What's Missing in the State of the Union?
This evening, President Bush will deliver his seventh State of the Union address to the nation. According to early reports, the President will focus on the war in Iraq, healthcare and even environmental policies. And while we're likely to hear about making our military stronger, and honoring the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, it is doubtful that President Bush will address the best way to do both: by repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and welcoming gay patriots into our armed forces.
In fact, the military's ban seems to be one of the President's least favorite topics to talk about. In 2000, while campaigning for his first term, then-candidate Bush simply remarked that he's "a don't ask, don't tell man." Six years passed before his White House press secretary Tony Snow dodged the question a second time, telling reporters that it's up to Congress and the military to settle the question.
But as commander-in-chief, President Bush has a responsibility to uphold military readiness, and to ensure our armed forces have the best and brightest reporting for duty. And as a President who reminds us that he constantly listens to the counsel of commanders in the field, one wonders if he's heard what those same commanders are saying about this issue.
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, retired General John Shalikashvili, has called for an end to the ban. As has Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy, USA (Ret.) and countless other high-ranking leaders whose opinions carry great respect inside the Pentagon. But despite their counsel, the commander-in-chief has remained mum on the issue, refusing to talk about what possible justification exists for maintaining the ban or, in the absence of any such justification, what steps can be taken to dismantle it.
And even thought we're unlikely to hear about the issue tonight, you can still email the President, and ask him to step up in support of every service member, regardless of sexual orientation, by supporting an end to the ban. If you write, and receive a response to your inquiry, share it with us, by emailing blog@sldn.org.
The State of the Union, after all, is at its strongest when the American people demand that issues important to them be addressed.
- Steve Ralls
posted by SLDN at
8:29 AM
1 Comments:
Your post has some excellent points. Here's some additional data:
The Department of Defense, headquartered in the Pentagon, is one of the most massive organizations on the planet, with net annual operating costs of $635 billion, assets worth $1.3 trillion, liabilities of $1.9 trillion and more thatn 2.9 million military and civilian personnel as of fiscal year 2005.
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
It is difficult to convey the complexity of the way DOD works to someone who has not experienced it. This is a massive machine with so many departments and so much beaurocracy that no president, including Bush totally understands it.
Presidents, Congressmen, Cabinet Members and Appointees project a knowledgeable demeanor but they are spouting what they are told by career people who never go away and who train their replacements carefully. These are military and civil servants with enormous collective power, armed with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Defense Industrial Security Manuals, compartmentalized classification structures and "Rice Bowls" which are never mixed.
Our society has slowly given this power structure its momentum which is constant and extraordinarily tough to bend. The cost to the average American is exhorbitant in terms of real dollars and bad decisions. Every major power structure member in the Pentagon's many Washington Offices and Field locations in the US and Overseas has a counterpart in Defense Industry Corporate America. That collective body has undergone major consolidation in the last 10 years.
What used to be a broad base of competitive firms is now a few huge monoliths, such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Boeing.
Government oversight committees are carefully stroked. Sam Nunn and others who were around for years in military and policy oversight roles have been cajoled, given into on occasion but kept in the dark about the real status of things until it is too late to do anything but what the establishment wants. This still continues - with increasing high technology and potential for abuse.
Please examine the following link to testimony given by Franklin C. Spinney before Congress in 2002. It provides very specific information from a whistle blower who is still blowing his whistle (Look him up in your browser and you get lots of feedback) Frank spent the same amount of time as I did in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) but in government quarters. His job in government was a similar role to mine in defense companies. Frank's emphasis in this testimony is on the money the machine costs us. It is compelling and it is noteworthy that he was still a staff analyst at the Pentagon when he gave this speech. I still can't figure out how he got his superior's permission to say such blunt things. He was extremely highly respected and is now retired.
http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/spinney_testimony_060402.htm
The brick wall I often refer to is the Pentagon's own arrogance. It will implode by it's own volition, go broke, or so drastically let down the American people that it will fall in shambles. Rest assured the day of the implosion is coming. The machine is out of control.
If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting on this blog entitled, "Odyssey of Armaments"
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html
On the same subject, you may also be interested in the following sites from the "Project On Government Oversight", observing it's 25th Anniversary and "Defense In the National Interest", insired by Franklin Spinney and contributed to by active/reserve, former, or retired military personnel.
http://pogo.org/
http://www.d-n-i.net/top_level/about_us.htm
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