LEAKED PENTAGON MEMO… [Disturbing]

By Allen West10:21am
September 7, 2016


I’ve often wondered what would happen if Barack Obama saw the real enemies of the State as he does his political opposition. If that were the case, we’d certainly have a more stable and secure global environment. When Obama tries to give Vladimir Putin a “stare down,” Putin knows there is no there, there.

However, one thing’s for sure, Obama despises his political opposition and will do anything to destroy, denigrate and discredit them, and that includes damaging our national security…as a recently uncovered Pentagon memo brings to light.

As reported by Politicopro.com, “The Pentagon has crafted a secret plan to play “hardball” against House Speaker Paul Ryan’s defense spending proposal, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO that calls for pitting the House and Senate against each other, capitalizing on the “discomfort” of one key Republican lawmaker and finding ways to undermine the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

The five-page strategy blueprint also suggests possibly enlisting top military brass to help make the case that the Republican speaker’s budget “gimmick” would weaken the nation’s defenses.

The memo, prepared for Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Deputy Secretary Bob Work, reads at times like an intelligence assessment of congressional leaders. It provides an unusually clear window into the tactics the Defense Department’s top officials are using in an increasingly partisan feud over their budget – particularly striking for an agency that seeks to avoid the perception of involvement in election-year politics.

The strategy it lays out will come to a head as Congress returns Tuesday, and will probably spill into the lame-duck session, as the House and Senate decide whether to include an extra $18 billion in war funding in the final defense authorization and appropriations bills they send to President Barack Obama.

The White House strongly objects to Ryan’s proposal to boost the Pentagon’s budget without increasing domestic spending, both of which are under tight caps imposed by a 2011 spending deal.“We should attack” Ryan’s plan “and be prepared to play hardball opposing it,” says the May 13 memo, which calls for applying both “public and private pressure” on lawmakers to ensure the House Republican proposal doesn’t become law. That includes appealing to “media commentators” to help make the department’s case and possibly having Carter lobby congressional Democrats at one of their caucus meetings – a step that it acknowledges “risks the appearance of partisanship.”

In assessing the motivations of House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry , the memo says the Texas Republican is “still smarting” from tactics the White House used in last year’s bout with Congress over defense spending. Asked to respond to the memo, a Republican aide to Thornberry’s panel said it was striking “how cynical it is.”

“This isn’t a game of poker – this is national security,” said the aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “They see the chairman’s legitimate oversight concerns and policy concerns that he is trying to address in the bill as nothing more than a talking point.” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said he would not discuss “internal department deliberations” but added the department’s “strong opposition to the House proposal should not be a surprise.”

If there’s one thing that shouldn’t be politicized, it’s our national security. We’re coming up on the 15th anniversary of 9-11 — sadly many don’t even recall that fateful day. It’s a day I’ll never forget, watching the plane on a live feed, strike the second tower in NYC and then seeing the crash at the Pentagon, where a very close friend, retired LTC and Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell, was horribly burned and scarred for life.

On that day, the Islamic jihadists didn’t seek out a building with Democrats or Republicans, they sought to kill Americans. And how utterly sad — pathetic actually — that we have a memo from the very same Pentagon using the terminology of “attacking” funding for our military. And how dare this “president” – still struggling with that — hold our men and women in uniform and their families hostage for increased domestic spending for his vision of expanding the welfare nanny-state and the dependency society?
I will ask a simple question, what freaking rock did this guy crawl out from under? And even worse, how could we, this great nation, America, elect and reelect someone so seemingly demented and misguided in upholding the most vital oath, to protect the American people? What type of person is Barack Obama and his progressive socialist acolytes that they’d play Russian roulette with our national security?

And let me be very blunt: whom does Secretary of Defense Ash Carter serve?

So, this person masquerading as our SecDef is going up on Capitol Hill to lobby against our men and women in uniform? It appears he’s nothing more than a puppet caring little about those in uniform who stand upon freedom’s rampart, dedicated to safeguarding our way of life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness.

We can ill afford to allow this scourge to hold power in America any more. Now, I’ve written on countless occasions about how we need to rein in the Department of Defense and make it fiscally accountable. I support auditing the DoD. But, who among you can agree with this memo — which obviously some brave person in the Pentagon leaked — someone with a conscience. And I can only imagine the witch hunt going on to find the leak. May God bless them and protect them.

There can be no debate that the sequestration has adversely affected our defense readiness. I abhor budget gimmicks, but at this time when we have combat aviation maintenance crews scouring bone yards and museums for spare parts we’re at a critical moment. And instead of playing partisan political games, we should be “providing for the common defense.”

“The newly obtained strategy memo spells out the Pentagon’s tactics in greater detail. The blueprint – written by Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord and legislative affairs chief Stephen Hedger, both former congressional aides – describes Obama’s threat to veto this year’s defense policy and spending bills as “the principal weapon at our disposal.”

But it also says Carter might have to take an “all in” approach to opposing the House GOP plan. At times, the memo appears to step up to the edge of what tactics are considered acceptable for the Pentagon as it lobbies Congress.

In discussing its efforts to keep outside experts “informed” about its opposition to Ryan’s plan, for example, it adds that “the department cannot advocate that such individuals take any specific actions.”

At issue is a move by House leaders this year and last year to use a supplemental war spending account, called “Overseas Contingency Operations,” to increase overall defense spending while leaving other federal agencies under strict congressional budget caps. The Defense Department’s base budget is subject to these caps, but its war-spending account is not – so Republicans have sought to game the system by using overseas money to fund base programs.”

Now, perhaps if we had a commander in chief who didn’t do as he did last year, and veto the first draft of last year’s defense authorization bill over the very same issue, it wouldn’t come to this. But obviously Obama doesn’t understand we provide for the common defense…not provide for the common welfare, in the Constitution.

Barack Obama and his minions have reached some very low lows, but this one beats them all, in my assessment. He’s dispatching the Secretary of Defense to Capitol Hill to lobby against his political opposition seeking to strengthen our defense posture and care for those who bear the burden of our national security.

This memo reflects such a depraved state of mind and existence that it’s unconscionable to believe this is happening in our America. So, let me close by saying, the day Obama departs the White House cannot come soon enough…and think as you may, he must not be replaced by someone like Hillary Clinton who is even more corrupt, deceitful and destructive.
http://www.allenbwest.com/allen/leak...emo-disturbing