Category Archives: military news

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Partisan divide over a war crime

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Should anyone be surprised that Democrats and Republicans can look at the same video evidence that seeks to explain whether a war crime took place and come to radically divergent views on whether a crime exists?

Not me. Nope. I guess I could have predicted that congressional Democrats would be aghast at what they saw while Republicans accept it as a proper response.

At issue is what they call a “double tap” on a speedboat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela to somewhere in the United States. Naval jets blasted the boat to smithereens in September and then returned to finish the job by killing two survivors who were clinging to the shattered remains of the boat. Critics accuse Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of committing a war crime, as the rules of war state specifically that the survivors should have been captured and taken into custody. Republican lawmakers see it differently, contending that the survivors were trying to flip the boat back and I guess start it up to continue its mission … whatever the hell it is.

I haven’t seen the video so I cannot comment on its content. However, I saw video of the initial strike and it looked for all the world that the first missile delivered a serious kill shot on the watercraft.

Here’s the deal. The craft was spotted just off the Venezuelan coast. about 1,200 miles from Florida. For the speed boat to make it all the way to U.S. territory, it would need to refuel dozens of times along the way. Was this boat really a legitimate target for the U.S. Navy and was it actually packing the drugs that Donald Trump says?

Once again, we see a Defense Department acting on a shoot first-ask questions later policy.

I want to see proof that these craft are, in fact, carrying drugs and that they indeed are headed to our shores to inflict pain and suffering — and worse — on Americans. We are getting nothing close to evidence to back up the Trump administration’s assertions about what is going on.

Dude just wants to go to war. Oh, wait … he’d better ask Congress for permission first. That’s in the Constitution, the document that Trump likely has never read.

military news

Medal of Honor museum: Worth seeing repeatedly

I spent part of my day today touring a museum I had seen only a few weeks ago for the first time.

I wanted to show a friend of mine what real heroism looks like. Truth is, I cannot get enough of those tales of valor and gallantry.

The National Medal of Honor Museum sits across the highway from AT&T Stadium. The exhibit seems inexhaustible. I went through it a few months ago with my brother-in-law. The museum floor seemed to contain even more exhibits today than it did earlier this year.

I have learned something important about the Medal of Honor recipients, which is that they are motivated to act above and beyond the call by a single factor: their own mortality.

Don’t misunderstand me on this. They are driven by the love they have for their brothers in arms. I get that. As President Obama noted during a Medal of Honor presentation he conducted near the end of his presidency, citing Scripture that tells us that “there’s no greater love than that of a man willing to die for his friends.”

These men all acted as well out of their own sense of mortality. So many of them have recalled the moment they responded with extraordinary heroism that in the moment, they were certain they were going to die, so given that belief they acted like the heroes they became.

They are immortalized in a fabulous exhibit in Arlington, Texas. I will return again and again.

military news

RIP, Dick Cheney

I once thought Walter Mondale rewrote the vice-presidential book on service to the nation when he served for four years in the Carter administration.

Then came Al Gore, who was VP for eight years serving alongside Bill Clinton. Gore, too, added his mark on the vice presidency.

And then along came Dick Cheney. Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush tasked Chene with finding a suitable VP in 2000. Cheney, a senior campaign aide for the Texas governor, looked around and I guess he came up empty. So, Bush chose Cheney to run with him. They won the 2000 contest by the tiniest margin imaginable, then got re-elected in 2004 … after lying to Americans about intelligence data that said Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and then starting a fresh war against Iraq in Mach 2003.

Cheney died this week at age 84. And, yes, he has rewritten the entire book on serving as No. 2 in a presidential adminisration. He was a force for good at times. I am reluctant to say the “good Cheney” was present 100% of the time. He led the misinformation flow that suggested Saddam had those WMD. The war cost us thousands of American lives. Yes, we did capture the Iraqi dictator and he was executed almost immediately the Iraqi justice officials.

Cheney, though, never backed down from his statements about the WMD. I fear that misleading trail will taint his legacy forever.

