Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has long personified the craven arrogance of the PC Pentagon. Three years ago, in the last year of the Bush Administration, Mullen told a Jerusalem TV station that the US “has been at Israel’s side for all of 60 years, it will be for the next 60 years, 100 years and 1,000 years.” He now tells Congress that “We’re Going to Be There [Afghanistan] Longer Than 2014,” thus contradicting his Commander-in-Chief.
Apparently, Mullen learned the Constitution from Professor Obama. Well, Admiral, if at first you don’t succeed, try again: The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs does not decide how long “We” are going to support Israel or be in Afghanistan. Neither does the President. That decision lies with the Congress. Shame on the senators who unanimously ignored this principle and refrained from admonishing Mullen on his effrontery.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who testified with Mullen, revealed that “we’re in the process” of negotiating an “enduring presence” in Afghanistan. Again, not one senator on the Armed Services Committee condemned either Panetta or Mullen for their unconstitutional rogue actions.
Predictions: The treaty produced by Panetta’s “negotiations” will never be submitted to the Senate for its advice and consent. And the Pentagon lapdogs on the Senate Armed Services Committee, awash in contributions from Pentagon suppliers, contractors, and lobbyists, will refuse to cut the Pentagon budget, pleading “patriotism.” Panetta’s predecessor, Secretary Gates, said in departing that no one at the Pentagon knows who works there or how much money they spend.
Prescription: Cut the defense budget ten percent per year until it reaches the level of the most dire years of the “Soviet Threat.” Country’ll grow.
9:35 am on September 26, 2011
