Donald Trump on the Nuclear Triad

The Republican Presidential Debate in Las Vegas hosted by CNN and Salem Media was focused on Commander-in-Chief questions.  Thus foreign policy, national security and military issues were going to be in the forefront of the 5th debate in the 2016 GOP primary cycle.

To dig deeper on candidates' knowledge and national security prioritization, Hugh Hewitt asked Donald Trump a question about the nuclear triad, which has been the centerpiece of American national security strategy since the 1960s. 

Donald Trump's answer during the Las Vegas Debate was quite revealing.



First the brash billionaire engaged in some self-aggrandizement about his prescience about the 2003 Iraq War. But afterwards, there is some bluster which bluffs about how America has to be careful about not being drawn into war in Syria.  Then Trump pivoted to mocking the Obama Administration's obsession with climate change and global warming instead of nuclear proliferation, which Trump deemed was the nation's top priority.

Hewitt redirected his question to Trump asking about which leg of the Triad should be prioritized.  Trump claimed that the devastating power of nuclear is very important to him.

Trump loves to mock politicians for being stupid but res ipsa loquitur.  When Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) picked up the line of questioning, he managed to school the audience on the nuclear triad without explicitly embarrassing Mr. Trump.

Trump supporters have been trained to attack reporters who embarrass their Dear Leader. They also will claim that it was a gotcha' question which wonks may know the details but is not necessary for a Chief Executive like Mr. Trump to be well versed.

Hewitt's question was not on specifics like how many Ohio class nuclear submarines need to be built or what make of aircraft will replace the superannuated B-52s. This was at its base an opportunity for a Presidential candidate with no national security experience to show well informed decision making skills.  In a more specific sense, at a time when sequestration has decimated Pentagon procurement and there are not unlimited funds, it illuminates how a Commander-in-Chief Trump would choose to lead our nation.

This is not the first time in which Hewitt has exposed areas of ignorance in Donald Trump's foreign policy knowledge.  During a radio phone interview in September 2015, Hewitt asked Trump about the Quds forces (special forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards) and  Trump rambled on about how the Kurds were poorly treated by US. 

When Hewitt asked Trump about players on the Islamic terrorist roster without a scorecard, Trump decried the gotcha question. Trump insists that he would find absolutely great people to handle it.  Then Trump circled back to the Kurd subject on which he seemed well briefed.  Trump closed with his bluster: "In that case, first day in office, or before then, right at the day after the election, I’ll know more about it than you will ever know. That I can tell you."  

Perhaps we should expect the same sort of after election omniscience on the nuclear triad too?

The November 13th Paris atrocities and the San Bernadino Shooting has made the 2016 Presidential Election to be a National Security election. Voters will need to discern whether they want a Commander-in-Chief who is a foreign policy tabla rasa but who presumes to become pansophical as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Kirsten Powers on Obama's Inability to Recognize Christian Persecution

During the summer of 2014, liberal commentator Kirsten Powers became convicted that President Barack Obama was not a humanitarian for his flaccid response to the Yazidi and Mosul Christians of being the expropriated, enslaved and threatened with extermination by ISIS. 

Unfortunately, in the ensuing nine months, the 44th President has done nothing to burnish his mantle of being a humanitarian. Powers pointed to the recent joint press conference between Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Obama at the White House.  Renzi's reaction to the news that Muslims on a refugee boat from Africa threw  twelve Christians overboard into the Mediterranean for their faith was that it was a "one off event" and that it did not reflect a clash of religious. Mr. Obama remained mute.  

When jihadist terrorists do slaughter the innocent, President Obama has shown himself unwilling to acknowledge their Christian faith.  Mr. Obama referred to the slaughter of 148 Christians by Al Shabaab in Kenya on Maundy Thursday were just folks, whereas the 21 Coptic Christians executed by ISIS in Libya were simply "Egyptian citizens".  Even Britain's Prince Charles, who occupies a primarily non-partisan role as Prince of Wales, has lamented the violent persecution of Christians in Iraq.

