately 20% of the budget, the Pentagon has been required to absorb roughly 50% of the cuts, while entitlements have been entirely spared. The current rules of engagement and the rules requiring unsafe conduct in country in the name of ‘winning hearts of minds’ are also part of President Obama’s military. The President has also forced homosexuality on the military, and the Supreme Court has ruled that lying about military honors is protected free speech.
We are watching the current administration destroy the morale of our military. It is costing needless loss of life and limb. If our troops are not allowed to defend themselves, the government should not have the right to send them anywhere.