Now HuffPo Has A Real Problem

So, I'm reading this silliness about Pace removing Bush as Commander in Chief:

General Pace - you have the power to fulfill your responsibility to protect the troops under your command. Indeed you have an obligation to do so.

You can relieve the President of his command.

Not of his Presidency. But of his military role as Commander-In-Chief.

You simply invoke the Uniform Code Of Military Justice.

Let's see, are there any previous recent CIC's to whom this bit might apply? Just sayin'!

Article 133 reads:

"Any commissioned officer, cadet, or midshipman who is convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."

A gentleman is understood to have a duty to avoid dishonest acts, displays of indecency, lawlessness, dealing unfairly, indecorum, injustice, or acts of cruelty.

h/t Instapundit

Comments

[Rich Casebolt]

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2007/08/hillarys-hsu-a-.html

Add this to the 800 FBI files and Loral ... not to mention all their friends who have either served time, or are serving time (that is, if they weren't pardoned by the Harasser-in-Chief).

And she can't have it both ways ... if she was "co-president" with her husband, these albatrosses are around her neck, too ... if she was just playing hostess for eight years, I'm just as qualified as she is.

Like it or not, our current President and the Dem frontrunner are representative of the only real choices we have for leadership in this nation. Until we can get them both out, I will take those who don't always get it right, over those who have shown they just don't get it when it comes to protecting life and liberty.

BTW, Saddam had everything but the stockpiles ... and the only tie we needed between him and Osama to justify the action we took, was a shared disdain for your, and my, life and liberty.

That you cannot see that, but instead consider a few wealthy men the greater threat to your life and liberty, speaks volumes of how class envy allows the morally corrupt to lead you around by the nose.

[IslamoLlama]

See, the problem is that Rich can't fathom a government system that doesn't subsist on hundreds of billions of dollars in graft and corruption.

Why? Because right-wing commentators have convinced him that all government is ultimately brimming over with corruption and a Democratic Administration would be having the exact same multi-billion dollar contracting scandals that Bush has engineered. So, Democrats are no better than Republicans. Rich knows this because a right-wing pundit told him so.

However, Democrats have been vocally opposed to the War in Iraq. A war Rich assumes is inherently righteous (despite no existing link between Saddam and Bin Laden existing), and necessary (despite Saddam not possessing WMDs). Republicans are the only ones still willing to prosecute the war, so the Republicans are superior to Democrats, even though they are unable to actually win the war without cause that they started.

Hence, we are left with this simple conservative truism. Republicans are bad, Democrats are worse.

Any argument that Republican corruption was a direct cause of the clusterfuck in Iraq, or that Republican foreign policy has created more terrorists, more anti-American sentiment, and more fertile breeding grounds for assaults on American peoples, can safely be dismissed because Rich doesn't want to hear them.

Hence, Conservatives are batshit insane. QED.

[Rich Casebolt]

I said viable alternative to this Administration ... as in, real PEOPLE who have proven they can do a better job, not some hypothetical plan.

"George W. Bush" can't serve a third term ... and who among the opposition has proposed what his doppleganger above has laid out for us ... or any viable plan, for that matter?

Besides, the plan above is as full of holes as Swiss cheese.

First, bin Laden is not our only enemy ... and if he is marginalized (which he is) then why repeat the errors of the Soviets in Afghanistan by sending massive force in to find a needle in a haystack, instead using that force to go after the others of like mind out there ... like one Saddam Huessein.

Second, do you think the radicals would NOT snipe at the elements of this "Marshall Plan" -- in the Mideast, and even here -- and make its implementation as hard or harder than what we are trying to do in Iraq?

You would end up going to war ... and probably end up waging a more indiscriminate, scorched-earth war against enemies who exploited your focus on the Plan, instead of engaging them at the earliest opportunity, to grow stronger.

Third, Saddam had everything but the stockpiles when it came to WMD ... and that would certainly feed into my second point.

Fourth, have you seen just how little progress the UN and EU bureaucracy really makes when it comes to fostering prosperity ... let alone peace and freedom ... not to mention how easily they are manipulated by those "rogues" you mention.

Understand this ... in my life time, the Real Peace Song has not been Kumbiyah or its derivatives.

It has been the Yippie-Ky-Ay-A of cowboy diplomacy, when you look at the events that have set MILLIONS free, led to REAL reductions in arms stockpiles, and reduced international tensions to the point that our strategic forces are not kept on High Alert 24/7 as they were for decades ...

... because the cowboy is WISE enough to CONFRONT those who would turn your diplomacy against you, and change "your" rules to a paragidm that truly protects life and liberty.

