Military unrest with President Obama - retired Generals criticize actions taken that have damaged morale , weakened readiness and resulted in 197 high officers being relieved of duty over 5 years ...How is it that the sequester could leave military units unable to conduct training due to lack of ammunition , when we read of DHS and other agencies buying large amounts of ammo without any seeming restrictions ? And why would a President who admires Lincolnc so much pass on participating in the 150 Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address ? Just odd.....

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/10/obama_passes_on_invitation_to.html

( Does this strike anyone else as just odd ? )


 Hopes that President Obama would be in Gettysburg Nov. 19 to take part in ceremoniescommemorating the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address were dashed Wednesday when the administration announced Obama will not attend.

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will represent the administration, the National Park Service announced. She and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson will share the keynote speaker role in the Dedication Day ceremony.

The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. in the Soldiers' National Cemetery, and will also feature the U.S. Marine Band, "President Lincoln's Own Band" from the movie "Lincoln," Gov. Tom Corbett, and a reading of the Gettysburg Address by Lincoln impersonator James Getty. In addition, 16 new citizens will take the Oath of Allegiance.

The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. and will last approximately 90 minutes. The event is free and no ticket is required, but because viewing space in the cemetery is limited, additional viewing areas for the simulcast will be provided on the lawn north of Meade’s Headquarters in Gettysburg National Military Park; at the Majestic Theater, 25 Carlisle St., and the Gateway Gettysburg Theater, 20 Presidential Circle.

For full details of events planned surrounding the 150th anniversary of the famous speech, visit this link.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/top-generals-obama-is-purging-the-military/

WASHINGTON – Retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, recipient of the U.S. military’s highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, as well as other top retired officers, say President Obama’s agenda is decimating the morale of the U.S. ranks to the point members no longer feel prepared to fight or have the desire to win.

“There is no doubt he (Obama) is intent on emasculating the military and will fire anyone who disagrees with him” over such issues as “homosexuals, women in foxholes, the Obama sequester,” Brady told WND.

“They are purging everyone, and if you want to keep your job, just keep your mouth shut,” one source told WND.

Not only are military service members being demoralized and the ranks’ overall readiness being reduced by the Obama administration’s purge of key leaders, colonels – those lined up in rank to replace outgoing generals – are quietly taking their careers in other directions.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, who was with Delta Force and later Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence under President George W. Bush, says it is worrying that four-star generals are being retired at the rate that has occurred under Obama.

“Over the past three years, it is unprecedented for the number of four-star generals to be relieved of duty, and not necessarily relieved for cause,” Boykin said.

“I believe there is a purging of the military,” he said. “The problem is worse than we have ever seen.”

Boykin points out that the military adheres to the constitutional requirement of a civilian leadership over the military. As a consequence, officers are not allowed to criticize their civilian leadership, as occurred when Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal was relieved in 2010 of his command of the International Security Assistance Force and commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.

He was relieved due to what has been described as unflattering remarks made about Vice President Joe Biden and other administration officials in a Rolling Stone magazine article. He was recalled to Washington where Obama accepted his resignation as commander in Afghanistan.

Boykin says that because of the fundamental civilian leadership over the military, McCrystal was “appropriately forced to retire.”

Some officers were involved in adulterous affairs and those situations, Boykin said, also were grounds for dismissal.

Boykin specifically said that because of the civilian-military relationship, he did not see any prospect for a “coup” coming from the military ranks.

“People I’ve spoken to would like to see the military ‘fulfill their constitutional duty and take out the president,’” Boykin said. “Our Constitution puts a civilian in charge of the military and as a result a coup would not be constitutional. You’re not going to see a coup in the military.”

Nevertheless, Boykin said the future of the military is becoming more and more of concern, since colonels who would be generals also are being relieved of duty, if they show that they’re not going to support Obama’s agenda, which critics have described as socialist.

“I talk to a lot of folks who don’t support where Obama is taking the military, but in the military they can’t say anything,” Boykin said.

As a consequence, he said, the lower grades therefore have decided to leave, having been given the signal that there is no future in the military for them.

Boykin referred to recent reports that Obama has purged some 197 officers in the past five years.

These reports suggest these officers were suspected of disloyalty or disagreed with the Obama administration on policy or force-structure issues. As Boykin pointed out, a number of them have been relieved of duty for no given reason.

“Morale is at an unprecedented low,” Boykin said, part of which is due to sequestration.

Sequestration has seriously cut back operational readiness for the military to the point where Boykin said that often they have no ammunition and are unable to conduct training because of the planned cuts.

