And the Truth Shall Set You Free !!!!

And the Truth Shall Set You Free !!!!
Current mood: impressed
Category: Life

LET'S BE SPECIFIC (By Brig. Gen. J. Cash, USAF, Ret)

Due to the thunderous applause that I received from the
far-left over the "I Am Tired" letter written by one of our troops in
Iraq, I thought it prudent to follow up with one last attempt to be very
specific about what I have observed and actually personally encountered
during my 36 years of service to this Great Country. Unlike Bob
McClellan, I will not continue to whine, twist and degrade our country's
leaders on a weekly basis. Instead, this will be a one time input
attempting to reach some of those who are confused by McClellan and his
ilk's unethical rantings and give some insight through my personal
experience as a professional military officer over the years. These
examples are but a few. In real life there were many more which space
and time will not allow.

As a young fighter pilot , flying F-4s in Vietnam, I was stopped
in my tracks by the decisions made by Lyndon Johnson and Robert
McNamara. I was young and naive, but even then I knew their daily
interference was wrong and would not allow us to win this thing and go
home. Decisions like not allowing us to strike enemy aircraft while
still on the ground, keeping real targets off the target list, and
allowing us to strike only rusted-out trucks made us basically a
toothpick factory. However, the big one for me came the day I saw the
President Lyndon Johnson on television, forcefully lying to the American
people. I'll never forget the language, "I want to assure the American
people that the United States of America has never, and will never, bomb
or use force inside the borders of Cambodia". On and on he disavowed
the reports that this was happening. I was amazed. Guess where I had
put several F-4 loads of 750 pound general purpos e bombs every day for
the past five days. You guessed it, Cambodia!!! So much for Mr.
Johnson. The only question in my mind was simply, "Was it just Johnson
or was it the methodology of a particular political party?" I decided
to delay answering that question until more experience was gained.

Years passed, and I ignored politics as much as possible, as a
good military man should. Then came Jimmy Carter. Our young people
don't remember 18% interest rates and 18% inflation, but I'll bet
someone in your family does. That is one really bad thing Carter did
for our country, but it is not the worst. During this period, I was an
F-15 Squadron Commander, located at Langley AFB, VA. Jimmy Carter and
his democratic party stopped spare parts procurement for almost every
weapon system in our military, and diverted the funds to social
programs. The F-15 was brand ne w at the time with leading edge
technology designed to provide air superiority anywhere in the world on
a moments notice. That was my job. I loved it, but guess what? In a two
year period from 1979 to 1981, there was not one day when more than
one-third of my assigned aircraft were flyable. It is amazing the
lengths we went to in those days, cannibalizing parts, expending twice
the time and energy to fix every little item, and still two-thirds of
the birds were always broken because of no spare parts. Had this
country faced a really serious military threat during that time frame,
only Montana Hunters could have saved us. The military had some
equipment, but it was all broken. Do you want to know the really bad
part for me and the young fighter pilots working for me? Our flying
sortie rate was so low that pilot proficiency dropped to dangerous
levels. The accident rate tripled. That obviousl y was totally
unacceptable, as we were losing expensive airplanes and highly trained
young pilots at a rate comparable to losses seen in actual combat. All
of a sudden, even a Texas Aggie like me began to see a trend.

Forward a few years to 1986. I am an F-16 Wing Commander at
MacDill AFB, Florida, and Ronald Regan is president. His change in
attitude and policy toward the military had time to fix the spare parts
problem. We were flying 26,000 flying sorties per year out of MacDill
AFB, my aircraft fully mission capable rate (FMC) was above 90%, the
aircraft accident rate was below 1.75 per hundred thousand flying hours,
fighter pilots were flying and proficiency levels were at an all time
high. The United States Air Force was ready to defend this Wonderful
Country. Proof of the pudding is simple. Look what the USAF, and the
military in general, accomplished in Iraq during Desert Storm. A nd, they
did it in less than 100 hours. Yeah, at this point I was starting to
realize there was a difference in mentality between Democrats and
Republicans, or should I say, the Right and the Left.

Then, came everyone's favorite---Bill Clinton. If there ever
was an individual 180 degrees out of sync with the ideals and the values
of the US military, it was Clinton. He was a known draft dodger,
military hating, self absorbed, unspeakingly shameless and immoral
individual, who the Left managed to elect President of the United States
of America. Clinton's antics in the White House would have brought
court martial, conviction, and Dishonorable Discharge had he been a
military member. We still suffer oral sex on school buses, because the
President told the world it wasn't real sex, and some of our children
believed him. It took a lot of years, but now I became certain. There
is a big differ ence in the right and the left on all fronts, and for the
first time I started feeling angry and shamed that the majority of the
American people were actually willing to vote for such an individual.

