printThe excerpt is from my new WND.COM column, “Make Me Thankful: Don’t Enlist!”:
“Instead of tough, immediate action against every cog in the military machine that promoted, pampered and palliated the mass murderer Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, victims got a commission of inquiry.
Or in Pentagon speak, ‘a broad 45-day review.’
The state’s response to the slaughter at Fort Hood of 13 of its own by a Muslim Army psychiatrist, who also wounded more than 30 in the shootings at the Texas military post on Nov. 5, will be met, first, with more bureaucracy – more salaries for more slackers – and, thereafter, with a brick-thick report! …
Thinking of enlisting? You’ll be fighting not for country and countrymen; but will be granting a banal bureaucrat a lien on your life.
As for the inquiry cobbled together to stop future Hasans:
Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby, a fictitious, but oh-so-real character in the brilliant British satires ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘Yes Prime Minister,’ would agree with me when I say that government commissions are where accountability goes to die.”
The complete column, now on WND.COM, is “Make Me Thankful: Don’t Enlist!”
Update I (Nov. 27): A correction to our friends over at the Libertarian Republican’s blog post: I’ve made it abundantly clear that it is not merely the military under Obama that suffers the afflictions highlighted in “Make Me Thankful: Don’t Enlist!”, and in “Your Government’s Jihadi Protection Program”—but the military, period.
Hozanas to the generic Hasan were the norm during Bush’s reign over the Army.
Patriotic Americans, as highlighted in “Take this, Mr. President, For Ramos and Compean,” were prosecuted and persecuted with equal zeal under Genghis Bush.
In the waning years of Bush’s G-d-awful term, I offered a flip-side argument: “Support The Draft … for politicians and bureaucrats”:
Having expatiated against the illegal, immoral and unconstitutional Iraq war from its inception, I’d recommend a different course of action in furtherance of freedom. For one, crying for the carping consular staff is a bad idea. They seem to want to enjoy the favors of office without bearing the burdens—to pick and choose those policies they are prepared to promote.
Creating a risk-free workplace for the already privileged government employee will do nothing to curb the State’s endless exploits. Coddling its recruits won’t place a dampener on government’s callous, confiscatory practices. The riskier the stakes faced by the political class, the better. Let as many of them as possible shoulder the consequences of the Iraq policy. Force more of the state’s pen-pushing laptop bombardiers to the empire’s fronts. Then, perhaps, will we witness policy changes that percolate down to The People.
Update II: The response to this column, public and personal, has been better than I had hoped. To think of the filthy hate mail I used to get when I wrote against the Iraq war for all those years!
If in writing this column, I’ve helped to save one life — then that is more of a reward than I could have hoped for. As is written in the Talmud (and plagiarized by Islam), “Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” [Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 4:1 (22a)]
I recently retired from the AF Reserves. While the military is an honorable and needed profession, the civilian control (President – Congress) of the military since WWII has been weak at best. Our politicians no longer declare war as required by our constitution but send our military out on missions without a plan nor a thought for victory. That is no reason to risk a homecoming in a flag draped casket. Political correctness is the only victor. Especially with the current leadership in Washington, I strongly discourage military service.
We are highlighting and linking to your most excellent piece over at Libertarian Republican.
You’re now the second prominent figure to take such a stance, following Glenn Beck’s controversial call to do the same, last Monday.
Oddly enough, we Pro-Defense (or Pro-War on Islamo-Fascism) Libertarians find ourselves in agreement with you and Beck on this.
It breaks my heart to see America under the control of men who are obviously not really “men”. The search for fairness and political correctness will no doubt lead to the final ruin of this great nation. I never thought I would really say this, but we are seeing America in her “swan song”.
I cannot agree that our military is “needed”.
Why do we patrol and secure most of the entire world? Why do we have troops and sailors stationed in almost 200 countries?
How is any of that authorized under the Constitution, which many of us swore oaths to uphold?
To me, the last justified, unprovoked war the US fought seems to be that ugly one from the 1860s. And the wrong side won.
Ilana,
Let’s call a spade a spade. Hasan sees us “Yahud” and “Masihiyah” (Jews and Christians) as nothing but najes kafirs (unclean infidels).
“Men” like Mullen, Gates and the wimp that is “Army Chief of Staff” will bend over backwards for the “religion of pieces” – until it hits them and theirs.
But this all began under Bush who went to the main “Masjid” in D.C. three days after 9/11 and proclaimed that “al-Islam” is a “religion of peace.” I could still see from my terrace the WTC burning, and here was the “president” talking about Islam being “peaceful.” I am sure that a hyena is also peaceful after he has ingested his meal – until he gets hungry again.
And let’s not forget Reagan. 11/23/83 and 241 Marines are blown to smithareens. And Reagan and Weinberger cut and run.
