In Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, there is a musical number called, “The Major-General’s Song,” that lampoons a general who has quite an impressive knowledge of all subjects...EXCEPT things military. An excerpt from the lyric is:
“For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury, Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century; But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral I am the very model of a modern Major-General.”
Does this song seem to describe our current batch of Pentagon “modern major-generals?”
WHAT is happening with our military?
No...I’m not referring to our brave men and women who volunteer to protect and defend our country. I’m talking about our military leadership at the Pentagon level--the POLITICAL generals.
Nothing they do makes sense anymore.
Twenty years ago, after the attacks on 9/11 that killed 2,977 people, the United States launched a “war on terror.” We were attacked by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, who operated out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Our mission then was to remove the Taliban government, dismantle al-Qaeda and bring Osama bin Laden to justice.
And yet, here we are.
Our Commander-in Chief and the Pentagon have managed to spectacularly birth an entire country as a new terrorist Garden of Eden. Along with that, they have alienated our allies, embarrassed us on the world stage, diminished us as a trusted super-power--all while leaving enough weapons and equipment behind to arm the Taliban to the hilt.
But let’s not stop there.
Just after the horrific and needless deaths of 13 service members, we’re told that we have a “military partnership” with the Taliban terrorists to provide security for our flights out of Kabul. We have been reassured by our military and President Biden that this partnership with the Taliban is wise. But yet, even today, as many as six aircraft are being held "hostage" by the Taliban in order to shakedown the U.S. for money and for recognition of their government.
Reports are now emerging that it was, in fact, the leading up to the airport gate allowing the suicide bomber to pass through. There are also reports that the U.S military knew the identity of the suicide bomber. The operator of a Predator drone had a lock on him and could have eliminated the threat but was told to stand down. WHY? Is the answer because we were negotiating with Taliban terrorists? And still, Joe Biden claims it was the right decision to trust the Taliban?
Another thing I find interesting is that the chief of staff at the Office of Naval Intelligence, citing the Uniform Code of Military Justice, warned active duty and RETIRED service members that they must not criticize Biden. In fact, a Marine Lt. Colonel was relieved of his command for doing just that.
Oddly, up until January 20th when Joe Biden was inaugurated, former military leaders didn’t hesitate to smear their elected commander in chief; and they did so with impunity. Retired Gen. Michael Hayden suggested that Trump’s border policy should be compared to Nazi death camps, and that unvaccinated Trump supporters should be put on planes to Afghanistan.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized for doing a photo op with Trump, erroneously buying into the fake news narrative that Trump had ordered rioters cleared from Lafayette Park for a staged photo-op. Worse, he leaked to journalists that he was so angry with Trump that he “considered” resigning.
And then there's Twitter, and the embarrassing tweets that have been made by our senior military.
The Department of Defense tweeted out a picture of Afghan civilians being rescued and loaded on a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft at Kabul airport. Only one problem, though. The plane was not ours. It belonged to the United Arab Emirates. Oops!
Another embarrassing tweet came from Lt. General Maria Gervais who posted a picture of U.S. troops departing Afghanistan and thanked our “American hero’s.” It turns out that it wasn’t a picture of American troops at all. They were British troops with British uniforms and weapons. Oops again! And, by the way, General, the word is spelled “heroes.”
On the very day of the attack that killed American troops, the Sergeant Major of the U.S. Army tweeted about diversity and Women’s Equality Day instead of commemorating our dead service men and women.
Will there be any accounting for why we abandoned Bagram air base, or left $85 billion worth of equipment to terrorists, or left behind biometric devices that the Taliban is using to hunt down Afghans who assisted us, or why we gave lists of names of Americans and Afghan friends to the Taliban??
Maybe Gen. Milley and the rest of our senior "modern major-generals" should focus on actual military strategy instead of political agendas.
“Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.”
-Groucho Marx
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