However, he did join his daughter, former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, in rebuking the MAGA cult that shores up Donald Trump. I salute him, and his daughter, for standing firm and tall against the Trump effort to turn our democracy into an oligarchy.

Cheney did serve well over the course of many years. He was a Wyoming congressman; he served as White House chief of staff for President Ford; he served as defense secretary for President George H.W. Bush and was at the DoD helm during the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91.

He was strong in his belief in what he thought was right. I only wish his belief could have led him a different direction. He’s gone now. Dick Cheney gave all he had. It was plenty.

military news

War Department … my ass

Pete Hegseth’s continual references recently to the agency he leads as the “Department of War” made me want to puke all over myself.

His audience that day happened to be all the flag officers summoned to Quantico, Va., for some sort of pep talk from the Secretary of Defense and his boss, Donald Trump. I was struck by frozen reaction among the flag officers to the “war” reference that Hegseth kept repeating. They didn’t cheer. They didn’t even clap politely.

Why? I believe I know why. It is because every one of the men and women who heard the fraudulent defense boss have actually seen war. Whether they flew combat missions in jet aircraft, commanded ships at sea in the midst of armed conflict, carried weapons onto battlefields or served in command positions during wartime … they all have seen war up close.

I recall a statement from Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who said that the last thing a combatant ever wants is to go to war against an enemy. The hero of Desert Storm did so during the Vietnam War, as did his boss during Desert Storm, Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Colin Powell.

Donald Trump plucked Hegseth off a “Fox and Friends Sunday” set to command the most lethal fighting force in human history. Then Trump said he wanted to change the Defense Department’s name to the War Department. It is a ridiculously provocative term, that Hegseth swallowed.

What’s more, he managed to offend many of the flag officers who heard him reference an activity about which he knows nothing.

Sickening.

Donald Trump, medical news, military news, national security

Why surround yourself with morons?

It’s a fair question, so I am going to ask it: Why does Donald J. Trump insist on surrounding himself with imbeciles and then put them in charge of vital organizations designed to protect our health and everyone from foreign and domestic enemies?

Two examples stand out. You know who they are, but I’ll spell it out anyway: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth.

RFK Jr., scion of one of the nation’s great political families — and namesake of my first political hero! — continues to astound me with his lack of knowledge of vaccines, of the value in investing in scientific research and his insistence that vaccinations do as much harm as good.

RFK Jr. needs to be shown the door. Rapidly. Without hesitation. Before more people die on his watch as secretary of health and human services. It won’t happen because RFK Jr. embodies the one thing that Trump demands: total loyalty to the notions that fly out of his mouth.

What about Hegseth, the former “Fox and Friends Sunday” co-host whom Trump plucked to become defense secretary? Spoiler alert: I categorically refuse to call him “war secretary” and head of the “war department,” per his and Trump’s name-change effort.

Hegseth summoned every flag officer in uniform to the nation’s capital, where they gathered in a room to listen to Hegseth and Trump talk to them about the need to eliminate “fat generals and admirals,” how women should have to meet the same physical training standards as men and how Trump’s deployment of troops to our nation’s cities should serve as practice for when they go into actual combat.

What is unintentionally hilarious is how Hegseth’s applause lines were greeted with stone-cold silence by the command staff … many of whom have served multiple combat deployments. These men and women are seasoned, highly skilled and effective warriors who need no lecture from a tinhorn soldier such as Hegseth about physical fitness.

And yet … Hegseth continues to disgrace our military — the most lethal and skilled organization of its kind in human history — simply by serving in a capacity for which he has earned zero qualification.

God help us!

local news, military news

Hail to the chief … and to the heroes

I want to share briefly with you an experience I had this past weekend while visiting with a member of my family who came to North Texas to visit my sons, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and me.

To be honest, I was drawn inexorably into making direct comparisons between what I saw over the weekend and what we are experiencing now in real time as events continue to unfold in D.C.