Perhaps it was no mistake that early in the Obama Administration, the Chosen One seemed congenitally incapable of echoing the Declaration of Independence correctly and invoking the Creator as it was written. But then again, those were the days when we expected Mr. Obama to follow the law and the Constitution as written,

Lincoln Chafee's Revanchist Run for the White House

During an appearance  on CNN's State of the Nation, former Senator and Governor Lincoln Chafee (R, I, D-RI) launched himself into the fight for the Democrat nomination to deny former First Lady/ Senator/ Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-AR, NY) a simple coronation. It seems that former Governor Charlie Crist (R, I, D-FL) was unwilling to play the part of a foil.  It should be noted that
 Chafee somewhat walked back his announcement during the show, noting that he only opened an exploratory committee, but that is merely  a pro forma legal nicety.

Cynical political animals wonder what propels a backbench politico into a Sissiphian contest with a prominent and well funded candidate.  Unlike former Senator Jim Webb (R, D-VA), Chafee is not hawking a current book to bolster his contender image.  Nor is Chafee likely to secure a spot as a Hillary 2016 Drug Czar.   Chafee's quixotic campaign seems to be driven by revanchism over Iraq.



While Senator Webb gained some notoriety during his time on Capitol Hill for sponsoring a bill to cut off funding for the War in Iraq, then Senator Lincoln Chafee voted against it as a Republican in 2002; whereas Senator Hillary Clinton voted for the war.

 Progressives may pine for Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to throw her headdress into the ring, the Bay State junior Senator has declined to do so.  That leaves Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) potentially holding the progressive standard. But the 73 year old socialist Senator is not seen as a serious contender to quash the coronation.

So Lincoln Chafe's revaunchist run may have him serve as the  anti-war challenger to force Hillary to run to the left before she pivots to the center for the general election. It is questionable an anti-war animus will be a uniting force among Democrat voters, particularly if President Obama feels compelled to send combat troops to a trouble zone before the July 2016 Philadelphia convention.

Despite the slim chances that Chafee has of securing the nomination, at least his inchoate campaign is more substantive that the Hillary 2016 listening tour road trip to Iowa in the "Scooby" Mystery Machine. 

Brian Williams -- Trust in the Falling Rock?

Brian Williams has been the chief anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News for ten years.  The 55 year old news personality also hosted a prime time news magazine show titled "Rock Center", which tried to capitalize on NBC's identification with the Manhattan landmark Rockefeller Center.  Alas, Brian Williams "Rock Center" was cancelled after two seasons in 2013 for the lack of interest.  

Perhaps the memory of Rock Center not being interesting enough encouraged Brian Williams to conflate his combat zone correspondent stories. Williams original report from Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 seemed close to the truth (without revealing that William's Chinook helicopter was a half hour behind the bird under fire).  

When Williams went on Late Night with David Letterman in 2013, the story had been embellished to having rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and AK47s fired at William's helicopter and the pilot getting a purple heart for a wounded ear (which never happened).  

Williams revisited his war stories when paying an on the air tribute to Sgt. Major Tim Terpak who had been honored at a New York Rangers hockey game.  This caused the New York Times to scrutinize Williams ever evolving escapade. 

After Navy veterans who eyewitnessed the operation  called Williams out in Stars and Stripes for the inaccuracies in this reportage, Brian Williams claimed that he misremembered: 

“On this broadcast last week in an effort to honor and thank a veteran who protected me and so many others following a ground-fire incident in the desert during the Iraq War, I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago. It didn't take long to hear from some brave men and women in the air crews who were also in the desert. I want to apologize:  I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft. We all landed and spent two harrowing nights in a sandstorm in the desert. This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran, and by extension: our brave military men and women - Veterans everywhere -- those who have served while I did not. I hope they know they have my greatest respect… and also now my apology.”

Alas, veterans do not readily accept Williams half-hearted apology as a Fog of War mistake as the story had grown significantly in a dozen years.  Williams Chinook story had been likened to Stolen Valor as Williams claimed to be in combat in which he was not involved. 

NBC has officially refused to investigate the Chopper Whopper incident and is allowing Brian Williams to handle it himself. Presumably this is because Brian Williams has been the face of a successful NBC Nightly News operation for a decade and the network would literally and figuratively lose face by calling their star into question.  Howard Kurtz analogized that NBC is treating Brian Williams as if he was too big to fail.

