All
I know about Rex Tillerson, President-Elect Donald Trump’s announced
appointment for Secretary of State for the United States of America, is what I
have recently read. Which is to say, I have no basis for a critical opinion.
However, I do know a great deal of whom has been the United States Secretary of
State in the last twenty-four (24) years. And, it has been an embarrassment.
The misfeasance of the past 24 years of American Diplomacy and National Security has not
been by CEOs and Conservative Generals, but Washington Insiders. You know, “the
best and the brightest,” the people who know what they’re doing, the smartest
guys in the room, and the sharpest knifes in the drawer. But, they were not!
It
is not surprising, that the left-wing political elites, pundits, and mendacious
Main Stream Media, are hyperventilating over Mr. Trump’s appointments. They
know that they are no longer in control. “Oh the horror!”
The world
today is perilously endangered. William J. Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack
H. Obama, have been President. Their State Department and National Security
teams have been, by in large, incompetent and pathologically stupid. We’ve had
a Christopher, an Albright, a Powell, a Rice, a Clinton, and a Kerry. That begs
the question, who has been educating these people, at Harvard, Yale, Princeton,
Georgetown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Denver University?
Briefly, US
foreign policy failures under Obama, Clinton, and Kerry are instructive:
1.
Barack
Obama tells Vladimir Putin "there will be costs" if Russia invades
Ukraine. What does Mr. Putin do with full support of the Russian parliament? He
invades the Ukraine.
2.
Barack
Obama tells Assad in Syria not to cross his red line. Chemical weapons are used
in Syria (by someone), and what does Mr. Obama do? He makes more feckless
speeches. As Obama leaves office, he leaves President-Elect Donald Trump a
humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and an immigration fiasco.
3.
Barack
Obama tells Iran to stop enriching uranium grade material. What does Iran do --
continues enriching. Mr. Obama then lifts sanctions (that were working); signs
a “secret” agreement without congressional consent, or even allowing Congress
to see the document; and then airlifts $400 million in cash and 1.3 Billion in
direct money transfers, for the release of 4 American hostages!
4.
In
Venezuela, there are riots in the streets, people stand in line for hours for a
loaf of bread, and the authoritarian socialist government of the want-to-be
dictator Nicolas Maduro, murders them in the streets. And Barack Obama does and
says nothing.
5.
Muslims
through out the Middle East, Africa, and Asia murder Christians, just because
they are Christians. What say you Mr. Obama? The man says nothing. In fact, the
man and Mrs. Clinton, officially support the Muslim Brotherhood, who is responsible for many atrocities
against Egyptian Coptic Christians.
6.
Benghazi
Libya, on September 11, 2012, Obama and Clinton put Americans in harm's way and
left them to die; when it interfered with their political agenda (2012
Presidential Election). More despicable, the Obama Administration deep-six
requests for military support that had a high probability of saving the life of
her Ambassador and the men who tried to save him. They then lied and destroyed
evidence to cover up their acts.
7.
The
Libyan Revolution began in February 15, 2011, and ended on October 20, 2011,
with the capture and killing of Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who
had ruled Libya since a bloodless military coup in 1969. The revolution would
not have succeeded without the direct military involvement of the United
States, England, and France. In short, Libya is a foreign policy failure. We
removed a secular dictator, who had renounced terrorism and a nuclear weapons
program, to give birth to an Islamic terrorist nation, that also has created an
immigration catastrophe in Europe.
Please don’t
misunderstand. Barack Obama did show the world where he stands. He has reduced the U.S. Military to its lowest level since before WWII. He
announced he would remove all U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan, but as usual, did not follow through on what he said. Then, when embarrassed by his perpetual foreign policy failures, he sent Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Kerry to the
Middle East to beat up on our allies in Israel and Egypt.
America has
had enough. The 2016 Election is proof. We have had it with Mr. Obama’s and
Mrs. Clinton's and Mr. Kerry’s deceitful, pathetic, apologetic, naïve, and
schizophrenic foreign policy. And, we had it with Mr. Bush and Ms. Rice’s
foolishly naive foreign policy, and mismanaged military campaigns restricted by
absurd rules of engagement. If you go to war – you go to war. Moreover, trying
to build a nation while conducting a war is a fool's errand.
As
Victor David Hanson posits, “The
chief complaint about Trump's appointments is that too many generals will mean
too great a likelihood of war. Historical evidence points to the opposite
conclusion. Generals were not the proverbial "best and brightest" who
argued for military intervention in Vietnam, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, or
the bombing of Libya in 2011,” to name a few.
Professor Hanson further opined, “Traditionally, retired generals and flag officers have no desire to see their own troops killed in what they see as optional wars abroad. Their occasional harangues about building up military power are predicated on notions of peace-through-strength deterrence: The more powerful the military is perceived abroad, the less likely it will be need to be used.”
Not one more
American needs to die to implement the failed policies of incompetent
leadership. Their records of failures are not individual
acts of misjudgments, but repeated acts of institutional incompetence that
manifest itself in indefensible ignorance. Again, who has been educating these people, at
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Georgetown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Denver
University?
In conclusion, let’s rejoice that the next US Secretary of State will not be a celebrity, establishment darling, or motivated by political correctness. We need competence. We need an adult. American foreign policy has been in weak hands for the past 24 years.
And, let’s rejoice that the next Secretary of Defense is someone who understands the deadly seriousness of his job, the defense of the American people, and the welfare of our troops, and not politically correct "bullshit," that destroys moral and jeopardize the safety of our men and women in uniform.
Rex Tillerson and The Generals’ appointments to State, Defense, Homeland Security, and Intelligence, are like Schrödinger's cat; we wouldn’t know if they were successful until they are on the job.
Personally, I think the cat is very much alive!