On Saturday, we drove to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. My brother-in-law had not seen it yet, but it was my third or fourth visit. I love going there, if only to allow my sappiness to show itself while touring the 9/11 exhibit at the Bush Museum. I visited with one of the docents at the front door when we entered and I told her how much I have grown to admire President Bush in recent years, particularly in light of what his most recent successor has done to denigrate the office he inherited. She nodded in agreement. She gets it.

As we walked through the myriad exhibits, I was struck by the wisdom the museum presented that came from Bush during not only in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, but in his speaking on behalf of HIV/AIDS research the investments made in the PEPFAR program that the Bush administration created, which Donald Trump wants to dismantle. Bush spoke eloquently about how the nation’s response to 9/11 was not a war “against Islam,” but a war against the terrorists who perverted a great religion.

Bush’s fingerprints can be found on efforts to reform public education during his presidency and on his efforts to enact comprehensive immigration reform.

All told, we had a wonderful experience reliving those turbulent years … and wishing for a return to the wisdom that Bush was capable of exhibiting during difficult times.

The next day we ventured to Arlington to tour the National Medal of Honor Museum. I’ve written already about that experience. I won’t repeat myself.

However, I do want to note that I found the absence of meaningful remarks from the current president about the heroism on display at the Medal of Honor Museum to be striking. He has draped the medal around the necks of several heroes during his terms in office, but in each ceremony I have watched from afar I cannot eradicate from my memory the insults he has hurled at wounded warriors, his refusal to visit American graves in France during the D-Day commemoration, the horrible things he has said about a Gold Star family — Iraqi immigrants — whose son died fighting in Iraq while wearing a U.S. Army uniform.

I know I am not not the only American patriot who thinks this way. It saddens me terribly. However, it did not a single thing to take away the respect, admiration and love I feel toward the 3,600 men who have received the nation’s highest military honor.

I am a proud American patriot who was thrilled to see these exhibits designed to bring out the love I have for my country and for the people who have served it.

military news

Museum honors men of honor

As a rule, I don’t do reviews of sites I see on this blog, but I visited an exhibit in Arlington, Texas, over the weekend that clearly deserves a mention and a few words of the highest praise I can deliver.

My brother-in-law and I toured the National Medal of Honor Museum across the way from AT&T Stadium. To say it was an experience the likes of which were new to me would do it a terrible injustice. The museum grounds are spectacular, but more importantly the stories they tell visitors are gripping beyond measure.

The museum honors all 3,600-plus recipients of the nation’s highest award for military valor. It is resplendent in pictures of the recipients, some of the pictures showing them in combat. There is a limited amount of text accompanying the photos, and if I had one criticism of the disiplay, I would prefer to read more about the events that resulted in these men being honored with the Medal of Honor.

A quote attributed to one of the recipients tells how he was honored for taking action “on the worst day of my life.” I have seen countless quotes from men who, when asked what propelled them to act with such mind-blowing valor, would say, “I just knew I was going to die so I acted to save the lives of my friends.”

The museum has a virtual reality exhibit in which visitors can sit in a UH-1 Huey helicopter simulator, don glasses and be placed in a medical evacuation mission, or “dust off” flight, to rescue personnel wounded in action in Vietnam.

I am proud to have made the acquaintance of two Medal of Honor recipients, Navy SEAL Mike Thornton and Army Ranger Bob Howard. Their exploits are the stuff of legend. And one of the recipients, Army Lt. Audie Murphy, indeed achieved legendary for his exploits in saving a French village from Nazi troops near the end of the World War II. I mention Murphy because Farmersville, where I work on occasion as a freelance reporter, honors its “favorite son” Murphy every year with a day commemorating his untold heroism.

I was thrilled to see the exhibit and to honor the men who fought so valiantly on so many battlefields to defend our democratic way of life.

Wow!

military news

‘Common defence,’ not war

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution lays out the framework for the nation’s governing document in words that most fifth-graders can understand with absolute clarity.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence … “

I’ll stop there. The “common defence” is the operative phrase for this brief blog post.