In response to Conflate-Gate, Williams supposedly  self imposed a brief hiatus from the anchor chair,  so he is not the center of the news. In other words, he is waiting for the media storm to blow over. But now that Williams is established as a self-aggrandizing reporter, he may have lost his gravitas as a truth teller.

Brian Williams coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has been impeached.  Williams claimed that he saw dead bodies floating outside of his window.  Well, the Ritz Carlton is in the French Quarter, which is the highest point in New Orleans, which FEMA disputes the flooding to be low to nonexistent.   Williams claimed to have gotten dysentery from drinking floodwater, but the New Orleans Advocate quotes Dr. Brobson Lutz, who was treating people near the French Quarter: “I saw a lot of people with cuts and bruises and such, but I don’t recall a single, solitary case of gastroenteritis during Katrina or in the whole month afterward."   Three separate individuals have disputed William's claim that gangs of thugs had overrun his posh pied-de-terre in the French Quarter. 

News junkies have known for years that NBC News entities "Lean Forward" which give a liberal slant to news coverage.  This was recently demonstrated with Savanah Guthrie's softball pre-Super Bowl interview with President Obama in the White House kitchen.  Of course, GE and NBC was happy to work hand in hand with Al Gore devote 24 hours of programming for  his climate change campaign. Of course, Al Sharpton was given a platform to "resist we much" for race baiting on the George Zimmerman and Ferguson Missouri shootings.  While one could complain about the partisanship in the reportage or journalists inserting themselves into the story, at least the facts are not called into question.

At present, Brian Williams and by extension NBC News has become the butt of jokes, questioning their credibility in truth telling.  An effective internet series of memes places Brian Williams as a Zelig like figure in anachronistic poses, like being present for the lunar landings.

If Saturday Night Live were not a left leaning NBC property, it might even satirize William's tall tales.  But that is not how the Lamestream Media works today.

While the furor may subside, if Williams remains as anchor at Rockefeller Center, trust in NBC may fall like a rock.  In 1992, Dateline NBC aired a report "Waiting to Explode" which questioned the safety of GM's Chevy trucks.  To make more dramatic television, NBC strapped incendiary devices during the crash test. After this became exposed and General Motors threatened a defamation lawsuit, then NBC News President Michael Gartner admitted to the mistake and had Jane Pauley (who had no connection to the story) give a 3  1/2 minute on air apology. In the end, Gartner and three producers lost their positions as NBC News struggled to keep their bone fides as reputable reporters.

If NBC News dared to drop anchor, there might be other roles in which Brian Williams would be the perfect person. Williams would have been perfect for 30 Rock but alas the comedy series has been cancelled.  Perhaps as a correspondent for the Onion.  Maybe Steven Colbert needs a jocular sidekick for his stint on CBS's Late Night.

Then there is the question of what NBC News would do to fill the empty anchor chair. When NBC was considering a replacement  in October 2014 for David Gregory on Meet the Press, the execs at 30 Rock promised Daily Show comedian Jon Stewart a truckload of money to take the serious gig.  Stewart declined the NBC offer by saying: "News and entertainment have melded in a way. But they would be overcompensating on the entertainment side. That’s certainly not an outlandish decision, although I don’t necessarily think that’s the best direction for it.”

Jon Stewart did not want NBC News to become a joke.  So what do they do now with their credibility falling like a rock?

h/t: Adam Zyglis

Dangerous Illusions on Warfare

President Obama took pride that he unilaterally led US troops out of Iraq in 2011 (without achieving a Status of Forces agreement) and promises to do the same in Afghanistan by 2016.  Casual political observers may now conclude that President Barack Obama has dispensed with the dangerous illusion about optional wars after the aerial bombing  of ISIS and Khorasan Group targets in  Syria. US CentCom claims that the Khorasan Group was in the final stages of an imminent attact on US targets, potentially even in the U.S. Homeland.

However, in the run up to the still unnamed mission from the nascent anti-ISIS coalition, President Obama insisted on being clear about not having American boots on the ground.   

