Steadfast and Loyal - Congressman Allen B. West
Future POTUS
By Dell Hill
Despite
the fact I’m a black hating, Bible grasping, gun toting Conservative, I
can’t wait for the day when I can refer to THIS Patriot as “Mr.
President”.
Dear Patriot,
Greetings to our
constituents, fellow Floridians, and Americans all across the country.
It has been a very
decisive week for international events from across the Maghreb to the
Middle East.
There is a quote I
would like to share with all of you from Roger Sherman, one of the
original signers of the Declaration of the Independence. Sherman said,
“Sad will be the day when the American people forget their traditions
and their history, and no longer remember that the country they love,
the institutions they cherish, and the freedom they hope to preserve,
were born from the throes of armed resistance to tyranny, and nursed in
the rugged arms of fearless men.”
Years ago as a
young Captain in the United States Army, I transited across the span of
the globe landing in Saudi Arabia. There I fought in a combat operation
called Operation Desert Shield/Storm. I was serving in the venerable and
historic Army's 1st Infantry Division. With our superior open desert
warfare weaponry and tactics we, along with our fellow Combat Divisions,
routed Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army.
However, as we sat
there after cessation of combat activity, we pondered when we would have
to return to this desert in our careers. We knew we had not completed
the mission and allowed two major Republican Guard Divisions to flee
north, as we were told to cease fire and consolidate.
Consequently, 12
years later as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 4th Infantry Division,
another of the Army's historic Divisions, I then led a Battalion across
the span of the globe to the Kuwait we liberated- to again combat Saddam
Hussein.
I want to take just
a moment to reflect and offer my heartfelt gratitude and condolences to
the “rugged arms of fearless men and women” who gave some, and to the
families and loved ones of those who gave all. I shall never forget
those with whom I served, or any of those who served.
These men and women
answered a call, and let us not debate the call itself because that is
not what fearless men and women do. They fought a new style of warfare.
They initially
triumphed, suffered defeats, and then adjusted to again bring about
tactical victory for the United States.
However, it is not
the tactical victory which concerns me- it is strategic shortsightedness
that does. There are only two ways to end a war, a conflict or an
engagement, even an “overseas contingency operation”- you either win or
lose.
President Barack
Obama stated that he has kept his campaign promise, he has declared
success. What we saw this week was a Campaigner-in-Chief - not a
Commander-in-Chief.
What we saw was
another American President who does not comprehend strategic security
vision, and this goes all the way back to President Jimmy Carter.
Just weeks after
uncovering an Iranian-backed assassination plot on American soil, we
have given a green light to Iran to expand their regional hegemonic
dominance.
This desire to
project their power could extend from Iran to Iraq to Syria to Lebanon
to the Gaza Strip. We have once again abandoned the world’s largest
ethnic group without a homeland, the Kurds, to fend for themselves,
trapped between Iran and Turkey.
We have left a
clear pathway for the envelopment and potential demise of the modern day
State of Israel.
We have once again
made a politically expedient shortsighted decision in the Middle East,
not one which assesses future security ramifications. These decisions
always result in being seen by our enemies in that region as a sign of
weakness, not strength.
How is it that the
United States of America has lost such respect and standing that we
could not even secure a Status of Forces agreement to protect our
fearless men and women in uniform?
Truly, it is not
just a budget deficit which threatens our Republic, it is even worse -
it is a leadership deficit.
Yes, the death of
Libyan dictator Moammar Ghaddafi is reason for freedom-loving people to
celebrate, but what or who will fill the void?
We can ill afford
another Egypt; just as we saw what happened after the Shah of Iran was
deposed.
Furthermore, where
are those 30,000 shoulder fired missiles? I fear they will end-up
proliferated throughout the region, especially in Gaza Strip and
possibly in Iraq. Heaven help us if they find their way to Mexican drug
cartels and into America.
As a final point
involving our nation's domestic policy -- this week we found out the
“misery index” in America has gone up to a 13 rating. On inauguration
day the index was 7.8, meaning the latest rating represents a 65%
increase.
However, we saw
Vice President Joe Biden attempting to use the most despicable
fear-mongering tactics in order to advocate for more federal government
“stimulus” spending.
I have a simple
question for the Vice President, what happened to the $1 trillion in
stimulus spending targeted to teachers and first responders?
It seems this is
just another union driven payback, especially when one remembers it was
Richard Trumka sitting in the First Lady’s box during the Joint Session
of Congress speech, where a desperate President demanded 18 times, “Pass
this Bill, now.”
The laughable
hypocrisy is that the President’s American Jobs Act has not one Democrat
co-sponsor in the House of Representatives, still, to my knowledge.
(Dell’s
Note: Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have now signed as co-sponsors of
that proposed tax raising legislation disguised as a “jobs act”.)
It is truly a
leadership deficit which threatens the America “born from the throes of
armed resistance to tyranny, and nursed in the rugged arms of fearless
American men and women.”
In
closing, remember the words of John Stuart Mill, “War is an ugly thing,
but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral
and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war is much
worse.”
And Plato reminds us, “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
God bless and keep our fallen
heroes and wounded warriors who have served in Iraq and all across the
21st Century Battlefield, as well as their families and loved ones, who
stand and ensure the failures and poor strategic decisions of elected
officials never allow the destruction of our beloved Constitutional
Republic.
Steadfast and Loyal,
Allen B. West
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