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View Full Version : Is Obama respected as CiC by US military?




moderate libertarian
03-11-2012, 10:31 PM
Read some strange comments online about Obama's failures in leading the "good war" in Afghanistan he escalated along with the drone attacks that have killed many civilians despite him winning a nobel peace prize and having attacked US military/President Bush for "just air raiding villages and killing civilians" during his election campaign. Far more civilians have been killed under Obama's command since he took power.

Option is based on others comments I read, B is what I'm leaning rowards so far:

A- Obama is being sabotaged by some forces in US military who may want his incompetent Afghan war escalation to come to end soon or have some other purpose. There has been a stunning sequence of events in recent months that have all but ensured that Obama's Afghan war strategy timed for 2012 election would be a failure. Leak of photos of some soldiers killing Afghan civilians for sport, leak of video of some marines urinating on dead Afghan bodies, news of some soldiers burning their holy books using Afgahn laborers, report today of a soldier going into three homes in the middle of night and killing at least 16 children, women, civilians.


B- Obama is the most incompetent and war criminal friendly President in recent history and soldiers know that they can't get harsh punishments while he is in charge. There may be some basis for that, Obama has been light on prosecutions of war related crimes from the day he took office starting with dropping espionage case President Bush had started against Israeli lobby agents of AIPAC. More recent cases that collapsed under his watch are:



Saturday, February 4, 2012
US Drops All Charges For Soldier's 'Sport Killing' Case
NO TRIAL: Charges against Specialist Michael Wagnon II have been dropped. It was one of the most serious war-crimes cases to emerge from the Afghanistan war. Reuters


http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2012/02/us-drops-all-charges-for-soldiers-sport.html


Afghanistan killing case leads to questions on military justice
MASSACRE: Prosecution collapses, opens criticism of "fog-of-war" defenses.
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and ELISABETH BUMILLER
The New York Times
Published: January 28th, 2012 10:19 PM

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/01/28/2288878/afghanistan-killing-case-leads.html#storylink=cpy




Afghanistan suspect's base had 2010 killing case
9:14 PM, March 11, 2012 | Comments

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. — A soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan villagers today comes from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, one of the largest military installations in the U.S. — and one that has seen its share of controversies and violence in the past few years.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120311/NEWS07/120311030/Afghanistan-suspect-s-base-had-2010-killing-case?odyssey=nav%7Chead


Any other views?

oyarde
03-11-2012, 10:42 PM
I cannot speak for any of today's young people , but , I suspect many of them give it not much thought. I am sure they probably , mostly , all , consider him CIC . Respect for the office and respect for individuals is a different question.As a young soldier, I probably would have had little respect for CIC's and or high ranking cabinet members who would send me in harms way without having served themselves , even more so without approval of Congress . That said , I would have had contempt for those members of Congress as well , if they put me in harms way , without us being attacked and they had never served.

oyarde
03-11-2012, 10:43 PM
But , I would and did follow orders , as I volunteered for my position...

moderate libertarian
03-11-2012, 10:47 PM
I meant respect for the "individual".

Of course, military is a disciplined institution and soldiers are trained/supposed to accept orders without question and not think about reasons. But "respect" for the leader certainly makes a difference, a big one imo in the bigger scheme of things and especially in trying times. My guess is that Obama never evoked the kind of respect Bush had despite Bush pushing some very questionable policies in retrospect.

oyarde
03-11-2012, 10:47 PM
At the same time during those years , I often did not have a high opinion of many random people . I viewed many as soft , mentally , physically and morally unprincipled . So maybe it was just me :)

oyarde
03-11-2012, 10:50 PM
I meant respect for the "individual".

Of course, military is a disciplined institution and soldiers are trained/supposed to accept orders without question and not think about reasons. But "respect" for the leader certainly makes a difference, a big one imo in the bigger scheme of things and especially in trying times. My guess is that Obama never evoked the kind of respect Bush had despite Bush pushing some very questionable policies in retrospect. There has probably been no Dem President since JFK that may garner the type of respect that , say , HW Bush would from much of the military.

oyarde
03-11-2012, 11:02 PM
One of the reasons Gen Mchrystal made changes to the rules of engagement was to cut back on civilian casualties that had gotten very high . The only way to succeed in Afghanistan at this point is to get out.

moderate libertarian
03-12-2012, 06:16 PM
There has probably been no Dem President since JFK that may garner the type of respect that , say , HW Bush would from much of the military.

I don't disagree with that.


In other news:



Afghans Skeptical Over Shooting Account
Monday, Mar. 12, 2012

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Afghans expressed doubt Monday that a single U.S. Army soldier could have shot and killed 16 civilians in houses over a mile (2 kilometers) apart and burned the bodies afterward.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2108798,00.html#ixzz1ox1XVk00

Some strange conspiracy theories have started to swirl around the internets already, much of it seems like speculation in the early fog of massacre. It is very hard to believe that any higher ups were aware of this.

moderate libertarian
03-14-2012, 06:35 AM
Be advised, article below cntains some controversial language and words:



War in Afghanistan Is Mutiny by a Different Name

The troops are protesting "by any other means" their entrapment in a no-win landscape where Washington politicians keep a war going beyond the limit of sanity. March 13, 2012 |


http://www.alternet.org/story/154531/war_in_afghanistan_is_mutiny_by_a_different_name/

oyarde
03-14-2012, 10:30 AM
Be advised, article below cntains some controversial language and words:




http://www.alternet.org/story/154531/war_in_afghanistan_is_mutiny_by_a_different_name/ I had no idea I was so often in violation of Article 94 , " disturbance " equals mutiny . Every party I ever had was probably a disturbance ...

moderate libertarian
03-15-2012, 08:24 PM
Well the the m-word can a different meanings though in political, legal or social sense.

qh4dotcom
03-15-2012, 08:40 PM
Of course he's respected...think of all the millions of dollars the military will send to his campaign for the general election....millions more than Ron Paul. Don't forget the millions of votes too.

moderate libertarian
03-22-2012, 10:02 PM
Good point.