About Obama and the screaming military masses in Iraq
Bookworm on Apr 14 2009 at 2:18 pm | Filed under: Barack Obama, Military
When Barack Obama visited Iraq, the photo ops showed him surrounded by cheering, grabbing, hugging, loving military personnel. I found this a bit peculiar, because (a) the military overwhelmingly supported the Republican ticket in the last election and (b) a bit of unscripted documentary evidence indicates that, as far as the military is concerned, Bush was beloved, while the verdict is still out on Obama:
Although I didn’t say so at the time on this blog, I sent a question to an email group to which I belong, one heavily populated by military experts, and asked how it was that Obama received such as rousing welcome. The question sort of died aborning, with no one getting back to me. However, the answer may lie in a story out of Iraq stating that Obama’s team carefully selected only those military personnel who supported him. This rumor apparently has some legs, and no one from the administration has rebutted it.
One of the mil bloggers on the email list pointed out that Bush’s people also made sure there was a happy crowd surrounding him. The difference, of course, was that the crowd surrounding Bush, a microcosm of the entire military, fairly accurately reflected the feelings of the larger organization. The military liked Bush. This recent crowd surrounding Obama is reflective of the beliefs of the individual troops — they support him — but creates a falsehood regarding the whole military institution. It is, in essence, the photographic equivalent of a Potemkin Village meant to deceive, not just one queen, but the whole world.
I also heard through the same email string that troops who appeared at the photo op, even those who are pro-Obama, were required to check their weapons first. Perhaps the administration is afraid that there may be some random, undifferentiated right-wingers amongst the troops, ready to commit acts of terrorism (or do I mean man-caused disasters?). It’s always bad news when the Commander in Chief is afraid of his own troops — including the troops that profess to like him.
Related posts:
- Liberals and Iraq
- Best analysis I’ve seen of Obama’s myriad failures re Iraq
- Clarifying Obama’s secret Iraq negotiations
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6 Responses to “About Obama and the screaming military masses in Iraq”
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Re: checking weapons, I’d imagine the Secret Service prefers that they’re the only ones with weapons around the President, no matter who he is.
I can’t fault them for checking weapons around the President. Also, I know that there are military people that support Obama. My brother-in-law is one. Then again, he’s a pacificist who flies transport planes and has never had to use a weapon in anger. He just joined the military because he wanted to fly. Deep down, tho, he’s a Hobbit and cheerfully admits it.
My military source said — and this was a surprise to me — that this is the first time a President’s team has demanded that weapons get checked. Who knew?
Bookworm said “It’s always bad news when the Commander in Chief is afraid of his own troops”.
Remember during the campaign when Obama said words to the effect that he needed a Civilian Security Corp, because he couldn’t trust the US military to defend us anymore?
What do you think the reaction would be in the USAF if Obama ordered them to attack Israeli jets that were attacking Iran’s nuclear sites? As has been broadly hinted he might do.
I don’t know either, but it’s a disturbing thought, isn’t it?
I’ve mentioned on another blog that I think major trouble is coming and the role of the military will be critical. I got smacked down a bit “Don’t look to the military to pull your irons out of the fire – you (the civilian citizens) elected him. You made your choice”. And there _is_ a problem – if you have a military leader who is willing to step in and take an action that results in the removal of the civilian leader from office, it’s highly possible that the same leader might install himself as leader – even if “temporarily”. We all know how long “temporarily” can extend. But I absolutely agree that the establishment of a civilian “security Corp” is extremely scary…there is no doubt in my mind that he will require an oath of loyalty to _him_ – not to the Constitution as the military does – and therein you have the seed planted for a dictatorship. I agree that he cannot “trust” the military – but it’s not the defense of the country that is in question.
So…what _will_ be the role of the military – both active and inactive? There is a group who call themselves “The Oathkeepers” http://www.oath-keepers.blogspot.com/ made up of military and police officers. I don’t know how many they are, or what percentage they make up, but if it’s significant it will definitely be a factor. Who will make up Obama’s security force? what training will they have? will they be the gang members from the inner cities? That’s who Hitler used – the Brown shirts – they were criminals already. If Obama uses the community organizers of his past, there won’t be much of a fight, but if he uses the inner city gangs and the union organizers, it might be a different story. He’s already got the Unions where he wants them – and vice versa – will they use force to keep the Dems in power? I think they will. They might get rid of Obama if he’s ineffective, but they’ll work to keep the dems in power.
I don’t find anything unusual about enthusiastic Obama supporters securing front row seats. I’m sure they are a minority, but no doubt Obama resonates with them as he does with other young people.