USAF Blodletting: The Pigeon's Response

Meant to write this while I was on leave, but  I unfortunately had to dedicate my time to eating fresh Maryland seafood and drinking beer.  But it's just as well--the extra time allowed for more comments:

Violence Worker writes:  I'm thinking the top has needed an overhaul since McPeak started screwing things up.

Antitool writes:  In the end, these guys were fired for a number of reasons, any one of which was sack-worthy. The Minot mistake, the Taiwan screwup, going behind the SECDEF's back to get more F-22 money from Congress, mismanagement of UAVs, added Air Force irrelevance in a fight against extremist jerks...I could go on and on.

Ed writes:  What do you think of this?  http://www.military.com/news/article/ex-official-says-dod-nixed-iran-attack.html

"Pentagon prevented Cheney from attacking Iran last August. Former State Department official reveals plan by Cheney to hit Iran. WMR was the first to report on the rival chain of command from Cheney's office through Air Force to order nuke attack on Iran. Air Force stopped movement of Minot nukes to Middle East in August, same month Cheney proposed hitting Iran."

I know its old news, but hey, i think those top brass guys were fired for following orders. which is BS. they should impeach the guy that gave the order. but that's what i think, until convinced otherwise.

MOGS writes:  It still boggles me that people actually believe that kinda crap. I mean really bothers me. A country full of morons who can't see through conspiracy theories makes me question the entire idea of universal suffrage you know?

Ed responds:  I'm guessing that you believe LHO was alone and JR did it to save Jackie O the grief of a public trial. no worries, as you were. :)

And from MOGS' follow-up post, Farva writes:  For everyone expecting me to have some witty comic up about the current affairs in the Air Force, sorry to disappoint you. The fact is, two people, and maybe more, have lost their jobs because other people screwed up. There’s really nothing funny about that.

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First, to address VWs comment I've never heard ANYONE say anything positive about McPeak; indeed, I found a 2004 blog post that pretty much summarizes why he gets such bad press. 

I suppose it doesn't help, then, knowing he might be on Obama's VP short list! 

Second, in addition to the Military.com article above, another reader forwarded me the following link:  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6909

Which was penned by this fellow:  http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

I'll accept the fact that despite almost 14-years in uniform I'm still a lowly Captain (at least 'til next Spring), thus I'm not privy to the highest levels of policymaking.  But I've been around the block sufficiently to unequivocally state even the hint of using nukes as a first-strike option when the survival of the US is NOT in question would be an uncalculated risk of the highest order.  Only an unhinged, irrational actor could and would pull such a stunt, and Bush is certainly not an irrational actor. I can't imagine how many checks had to fail for the nuke debacle to go down in the first place, but if we were no-pigeoned strategic attack imminent many more people would know besides some quack activists in Canada.

But I'll tell you what:  if it turns out years from now that these Roswell-esque reports were true, I'll boil my underwear and eat it on You Tube.

Finally, Farva at AF Blues is right:  heads will roll, to include the heads of some good people who are unfortunately in command in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The aftershock will effect some of us more than others; that is, I probably won't notice a difference in my USAFA routine, but I'd hate to be a first-term Airman with orders to Minot right now.

Although to piggyback on Antitool's comment, given the list of grievances I'm surprised it took this long.

But I'm optimistic about the new leadership, notably the recommended chief of staff:  the first non-fighter/bomber pilot in the history of the AF?  Talk about a cultural shift (I bet Curtis LeMay is rolling in his grave with his cigars right about now).

But the military adapts.  We'll take our orders--griping at some and cheering at others...

...and roll with them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, Allie is Wired, third world county, The World According to Carl, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, Democrat=Socialist, , and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Comments

[MOGS]

1) I'm wondering how that article, with no source cite or attribution "ex official" yeah right - even made it on military.com to begin with, - seems really shoddy to me for starters.

2) Not entirely surprising since the forums at military.com were taken over largely by moonbat trolls and disgruntled ex-military members a few years ago - there's at least tow forums out there started by refugees from the original military.com, before it was bought out by monster.com and started going down hill

3) "I'm guessing that you believe LHO was alone and JR did it to save Jackie O the grief of a public trial. no worries, as you were. :)"

No, actually I think it was Col Mustard, with the revolver, in the greenhouse personally :)

4) Anybody check out the domain origin, hosting and name for this waynemadsen character? Anybody feel for a moment that he's a credible source? Have fun.

[Rosemary]

God bless you. Be careful.