Sometimes, an abstract such as the following tells the story in
very simple terms: Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, Lyndon Johnson, Robert
McNamara, Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton,
Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Nancy Pelosi, Barbra Boxer,
John Kerry, Benedict Arnold, and the list goes on. America, wake up.
Giving in to the likes of these people and Abraham Lincoln's prediction
of destruction from within just may come true. There is not a country
in the world that can be considered a conventional military threat to
the United States today. However, this country faces a new kind of
threat---one that will not go away. It is a threat even more serious
than WWII , because money, industry and technology will not defeat it.
It is a threat of defeat from within. It is a threat of a faltering
economy because of a lack of resources, or the even the simple threat of
such a loss brought on by terrorism. It is a threat created by the
American people trusting the inept. It is a threat created by the
people wanting change, and perilously believing that the left can
successfully deliver that change. Have you seen anything from the left
that remotely resembles an answer to the Iraq situation? Have you seen
anything more than continued Bush-Bashing? Is that an answer? If there
was ever a need for a strong, well trained military, it is now. THE
LEFT HAS HISTORICALLY DISMANTLED OUR MILITARY IN THE NAME OF
REDISTRUBITION OF WEALTH FAVORING SOCIAL PROGRAMS. We just cannot
afford to let that happen now. If we do, the entire country will be
bowing to the east several times a day within the next 50 years, maybe
sooner.

Now a final thought meant to upset as many as possible on the
far-left. As you might guess, I don't believe in political correctness.
So, let's look at the facts, not far-left rhetoric attempting to empower
the democratic party. Initially, I was not a George Bush fan. I am not
even a Republican. I normally vote Republican, because of my total
despise of Communism, Socialism and the far-left in this country. I am
a Conservative. However, during his watch, I feel President Bush just
happened to stumble upon the leading edge of the greatest threat this
country has ever faced. Mistakes have been made, because of the newness
of the threat. Overall, the President has done a superb job dealing
with the threat, and at the same time held off the constant ranting,
raving, deceitful and malicious escapades of the fa r-left attempting to
regain political power. IF THERE WAS EVER A TIME THE COUNTRY NEEDS TO
COME TOGETHER AND BACK OUR PRESIDENT, IT IS RIGHT NOW. WITHOUT
CONCENSUS WE ARE EMPOWERING THE TERRORIST!!!! The far-left is totally
absorbed with the power struggle and regaining control of congress.
They could care less about defeating the threat. It literally disgusts
me to hear the constant disagreement with everything the President tries
to do, all in the name of trying to make him look bad to the voters.
Unfortunately, by the time the American people really appreciate how bad
the far-left really is, it may too late.
What are the real facts? On the home front this country's
economy is the strongest that it has been in my lifetime. Interest
rates are as low as they were when I was in high school forty years ago.
Inflation does not exist for all practical purposes. For you
youn gster's, please remember the Jimmy Carter comments? The Dow is
approaching 13,000. Unemployment is nonexistent. Wages are at an all
time high. Home ownership is at an all time high. Taxes have been
lowered to an almost acceptable level. Because of the surging economy
the deficit is under control and projected to go away far ahead of
schedule. The far-left is rich beyond its wildest dreams, so Mr.
President when are you going to "fix" all these domestic problems? Bob
and George, give me a break!!!!
On the war front this country has not been touched since 2001.
I remember being part of a seminar at the USAF War College in 1983
discussing the terrorist threat. There were some good minds at that
table and a lot of disagreement. However, one common thought was that
the US would be hit within the next five years. Answers to the
terrorist threat were just a s hard to come by then as they are now.
Well, it took a little longer than the projection, but the attack
occurred. For an old military guy like me, the main point here is that
it has not happened again. We have suckered the bad guys into entering
the fight somewhere other than in our country. To hell with political
correctness. The President can't say this, but I sure can. I smile
every mornin g when I get up and realize that one of our great cities
has not been blown away. And, there is zero doubt in my mind that if we
pull out of Iraq prematurely, that will happen within a short period of
time after our departure. I don't care what you might think of
President Bush personally. He has done the best he can with what he
has, and this country is not smoking because of it. So, back off McLean
and McClellan. You honestly don't have a clue about what you are
talking about. Call me, and I will tell you what I really think.

I realize there are different points of view on war, and I do
not believe the meek will inherit the earth, at least not in the next
few hundred years. To those like McClellan, McLean, poor Eve Kyes and
Sinowa Cruz let me say, "This is a strong country!!!" It has survived
the uneducated thinking of the far-left before, and I'll just bet it
will again. Regardless of who is President, the people will not
tolerate mass explosions on a daily basis, as our good friends in Israel
have been forced to do. To protect that position of power, even Hillary
will be forced to become a true hawk. To guarantee a few more votes Ted
Kennedy may be forced to begin supporting a strong military. One more
attack on America might even wipe the giddy, 'I-am-finally-somebody'
grin from Nancy Pelosi's face, and make her realize that is not about
votes and personal power - IT IS ABOUT PROTECTING THIS GREAT COUNTRY
FROM ALL ENEMIES, BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.

Jimmy L. Cash, Brig. Gen., USAF, Ret.
349 Jib Lane
Lakeside, Montana