As someone who believes in a strong defense, over the past six years I have watched President Obama weaken our military and the reputation it has enjoyed globally for years.
U.S. Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III (defense.gov)
I recently witnessed an embarrassing testimony by Army Gen. Lloyd Austin before the Senate Armed Services Committee, in which he said, “Despite some slow movement at the tactical level, we continue to make progress across the battlespace in support of the broader U.S. government strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIS.”
In view of information that reports out of General Austin’s U. S. Central Command were overstated to paint a rosier picture of its success in Iraq and Syria, the Senators weren’t pleased with his testimony. It was learned that analysts were told to revise their reports of U.S. air strike damage to support command assessments of mission success. They were also urged to state that the killing of certain ISIS leaders would diminish the organization and lead to its collapse.
Listening to General Austin’s testimony gives one a clear picture of how some of our military leaders are protecting their “stars” and going along with the direction of their commander-in-chief.
“The new Syrian Force Program has gotten off to a slow start,” Austin said as he calmly offered that a small number of fighters had been trained under the 10-month, $500 million effort. He then revealed that just four or five Syrian moderates had been trained, far short of the 5,400 that were to be trained by now, at a cost of $43 million.
To that statement, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded that in his 30 years as a member of the committee, “I’ve never heard testimony like this. Never.”
Much has been written about and by senior military officers who disagree with President Obama’s policies. Obviously, they are now retired. Traditionally, senior officers do not resign on principle. They provide their commander-in-chief their best judgment, salute and obey the orders they receive.
Several retired Army and Marine generals have spoken out for the need of ground troops to defeat ISIS. A year ago, even General Austin recommended committing U.S. Special Forces to fight against ISIS, but the president rejected his advice.
Ironically, General Austin had to walk back his recent testimony statement that we had special operators on the ground in Syria. We don’t.
According to reports, General Austin’s “good soldier” testimony was so damning that morale in the Pentagon took another big hit. Even Democrats on the committee, who support the administration’s foreign policy, were critical.
Meanwhile, because of the president’s lack of leadership in Syria and Iraq, hundreds of thousands are fleeing to Europe and the U.S. is preparing to accept 100,000 of them here. And Russia is delivering weapons and equipment to Syria. Remember Obama’s line in the sand?
On one hand, I admire General Austin’s adherence to the oath of conduct he took years ago, but I cannot help but think about the military education and training we gave him at West Point, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U. S. Army War College and numerous command positions so he could provide sound advice to a community organizer.