The common defense is administered by the most lethal fighting force human history ever has seen. And yet, Donald J. Trump wants to rename our Department of Defense into the Department of War.

What is wrong with (a) that statement and (b) the nimrod who wants to refocus the Pentagon’s fundamental mission?

It was known as the War Department until after World War II, which established the United States as the world’s preeminent military power. Bar fu**ing none! Along comes Donald Trump, who wants to return to the War Department moniker that to my eyes and ears seems absurdly provocative and counterintuitive to the mission of the Department of Defense, which is to defend Americans against foreign adversaries.

None of this should surprise anyone. I’m not surprised that Trump would seek to re-brand the Pentagon, even though when he was of the age when the nation could have summoned him to go to war, he chose instead to rely on some doctor’s view that he was afflicted by those infamous bone spurs.

Those of us who did answer the call of our government should be appalled that this idiot now wants to rattle our sabers with a return to something called the Department of War. What a miserable shame.

military news

Zelenskyy must take part!

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not a spectator, a bystander in what has turned out to be the bloodiest ground war in Europe since World War II.

Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago seeking to overrun the sovereign nation. It was supposed to take only a few days. The fight has turned into a quagmire, thanks in large part to the huge aid packages recommended by then-President Joe Biden.

Now, Donald Trump wants to meet with Russian goon Vladimir Putin — in Alaska, no less — to seek a way to stop the violence, the bloodshed, the war. I applaud the end Trump is seeking. I am concerned that a conclusion will not include the first political casualty of the Ukraine war, the president of the country that Putin attacked.

Zelenskyy already has rejected a Russian proposal that requires Ukraine to give back land it took from the Russian invaders. Russia is making zero concessions for the illegal invasion it launched. Or for the war crimes it has committed by bombing schools and hospitals. Or for the civilians the Russian army has killed.

Zelenskyy is not a spectator. He has been an active participant in this war. He needs a place at the negotiating table and he deserves to have his beliefs heard above the din of the battle.

military news

This bomb was … huge!

Americans are on the verge of commemorating a huge event in our national military history … but it’s nothing to celebrate.

Eighty years ago, on Aug. 6, 1945, a U.S. Army Air Force bomber took off from Tinian Island in the Pacific loaded with a single bomb. The Enola Gay would drop that bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, and it would kill tens of thousands of people in an instant. Three days later, a second B-29 flew to Nagasaki, Japan, and would do the same thing, killing tens of thousands more human beings.

Japan surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945. World War II had ended … finally!

These events mean a great deal to me. It’s a visceral feeling, given that Peter John Kanelis, a boatswain mate in the U.S. Navy, was stationed in the Philippines, preparing to take part in the invasion of Japan by U.S. and Allied forces. He was my Dad. I don’t know what he would have done during that campaign. I thank God in heaven I’ll never have to know.

I do believe that the newly sworn in president of the United States, Harry Truman, might have saved Dad’s life by making the most terrifying decision of his presidency: to drop two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Truman took office in April 1945 upon the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. The VP was a little-known U.S. senator from Missouri when FDR chose him to run with him in the 1944 election. There was little that Truman knew about war strategy when he became commander in chief. One of the secrets kept from him was the Manhattan Project underway in New Mexico to develop the A-bomb. As Truman was getting his presidential footing settled in, the brass informed him of the weapon they had.

I’m sure Truman blinked a few times while hearing about all this. But when the time came to deploy these weapons, he acted like the leader he became. He gave the go-ahead. He knew the political costs would be high, but in his mind, using this weapon would ultimately save many more lives than it would take.

One of those lives well might have been a sailor from Portland, Ore., who enlisted in the Navy on the very day the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and who would return home, marry a beautiful young woman and produce a family that included little ol’ me.

We won’t celebrate this event as a nation. Nor should we. It is an event we should commemorate nonetheless and pray to the Almighty that we never will experience it again.

However, I can say with metaphysical certitude that I well could owe my existence to a man who was willing and ready to lead a nation when it needed him the most.