In all of history, I have yet to see a ruler or regime that, once they started down the road of totalitarian expansionism, stopped and turned to rights-respecting governance ON THEIR OWN ... without the CREDIBLE threat of lethal force being placed against it.

[George W Bush]

"Still waiting for that viable alternative to this Administration, LOL ..."

Ok, lets try this one.
The US goes back in time to '02 and finishes the war with the Taliban. Then, having pinned Bin Laden in Pakistan despite failing at Tora Bora, it intensifies the hunt for the terrorist mastermind until he is captured or killed.

Meanwhile, the US embarks upon a Marshall Plan throughout the Middle East, bolstering not only the security but the economy of our Middle Eastern neighbors. By flooding billions of dollars a month into peacetime American-Friendly industries in Jordan, Egypt, Isreal, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, we create an economic Hegemony rather than a military shithole. We maintain our policy on Iraq, since they don't have any WMDs to lash out with, and work towards a political consensus in the Middle East, culminating in a sort-of Middle Eastern UN, in which US backed countries have majority sway, but "rogue" nations are allowed to participate nominally - to wet their appetites as it were. Much like how the EU seeks to bring democracy and stability eastward with economic incentives and diplomatic relations, the AU brings together countries with capitalism and trade, not bombs and bloodshed.

Then, as the middle class emerges from the Middle East, government reform follows economic progress (as it has in every industrialized nation to date) and the Middle East lays down its guns as Europe did following the 2nd World War with the realization that economic prosperity is much preferred to sectarian strife.

Mission Accomplished.

[Rich Casebolt]

Still waiting for that viable alternative to this Administration, LOL ...

Interesting how you ridicule me for appearing to be "terrified of a handful of extremists", then bring up the scenario of Egyptian or Saudi terrorists perpetrating the next 911 ... another handful of extremists that you imply are a plausible threat ... as "proof" that I believe in some nebulous "logical impossiblility" you fail to define.

The thing is, LOL, even if your terrorist "alternatives" try it, they will most probably be limited to creating casualties on a lesser scale than that of 11 September 2001.

If they had the resources and infrastructure of an industrially-modern state behind them, OTOH, they could inflate that scale, by one or two orders of magnitude.

That is why I support our actions in Iraq.

That is why we must continue to credibly confront Iran ... which includes achieving a lasting victory in Iraq.

There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity ... but you may be so far beyond bravery, you might not be seeing it.

Especially if you are being manipulated by the soft, cuddly fascists who criticize this war.

[templar knight]

Touche', Rich!

[Rich Casebolt]

LOL:

Apples and oranges.

The Iraq war has now completely prevented Saddam & Sons from USING THE RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE OF IRAQ to support terrorism ... and Iraq is in the process of transforming itself into a nation that has the checks-and-balances to prevent ANYONE ELSE from doing so.

The Saudis and Egyptians you refer to, while still a threat do not have their governments (maybe individuals within them, but not the government organization itself) behind them.

Saddam & Sons, since they *** WERE *** the government of Iraq (no longer so, thanks to the leadership of George W. Bush, but no thanks to his critics), directed the placement and use of the resources and infrstructure of Iraq for terrorist support.

The presence of the Saudis and Egyptians in no way invalidates the threat Saddam & Sons posed ... nor does it invalidate the LOGIC of removing them from power.

I do know, though, that degredation of one's ability to perceive, let alone apply, logic is another symptom of BDS. Get yourself checked.

[seekeronos]

Iraq is one head of the many-headed Islamist-sponsoring hydra of Terrorism which we face.

Saudi Arabian salafists and wahabbists are another.

And Egyptian Islamists, yet another.

What is to be expected from a moonbat like LOL (and his sockpuppets) is this shrill cry of "There are no terrorists!" Heads back down the holes, people!"

Keep on smoking that wacky-terbacky, pal. Although it might not do you so much good when the Islamists try to mount your head on a pike.

[LOL]

the iraq war is not preventing any Egyptian or Saudi from coming here and repeating the events of 9/11 dude. The fact that you believe this logical impossibility only shows how easily manipulated you are.

But that's to be expected from a wingnut.

[Rich Casebolt]

Oh, and one more thing ... before you blame my nation for the innocent deaths of the GWOT, please subtract from the total all those who died by:

> being targeted by the enemy.
> being used as defilade by the enemy.

It is the ENEMY who is killing those tens of thousands -- and has been, for many years before 2003, killing other tens of thousands.

I do not welcome that ... far from it. I want to see it stopped.