The USA is fast becoming the ISA. (Jumhuriyah-Islamiyah-al-Amrikiyah). I figure that we have less than a year to reverse this Islamic cancer, or we are doomed.
We (US) did two logically inconsistent things:
1) We stationed troops on Muslim soil.
2) We allowed Muslims to immigrate and become citizens.
1) could and should be reversed. There is nothing to be done about 2) and I think that is a good thing since it will keep US from repeating mistake number 1).
The West is being chocked to death by petty tyranny to the point where its demographics is suffering. Less “sophisticated” .ie. freer countries are outbreeding US.
Let go, ye petty tyrants. Liberty is wiser than all of you on your very best days.
As a Marine leaving after 5 years active duty service I can do nothing but concur with the column. My future burden will be convincing my younger brother to not follow in his older brothers footsteps, and to instead follow his talents into a much more productive and positive profession.
[Amen.]
Isn’t it intriguing how the Govt. loves to interrogate the victim, while coddling the villain, under the guise of fairness or behind the veil of PC?! I had to laugh at your “brick-thick report” comment, because there’s one thing the Govt. knows how to do is “kill trees” in the name of reports and “red tape”. What gets me about this Maj. Hasan tragedy is that I heard that he made statements that were against America and Americans, but pro Islam; yet the statements didn’t set off enough “red flags or whistles”, in the minds of those who heard him enough to report it, so that Hasan could be watched. It is starting to seem like once race, religion or nationality becomes a factor, America’s conscience becomes more impaired because of Political Correctness. Many have become too afraid to say anything about questionable behavior, but what’s worse is when we do speak up, our concerns are minimized or dismissed. Frankly, the big Govt. commissions aren’t the only place that accountability goes to die. I think it has died on everyday Govt. jobs nationwide. Every two weeks, too many members of management gladly take a paycheck to lead their branch of the Govt. into a direction, other than into the ground; but when it comes to being held accountable for decisions that they make and the consequences of their decisions, the best they will give you is a, “Huh?” and a “test pattern” blank stare. *sigh*
“Libertarian Republican” and “Libertarians for Bush 2004” sounds a bit like Jews for Jesus or Catholics for Abortion – e.g. an Oxymoron. These “libertarian” Palinites who rightfully denounce Pelosi’s claim that health care is authorized under Article 1 Section 8 ignore the necessity for declaration of war. Even more ignored is this important part of Article 1 Section 8:
“To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;”
E.g. it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL to use the militia in Iraq and Afghanistan in that the only justification for federalizing the militia is to suppress insurrections and repel invasions. Helmand Province is not part of America!
It is also a dream to believe that 40,000 or 400,000 additional troops will turn Afghanistan into Switzerland. The “Libertarian Republicans” believe that if 68,000 troops don’t do it – send MORE troops just as Paul Krugman believes that if $ 1 trillion of stimulus doesn’t stimulate, then we just need MORE Counterfeit Money Stimulus.
Experience fails to convince the Warfare Statists on the Right or the Welfare Statists on the Left since the cause of all failures is because “they weren’t provided with enough resources!”
Myron has been living in D.C. too long! His analysis of the Right and Left is spot on.
There are never, ever enough resources when it comes to the State’s appetite.
It’s true because the elites are not spending their own money.
What’s so interesting to me about your article is that I didn’t think of it in any way as controversial, but rather, common sense logically and rationally articulated. When I read your Update II I realized, hey, she’s right, so many people trashed this viewpoint (and its author) years ago. Hopefully people are wising up.
After my Vietnam ‘tour’ in the Marine Corps, I later joined the US Army Medical Corps (back in 1984….), and experienced what seemed to be the beginning of the ‘diversity’ experiments. Most of us older, and seasoned veterans, knew that it spelled future trouble. Your Ft. Hood article proved our earlier concerns.
The US military has multiple problems:
(1) Every officer at Colonel (Navy Captain) and above is a politician and not a warfighter. Whatever the political correctness is – coddling favored defense contractors, “Islam means Peace”, gays good/bad, women doing combat, ….. – These are political hacks with uniforms.
(2) The military-industrial complex is as corrupt as ever – and with contraction of funding, everyone is out to protect his or her turf. “The world will cease to exist without the [XYZ airplane/golf course/test site/laser…].” Circle the wagons, pad the budgets, and call out the Congressional lobbyists.
(3) The MISSION IS MAINTAINING GLOBAL EMPIRE. Our 2009 military employs 400,000 Americans tromping throughout Planet Earth. This country has not been invaded since 1814! Yet, we allow a porous border while we worry about Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Italy … where we either station troops or threaten to “liberate” if they misbehave.
(4) Given the violation of Constitutional limits and exploding debt, one may argue that the US military, rather than being the protector of American liberty, has evolved into an impediment to our liberty. The blame for this rests with us and our elected officials.