“These officers want to train for war but are not be allowed to” because of the preoccupation not only with sequestration, but what Boykin said were other concerns surfacing in the military under Obama as commander-in-chief.

He referred specifically to the recent repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which now allows openly homosexual personnel in the military. In addition, he said the integration of women into the infantry “will reduce readiness of units.” He also was critical of the rules of engagement which he says favor “political correctness over our ability to fight to win.”

“The last time we won an all-out war was in 1944,” Boykin said. “Now, we don’t have the will to win.”

Brady, who was a legendary “Dust Off” air ambulance pilot in Vietnam and detailed his experiences in his book, “Dead Men Flying: Victory in Viet Nam,” said, “The problem is military people will seldom, while on duty, go on the record over such issues, and many will not ever, no matter how true.

“I hear from many off the record who are upset with the current military leadership and some are leaving and have left in the past,” he said.

Brady referred to additional problems in today’s military including “girly-men leadership [and] medals for not shooting and operating a computer. This president will never fight if there is any reason to avoid it and with a helpless military he can just point to our weakness and shrug his shoulders.”

Brady made similar references in a recent article he wrote for WND in which he said “just when you thought the leadership of this government could not get any worse, it does. Never in history has an administration spawned another scandal to cover the current one.”

The reference was to the recent firing of a number of generals to mask “Obama’s serial scandals, all prefaced by lies – Fast and Furious, Benghazi, NSA, IRS” among others.

WND reported that three of the nine firings by Obama this year alone were linked to the controversy surrounding the Sep. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the CIA special mission in Benghazi, Libya.

In one case, U.S. Army Gen. Carter Ham, who commanded U.S. African Command when the consulate was attacked and four Americans were killed, was highly critical of the decision by the State Department not to send in reinforcements.

Obama has insisted there were no reinforcements available that night.

But Ham contends reinforcements could have been sent in time, and he said he never was given a stand-down order. However, others contend that he was given the order but defied it. He ultimately was relieved of his command and retired.

Now, new information in the Washington Times reveals there were Delta Force personnel in Tripoli at the time of the attack and two members volunteered to be dispatched to Benghazi to assist in protecting the Benghazi compound, contrary to stand-down orders from the State Department.

Another flag officer involved in the Benghazi matter – which remains under congressional investigation – was Rear Adm. Charles Gaouette. He commanded the Carrier Strike Group.

He contends aircraft could have been sent to Libya in time to help the Americans under fire. He later was removed from his post for alleged profanity and making “racially insensitive comments.”

Army Major Gen. Ralph Baker was the commander of the Joint Task Force-Horn at Camp Lamar in Djibouti, Africa. Baker contended that attack helicopters could have reached the consulate in time on the night of the attack.

“To understand the insufferable assaults on our military and veterans, who should be exempt from political squabbles but are often at the forefront of Obama threats, we need to understand the psyche of the elite in this country led by Obama,” Brady said.

“It is no accident that the president used the Obama sequester and shutdown to punish the military family,” he said. “It is part of his DNA. In fact it is in the psyche of the entire liberal/progressive establishment – the elite. President Clinton outed himself and this ilk when he declared his loathing of the military. Who could believe progressives/liberals care about veterans and military?”

Brady said that some people who fear for the future of the United States believe it needs to be “re-moralized.”

“We cannot survive without increasing patriotism, a youth schooled in the Constitution,” Brady said. “If the uncommon common American is to prevail against the elite, we need to return to the truths of our Constitution.

“We need to realize that this recent assault on the military and veterans is no accident,” Brady added. “It is purposeful. The elite loathe our military, the one sure guarantor of our freedom. These elite – not a shutdown or default – and their assault on the Constitution and our military are the real threat to our future.”

Army Major Gen. Paul E. Vallely similarly has been very vocal in his opposition to the Obama administration.

Vallely said the White House won’t investigate its own officials but finds it easy to fire military commanders “who have given their lives for their country.”

“Obama will not purge a civilian or political appointee because they have bought into Obama’s ideology,” Vallely said. “The White House protects their own. That’s why they stalled on the investigation into Fast and Furious, Benghazi and Obamacare. He’s intentionally weakening and gutting our military, Pentagon and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged.”

Vallely served in the Vietnam War and retired in 1993 as deputy Commanding General, Pacific Command. Today, he is chairman of the Military Committee for the Center for Security Policy and is co-author of the book “Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror.”

Duty personnel seem to back up this concern, suggesting that the firings are meant to send a message to “young officers down through the ranks” not to criticize the president or White House politics.




http://www.infowars.com/dhs-buys-more-weapons-to-use-against-americans/

DHS Buys More Weapons to Use Against Americans

Infowars.com
October 31, 2013

Homeland Security to purchase “riot expansion kits” & 240,000 pepper spray projectiles as agency prepares for domestic unrest.