And the only way to stop it, validated repeatedly by history, is to confront them and defeat them.

You can't do that effectively, by waiting for them to come here. You do that, the drip-drip-drip (by the thousands) of death would not end there ... and eventually, it would reach here.

And that drip would become a flood, if it came down to either our surrender to totalitarian rule ... or, backs against the wall, being compelled to indiscriminately scorch the earth of the MidEast to stop the barbarians at our gates at their roots.

The death toll from that would make the toll to date in Iraq look like a bad weekend on our highways.

Is that what you want? Is it so incomprehensible?

[Rich Casebolt]

Where's my alternative, LOL?

[Rich Casebolt]

... and you are so ignorant that you will facilitate the death of thousands upon thousands, if you get your way.

You have fallen for the conspiracy theorizing, class envy, and self-doubt about America's virtue, that inhibited our nation from defeating proven enemies at their weakest, because that would be seen "imperialist" by those who viewed us with disdain and envy, even as we spent our blood and treasure to protect their socialist experiments and six-week vacations ... or because it was incorrectly perceived as an expression of "corporate greed".

Furthermore ...

If a few dozen "extremists" with around $1M, staying in a primitive nation could perpetrate the events of 11 September 2001, why does it make ANY sense to leave a dictator, who has clearly demonstrated that he shares the same disdain for your life and liberty as they did, in absolute control of a technically-modern, resource-rich nation?

You are so terrified of people with wealth and power, that you are more concerned that some American leader will shred paper, than you are that thugs ACTUALLY ARE shredding people ... and would like nothing more than to hijack the infrastructure and resources of a vulnerable nation to facilitate that at industrial strength.

Keep in mind that it only took Germany seven years to go from broken-down to blitzkreig ... in a less-technically-advanced age.

[LOL]

rofl u wont be fooled? you've fallen for the most cynical of all political promises: "Our party will keep you safe from the boogeymen"

You are so terrified of a handful of extremists you welcome the death of tens of thousands...

[Rich Casebolt]

"Oh I forgot, every excess is allowed if you're a conservative, it's wingnut logic."

Not allowed.

Tolerated.

Because the likely alternatives to this Administration are worse.

LOL, if you could please suggest an alternative ...

... whose actions would not threaten my life and liberty with the soft, cuddly fascism of the socialist worldview ...

... and whose INACTION in the face of hard, totalitarian fascism attacking our civilization would not threaten my life and liberty ...

... your words might gain in credibility.

But as long as your thinking is stuck in the 1970's domestically ... and on 10 September 2001 internationally ... you will lack in credibility, because ...

... we won't be fooled again.

[Horatio]

From Parameters, Winter 1992-93, pp. 2-20.

The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012

CHARLES J. DUNLAP, JR.

The letter that follows takes us on a darkly imagined excursion into the future. A military coup has taken place in the United States–the year is 2012–and General Thomas E. T. Brutus, Commander-in-Chief of the Unified Armed Forces of the United States, now occupies the White House as permanent Military Plenipotentiary. His position has been ratified by a national referendum, though scattered disorders still prevail and arrests for acts of sedition are underway. A senior retired officer of the Unified Armed Forces, known here simply as Prisoner 222305759, is one of those arrested, having been convicted by court-martial for opposing the coup. Prior to his execution, he is able to smuggle out of prison a letter to an old War College classmate discussing the “Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012.” In it, he argues that the coup was the outgrowth of trends visible as far back as 1992. These trends were the massive diversion of military forces to civilian uses, the monolithic unification of the armed forces, and the insularity of the military community. His letter survives and is here presented verbatim.

It goes without saying (I hope) that the coup scenario above is purely a literary device intended to dramatize my concern over certain contemporary developments affecting the armed forces, and is emphatically not a prediction. — The Author

Read more at http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/1992/dunlap.htm

[Fred Beloit]

This appears below the article LOL submits as "evidence" we should not support the Administration:

"Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed"

As far as I am concerned, enough said.

[LOL]

do the wingnuts have an answer for this:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/24/ap4052736.html

How can people who once believed "government is the problem" continue to support this administration?

Oh I forgot, every excess is allowed if you're a conservative, it's wingnut logic.

[seekeronos]

This guy must be drinking the Kos Kool-Aid.

The POTUS is not subject to the UCMJ, as he is neither an enlisted nor a commissioned officer in the Armed Forces.

He may only be held accountable, and possibly be unseated, by way of an impeachment. And with about one year left on his term, it is laughable that even the Dhimmi-Kongress would eat up what time is left with a farce of an impeachment.