The Military

For those who do not wait for the nonpartisan investigations about events in Libya to report, and prefer to make partisan attacks to exploit the death of Americans, I would simply respond this way. If they want to discuss lying in public life, I propose we begin an extended discussion about the role of those who falsely claimed weapons of mass destruction in order to frighten people to justify the invasion of Iraq. Perhaps we can discuss those who shamefully disclosed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, and were less than candid about their role. As the attacks against Secretary of State Clinton continue, I repeat my view that those who make them are making a big mistake.

Three men ultimately reversed the wanton disregard for tradition and character in the Iraq invasion: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Gen. David Petraeus and Adm. Bill McRaven. Like Eisenhower and Co., they did not start the war and were not in place when the world fell apart, but were called on in the interim to put it back together. It is not by accident that all true historic periods end with a great leader and a great general (Jefferson/Washington, Lincoln/Grant, Roosevelt/Eisenhower). It is nature’s way of repealing the unraveling and putting things back in place with structure and authority so the world can start again at a new beginning. Petraeus is Mitt Romney’s man for that and should be his choice for VP. It is the choice of strength and American structure and karma today needs strengthening, if not complete restructuring.

Let me first commend to everyone's attention the excellent and important piece in The Hill by Emmanuel Touhey about the excellent work being done by programs that support veterans and, above all, the need for every vet to take full advantage of these programs.

Touhey’s piece features the contribution and views of Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), an American hero who was instrumental in the passage of the latest GI bill, and the vital work of the Pat Tillman Foundation, named after another great American hero of our generation. The foundation makes an enormous contribution to education for vets who return home.

The model for the proposed Eisenhower memorial looks now like toy soldiers preparing to mount for D-Day. And there is no telling what the final result will be with trickster architect Frank Gehry making the decisions. There is a riddle here: Why is a general who ranks with Lord Nelson, with Grant, being treated with such light-handedness? Two things today: As The Washington Post reports, The Eisenhower Memorial Commission, a bipartisan body tasked with creating a memorial to the 34th president of the United States, has agreed to delay a critical design hearing tentatively scheduled for July. And most important, President Obama has entered. As AP reports, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has expressed interest in viewing models of architect Frank Gehry's design with the key parties involved. No meeting has been set, but Salazar could hold discussions about how the memorial project could move forward.

War is confusion. War is detached horror.

I mention this only to point out that those Americans who grappled with man's worst did so to preserve man's best. As we approach yet another Memorial Day, it hardly seems enough to remember these soldiers in clichés of gallantry.

There’s been quite a bit of chatter in the media this week about the use of drones in the surveillance of American cities, with conservative commentators like Charles Krauthammer lining up to say they should be banned.

But where is the conversation about the legality of their use outside the United States? What about the border areas of Pakistan and other places such as Yemen, Somalia and Libya? There was only a blip of public awareness after the targeted killing of al Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen last September, but only because he was American-born. The attorney general, Eric Holder, took five months to justify Awlaki’s killing on foreign soil. He eventually said there was a three-point test under which the government must determine that an American citizen poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States, that capture is not feasible, and that the killing would be consistent with laws of war.

Myth runs deeper than history because myth more deeply expresses where we come from and how we got here. It has its own form and parameters. Two features of mythical principles as they form history: History likes to start at round numbers and all historical periods end and begin again with a military commander (Washington, Grant and Eisenhower). So it is the fate of those who come to power in the last days, the 1990s, to be forgotten as were the 1890s and history will seem in time to have begun again around the year 2000. Because it did. 2001, exactly, and no millennium since the birth of the Christ has begun with such dramatic events. History started again on 9/11 with the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The Twin Towers in particular — our millennial portal — was the perfect symbol for the attack upon we the people. The perp, Osama bin Laden, will live in our mythic mind as long as Judas. Just as the soldier who gunned him down, Adm. William McRaven, will live in heroic honor.

Many of the Navy SEALs involved in the killing of Osama bin Laden are speaking out against President Obama for taking so much credit for an operation in which they placed their lives in danger.

They felt it was a no-brainer in moving forward to end bin Laden's reign of terror. For the president to imply that he's endowed with some special gift for making such a decision is remarkably arrogant and clearly out of touch with reality.

Can our president humble himself and share a little credit with others involved in the successful operation?

After reading the headlines about the U.S. soldier who shot up Afghan civilians, I couldn’t help noticing an irony. There is all this clamor to try this guy quickly and execute him, never mind his having suffered a traumatic brain injury while in the service of his country.

Yet this Maj. Hasan, who shot up Fort Hood while screaming, “Allahu akbar,” still hasn’t stood trial, and they are still debating whether he was insane, even with the clear evidence regarding his motive: slay as many infidels as possible.

President Obama should stop apologizing to the Afghan people about American troops burning the Quran.

The Afghan prisoners converted a holy book into an implement of war by using it to distribute subversive literature.

In doing so they desecrated their holy book and took it out of the realm of being a sacred object. The object the U.S. troops burned was an implement of war and not a holy relic.

Mr. President, please don't apologize for our troops destroying an object our enemies often use in the war of terror against us.