This article was posted: Thursday, October 31, 2013 at 5:47 am

http://www.infowars.com/homeland-security-spends-80-million-on-armed-guards-for-civil-disturbances/

Homeland Security Spends $80 Million On Armed Guards for “Civil Disturbances”

IRS buildings to be protected; What is the federal government preparing for?

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
October 21, 2013

The Department of Homeland Security is set to spend $80 million dollars on hiring a raft of armed guards to protect IRS and other government buildings in upstate New York during “public demonstrations” and “civil disturbances,” once again prompting concerns that the federal agency is preparing for food stamp riots, anti-tax demonstrations or some other form of domestic unrest.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

According to a solicitation posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the Federal Protective Service (a unit of the DHS), is looking for a contractor to supply armed Protective Security Officers (PSOs) to guard a variety of government buildings in the region, including “IRS buildings(s) during tax season.”

“PSOs will be required to be armed and some posts may require screening of visitors using x-rays/magnetometers,” states the solicitation.

The armed guards will be used during “public demonstration(s),” as well as “civil disturbances, or other unanticipated events on an as-needed basis.”

“This acquisition is for approximately 380,000 hours of Basic Service, 20,000 hours of Temporary Additional Services and 3,500 hours of Emergency Security Services per year. Currently, there are an estimated 205 guards protecting approximately 95 posts at over 55 buildings. The estimated value of this Contract is between $75M and $80M,” states the solicitation.

Why does the DHS feel the need to blow $80 million dollars at a time of cutbacks on yet more armed guards to protect government buildings during “public demonstrations”? What is the federal agency preparing for? Food stamp riots? Anti-IRS demonstrations? Or some other form of civil disorder?

In June, it emerged that the DHS was purchasing top of the range body armor and helmets for FPS guards as part of preparations for “riot control situations.” This followed a controversial drill last yeardubbed “Operation Shield,” during which FPS agents armed with semiautomatic guns were posted outside a Social Security office in Florida. The unannounced exercise centered around “detecting the presence of unauthorized persons and potentially disruptive or dangerous activities.” Residents were forced to show identification papers to the guards during the drill.

Could the increased security around IRS buildings be related to the introduction of Obamacare? The federal government has consistently denied that any fines pertaining to Obamacare non-compliance could be seized from bank accounts, despite reports last year that the IRS had hired 16,500 new agentsto harass citizens who attempt to evade the new law.

As we reported earlier this year, Federal Protective Service officers were hired to guard an IRS building in St. Louis during a Tea Party protest against the federal agency’s discrimination targeting conservative groups. The FPS has previously been used to spy on protesters. In 2011, the DHS asserted that it had every right to spy on peaceful protest groups and had been using Federal Protective Service (FPS) agents to do so since at least 2006.

In March, Arkansas State Fusion Center Director Richard Davis admitted that the federal agency spies on Americans deemed to be “anti-government,” noting that the DHS concentrates on, “domestic terrorism and certain groups that are anti-government. We want to kind of take a look at that and receive that information,” so-called threats which included people, “putting political stickers in public bathrooms or participating in movements against the death penalty.”

http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/01/curious-about-homeland-securitys-massive

Curious About Homeland Security's Massive Ammo Buys? So is the Government Accountability Office

Brian Doherty|May. 1, 2013 11:50 am

The Department of Homeland Security has raised eyebrows with what wasfirst reported as plans to buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammo over the next few years---enough for five shots in the dome of each and every American--but which the agency now claims is the far more reasonable (so they seem to think) 750 million rounds.

Photo credit: Tigresblanco / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Amongst the eyebrows raised are those of the Government Accountability Office, which is, according toU.S. News and World Report, planning to look into this matter:

The Government Accountability Office tells Whispers it is now investigating large ammunition purchases made by the Department of Homeland Security. Chuck Young, a spokesman for GAO, says the investigation of the purchases is "just getting underway."

The congressional investigative agency is jumping into the fray just as legislation was introduced in both the Senate and the House to restrict the purchase of ammo by some government agencies (except the Department of Defense). The AMMO Act, introduced Friday, would prevent agencies from buying more ammunition if "stockpiles" are greater than what they were in previous administrations.

Why do they need so much goddamned firepower? It's all about extensive training, says Homeland Security's Humberto Medina to a House Oversight Committee hearing. Extensive, extensive training. "They have to be proficient at a very high level," says Medina.