Another Good Man Bites the Dust!

Well if you have not heard by now, I'll break the news for ya. Today Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense was forced out of the White House. This is the third Secretary of Defense that have left the Obama administrations since he has taken office. He looks for good people, appoints good people, gets bipartisan approval on his appointments, and then as soon as he hears something he does not like, they are out of there. Obama has done this with a lot of his "advisers" that come from the military side of the house, especially the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Many top level military generals have been put out to pasture since he has come into office.

So just who is left to advise him on matters of National Security? Well when he calls together his National Security Council, There isn't one person who has any experience in protecting you from enemies.

So let's start with the National Security Council who are they and what is their history when it comes to protecting us. The Chairman of the National Security Council (NSC)is the President. Regular attendees (both statutory and non-statutory) are the Vice President, Joe Biden, the Secretary of State, John Kerry, the Secretary of the Treasury, Jacob Lew, the Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hegel, but now vacant as of 11/24/2014, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Susan Rice. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the statutory military advisor to the Council, and the Director of National Intelligence is the intelligence advisor. The Chief of Staff to the President, Counsel to the President, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy are invited to attend any NSC meeting. The Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are invited to attend meetings pertaining to their responsibilities. The heads of other executive departments and agencies, as well as other senior officials, are invited to attend meetings of the NSC when appropriate.Starting with Obama himself, he has no military experience or foreign affairs experience.

Joe Biden was a Senator before becoming vice-president. Most of his life after college and law school was involved in politics. Jo Biden has never served in the military. During those early years, Biden received five student draft deferments during this period, with the first coming in late 1963 and the last in early 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War. In April 1968, he was reclassified by the Selective Service System as not available for service due to having had asthma as a teenager.

Susan Rice, one of Obama's top advisers. This is the woman who gave wrong statement regarding the Benghazi fiasco. According to Wikepaedia:

"Rice served in the Clinton administration in various capacities: at the National Security Council (NSC) from 1993 to 1997; as director for international organizations and peacekeeping from 1993 to 1995 and as special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs from 1995 to 1997.

At the time of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Rice reportedly said, "If we use the word 'genocide' and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November election?" Rice subsequently acknowledged the mistakes made at the time and felt that a debt needed repaying. The inability or failure of the Clinton administration to do anything about the genocide would form her later views on possible military interventions. She would later say of the experience: "I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required."

Islamists took control in Sudan in a 1989 coup d'état and the United States adopted a policy of disengagement with the authoritarian regime throughout the 1990s. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, however, some critics charged that the U.S. should have moderated its policy toward Sudan earlier, since the influence of Islamists there waned in the second half of 1990s and Sudanese officials began to indicate an interest in accommodating U.S. concerns with respect to 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, who had been living in Sudan until he was expelled in May 1996. Timothy M. Carney, U.S. ambassador to Sudan between September 1995 and November 1997, co-authored an op-ed in 2002 claiming that in 1997 Sudan offered to turn over its intelligence on bin Laden but that Rice, as NSC Africa specialist, together with the then NSC terrorism specialist Richard A. Clarke, successfully lobbied for continuing to bar U.S. officials, including the CIA and FBI, from engaging with the Khartoum government. Similar allegations (that Rice joined others in missing an opportunity to cooperate with Sudan on counter terrorism) were made by Vanity Fair contributing editor David Rose and Richard Miniter, author of Losing Bin Laden.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a longtime mentor and family friend to Rice, urged Clinton to appoint Rice as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in 1997. Rice was not the first choice of Congressional Black Caucus leaders, who considered Rice a member of "Washington's assimilationist black elite". At a confirmation hearing chaired by Senator Jesse Helms, Rice, who attended the hearing along with her infant son, whom she was then nursing, made a great impression on senators from both parties and "sailed through the confirmation process".

Rice supported the Rwandan, Ugandan, AFDL and Angolan invasion of Zaire (later known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) from Rwanda in 1996 and overthrew dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, saying privately that "Anything's better than Mobutu." According to Gérard Prunier, a staffer to the Assistant Secretary said that "the only thing we have to do is look the other way", with respect to Rwanda's continued intervention. New York Times correspondent Howard W. French said that according to his sources Rice herself made the remark. It should be noted the Congo Wars spearheaded by Rwanda led to over five million deaths. In 2012 when serving as U.N. ambassador, Rice opposed efforts to publicly censure Rwandan President Paul Kagame for again supporting a Congolese rebel group, this time in the 2012 Congo conflict Despite the sacking of the regional capital of Goma. The Rwandan government was a client when Rice worked at Intellibridge in 2001–02.

On July 7, 1998, Rice was a member of an American delegation to visit detained Nigerian president-elect Basorun M.K.O. Abiola. During this meeting, Abiola suffered a fatal heart attack.

Although Rice supported the Lomé Peace Accord, some observers criticized the Sierra Leone agreement as too indulgent of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and for bringing the war criminal Foday Sankoh into government, leading to the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1313, which blamed the RUF for the continuing conflict in the west African country." So it is no wonder that we have a person advising the President to stay clear of ISIL issues in the mid east.

Secretary of State John Kerry. A lot of people may or may not know of John Kerry's military service. he enlisted in the Navy Reserve in 1966, and went on active duty to Vietnam for an abbreviated four month tour aboard a swift boat. He received the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. However, upon his return and release from the service he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and demonstrated at various protests. He has been in politics ever since.

Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, another career politician. Harvard Law School and Georgetown University for his law degree.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel According to Wikipaedia, "volunteered to be drafted into the United States Army during the Vietnam War, rejecting a draft board recommendation that he go to college instead. He served in the United States Army infantry in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. As a Sergeant (E-5), he served as an infantry squad leader in the 9th Infantry Division. Hagel served in the same infantry squad as his younger brother Tom, and they are thought to be the only American brothers to have done so during the Vietnam War. They also saved each others lives on separate occasions. Hagel received the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, two Purple Hearts, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge." He went from an enlisted man in the Army to the Secretary of Defense. He was the only one of the members of the NSC to have served on the ground with the troops as an enlisted man, and after returning became a news broadcaster and reported on the war.

There is going to be a tough nomination process for the next individual to be nominated by the Obama administration. They certainly do not want to listen to issues and advice on foreign policy where it might involve putting any troops into the picture, whether on the ground or in the air. It seems like a slap in the face to all those who fought and those who died when this administrations takes a pacifist attitude towards other countries walking all over us. The President more than likely already has a replacement in mind and we will see in the next few weeks as the person is put up for the position. Obama will surely try to get this all done before the next Congress is seated, where he will surely have a much tougher time getting his nominee seated. Meanwhile ISIL continues to kill......... The new Congress will not be here soon enough for this person to enjoy the future encounters.......