Krauthammer: Obama micromanagement of military strikes is “scary stuff”
Not seeing the macro-level policy disasters.
It looks like that recent report from Real Clear Defense was prophetic.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Obama will require the military to get his personal approval for US air strikes in Syria.
Here’s an excerpt via Hot Air:
The U.S. military campaign against Islamist militants in Syria is being designed to allow President Barack Obama to exert a high degree of personal control, going so far as to require that the military obtain presidential signoff for strikes in Syrian territory, officials said.
The requirements for strikes in Syria against the extremist group Islamic State will be far more stringent than those targeting it in Iraq, at least at first. U.S. officials say it is an attempt to limit the threat the U.S. could be dragged more deeply into the Syrian civil war…
Throughout President Obama’s time in office, the White House has kept close control of counterterrorism targeting, reserving the right to sign off on strikes against al Qaeda and other militant targets in Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere.
Defense officials said that the strikes in Syria are more likely to look like a targeted counterterrorism campaign than a classic military campaign, in which a combatant commander picks targets within the parameters set by the commander in chief.
Charles Krauthammer calls this “scary stuff.” Via National Review:
“Lyndon Johnson, who had a lot more experience, was also the one who directed air strikes in the north of Korea” during the Vietnam War, Krauthammer reminded his fellow panelists on Friday’s Special Report, “and there was universal agreement that it was a catastrophe. And Obama, with zero experience, having now gone against his secretary of defense and generals on Iraq and on Syria — to a disastrous effect — is going to be in charge of the air campaign? That’s really scary stuff.”
Here’s the video:
Sean Davis of The Federalist is of a similar mind:
This Parallel Between LBJ’s And Obama’s War Plans Will Terrify You
A controversial new war with no definition of victory, no clear exit strategy, and a naive president who thinks targets should be picked from the Oval Office? What could possibly go wrong?
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
The idiots in the 0bama Administration apparently never heard of the Vietnam war. We spent billions dropping bombs on suspected “truck parks” or “trail junctions” at the specific direction of the White House.
LBJ was terrified we’d kill some poor little Soviet or Easter Block “adviser” and start WWIII. So, we dropped bombs on trees, abandoned rice paddies and deserted villages. Meanwhile, lines of trucks carrying supplies sat right out in the open in “exclusion zones”. SAM sites were built with impunity and could only be attacked when fully operational, because it was well known that Russians were on the ground building them, and we damn sure didn’t want to hurt one of them.
Same stupidity, different idiot. Results the same.
“…So, we dropped bombs on trees, abandoned rice paddies and deserted villages.” Excuse me, but those were elevated leaf storage, di-hydrogen oxide storage facilities, and potential Army barracks. All very valid targets.
Thanks for the clarification. My Chief told me those were bio-operative oxygen generators, mini-sub testing facilities, and left-over sets from “Bridge on the River Kwai”! Good to finally get the straight skinny.
I’m waiting for Obama to have a scale model of the Haditha Dam installed in the White House War Room, like Johnson did with Khe Sanh.
Here’s what I would suggest: give Obama a life-like war simulation game, put it in the war room with a huge screen and give him the joystick.
Make the game so ISIL real that Obama will think he’s in the war room bombing the bad guys. In fact, employ two joysticks and Biden can join in. Obama would love the competition.
A coalition of two, anyway.
Relax folks, “The Smartest Man In The Room” has got it covered. His vast experience as a community agitator and no-show Senator has prepared him for this. He also read the Cliff Notes for The Art of War, so there ya’ go.
After his experience leading the response to the attack in Benghazi, what could possibly go wrong?
Why do I get the distinct feeling that years of wasting time playing the WarCraft and StarCraft franchise games make me infinitely more experienced and competent to handle the ISIS/ISIL campaign than 0ur Gl0ri0us President?
Obama makes:
Jimmy Carter seem competent
Richard Nixon seem honest
LBJ seem like a military genius
George W. Bush still seems pretty stupid.
Come to think of it, who was president when 241 Marines got blown up. Was there any reason to think that security was lax and the threat was high before hand?
The Dept of State is in the habit of lying to sitting Presidents regarding what is really going on outside US borders.
They don’t just lie to Republicans, but to Democrats as well.
Nah. Not ‘frightening’. Eye-rollingly stupid.
Technically, its President Valerie Jarrett thats signing off on bombing missions.
Obama resigned last summer to work on his short game.
You can bet it won’t be another Linebacker II. Democrats like to pussy foot around making war.
Now who does micromanaging the military remind me of?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7PmzdINGZk
Obama is a narcissist. Of course he thinks he has competence where he has none.
Are they going to run a hotline out to the golf course?
The reasoning behind this seems obvious:
Obama wants to preserve the pretense that he’s got everything under control, and there are no big problems with his disastrous foreign policy.
Then later when Republicans have to clean up his massive worldwide messes, the Democrats can blame them for “getting U.S. into a war again.”
This guy (as is fellow irrelevant ‘conservative’ George Will) so behind the curve. It’s taken him a few years, but the best he can do now is merely belabor the obvious:
How in the World Did Dr. Krauthammer and George Will Misjudge Barack Obama?
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/10/28/how_in_the_world_did_dr_krauthammer_and_george_will_misjudge_barack_obama
Obama is going to micromanage the bombing of the Islamic State in Syria? I wonder if the White House Staff Seer is channeling Robert McNamara?
Random Thought: Prior to running the war in ‘Nam by remote control, McNamara was the man at Ford Motors that gave the final OK to produce … The Edsel!!
What if Dear Leader takes a sleeping pill and is not to be disturbed? That’s why the Germans didn’t release the Panzers on D-Day…