Congress voted for funding to train Syrian rebels, but that training is said to take a year to accomplish.  Now that American airpower decimated ISIS and Khorason targets near Aleppo and Raqqa, Syria, an ISIS pull out would leave a power vacuum.  Without American boots on the ground, who re-establishes order?  Prior to the bombing, former Marine Corps Commandant (Ret.) General James Conway suggested that Mr. Obama's apparent strategy against ISIS did not have a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding.

Mr. Obama may still harbor the illusion about cafeteria conflicts, but General Douglas MacArthur's warning that: "It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it" rings true today.  

America acting to stop the brutality and belligerence of terrorist armies like ISIS and the Khorason Group which threaten US is a tardy step in the right direction.  However, not having a clearly defined plan of action other than ruling out boots on the ground may keep the chimera alive for the Commander-in-Chief.

h/t: Bob Englehart 

Senator Ted Cruz on the New Military Mission in Iraq

Early Retreat from Mesopotamia?

Now that President Obama declared that the United States would commence air strikes in Iraq for humanitarian help to the Yazidis who ISIS is committing genocide, one can wonder if Mr. Obama lead America on an early retreat from Mesopotomia.

President Obama has declared that there will be no soldiers deployed  for these new missions over Iraq.  Perhaps he thinks that unless there are boots on the ground that there is not war.  But the Military Times reports that these "targeted air strikes" will require 15,000 troops. Because there are no longer American troops stationed in Iraq, this will have to be done via carriers or distant air bases.

 It is a pity that the Obama Administration failed to secure a Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, so America abandoned its military equipment there (in many cases now in ISIS hands) to withdraw from Iraq.  This suited President Obama as he promised to end the war in Iraq before the 2012 Presidential election, and he did-- sort of.

Mr. Obama blames the Maliki government for not agreeing to a SOFA.  Perhaps some blame lies with Chief US negotiator Vice President Joe Biden.  But this was more likely a SOFA strategy designed to fail from the Oval Office .  Having US troops with immunity in Iraq would be a tough sell for the Maliki government. The Pentagon wanted 10,000 to 15,000 troops and they were wanted by the Iraqi government.  The Commander-In-Chief countered with a bid of 3,000 troops.  This token level was unacceptable to the Iraqi government as it was ineffective and not worth the heat in their domestic politics.  So President Obama could brag about bringing the boys back home from Iraq for his re-election campaign as a promise kept.

And here we are today.  Bringing the fight back to Iraq after an early retreat. Not having the infrastructure on the ground which American troops fought so hard.  Needing to do costly missions from carriers.  Fighting an evil enemy with too little and to late help to prevent humanitarian atrocities with Christians, Yazidis and Sunni Muslims who do not suit ISIS.

So Mr. Obama announced timorous airstrikes without a set strategy or a timetable.  Then Mr Obama flew off to Martha's Vineyard for another several week vacation.  . 

Mike Huckabee on Evil ISIS

Even though ISIS had been threatening "Nazaranes" (Christians in Iraq) in Mosul with expropriation or extermination unless they renounced their faith, this had not moved the Obama White House into action.

A fortnight later, 40,000 Kurds who practice the Yazidi faith  were herded onto Mount Sinjar and left to fend for themselves or be slaughtered. Yazidis  have a monotheistic faith which has roots in Zoroastrianism with elements of Islam as well as Christianity.

What may have prompted President Obama to act in the case of the Yazidis rather than the Iraqi Christians may have been concentrated the ethnic  on a mountaintop for genocide and then bragging about it on Twitter. Or perhaps it was ISIS terrorists putting Yazidi kids' heads on a pike as a message to the world.  Nonetheless, former Governor Mike Huckabee has it right, it is evil

Ryan Crocker on Organized Evil

Barack Obama Underestimates ISIS's Abilities

When President Obama dismissed all-Qaeda linked militants (i.e. ISIS) as "jayvee", his Administration could not imagine that eight months later POTUS would be ordering limited airstrikes against the jihadist terror group in Iraq.  White House spokesman Josh Ernest tried some fancy moves to distract from an uneasy question about this foreign policy flip-flop.

Perhaps President Obama would now choose another favorite sports analogy that the terror group is "punching above their weight".