Washington has a new security team in town and so far they are playing
more like the Harlem Globetrotters' hand picked perennial losing opponent,
the Washington Generals, than a Washington National Security Dream Team.
Chuck Hagel's critics are saying that when he was being vetted by the
President's team for his potential Senate Confirmation hearing...they asked
- are there any problematic emails or offensive 4 letter word texts out there
we should be concerned about...and he immediately said..."other than Gays
or Jews?"
CIA Director nominee John Brennan was highlighted by the President for
his integrity and commitment to the values that define us as Americans
while the ACLU was questioning his role in the Bush/Cheney policies of
torture, abuse, secret prisons and water boarding.
And we were only lucky to have John Kerry nominated for Secretary of State
because Susan Rice knew less about Benghazi on "Meet The Press" than Colin
Powell knew about weapons of mass destruction at the United Nations.
But regardless of who is circling the musical chairs of the Military Industrial
Complex, when the music stops, will they all sit down with the same traditional
mindset.
Instead of reacting to the fact that World War III is an economic battle for
superiority and invincibility that has already begun...will they simply overreact,
when China buys the equivalent of another used aircraft carrier on eBay and tout
that as a desire for global military domination.
Will they continue to support a Military Budget that has grown 100% since 9/11
and cost us more money in one year than what the next 17 largest countries spend
combined.
Will they fail to see that the Germanys, Japans and Indias of the world are free
to spend their money on infrastructure and technologies...while we borrow and
spend our money to defend them!
Will they agree that yes, we are the only global Super Power - yet our greatest
threat to National Security is not a bomb or an unpredictable hot spot, but a blind
eye to the danger of our own domestic economic battle and the inability of our
two political parties to act in our own best interest to address it.
In this current World War, we have already lost the battle with China for the largest
manufacturing base in the world.
We have been losing the struggle with Japan over who will manufacture the most cars,
and we are in a fierce firefight with India for the heart of the Computer Programming
and Service Industries.
Our Allies in Western Europe, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom
have raised the white flag, as their people are demonstrating in the streets from harsh
austerity programs and high unemployment!
...and wasn't it just a few short months ago that the "99% were not just overseas but
"Occupying Wall Street" our parks and sleeping under the trees.
The freedom that we are protecting has historically been threatened by dictators
and despots that rise to power in harsh economic times...Hitler initially gained
popularity not only because people were afraid of him...but because people
were afraid there wasn't going to be "a chicken in every pot".
Our National Security team needs to arm our country not simply with the confidence
that we will have the best weapons systems and clandestine operations, but that they
know where the economic battlefields are...where the war has already begun...and
most importantly... know where it needs to be won.
China is more concerned with a middle class that now exceeds 300 million people, than building and paying for the next 300 nuclear bombs. Germany is now at war with England over who should be a part of the EU instead of who will conquer and divide it.
And we need to win the war on returning to being the nation that exports the greatest
products, services and expertise to the world...and not just the leading exporters of
our treasure of young men and women in uniform.
John Kerry, as a very young Vietnam War Veteran, once said to Congress..." how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? "
Well how do you ask the next soldier to go to war...when our Political Leaders are not united to win the economic wars that are fought on their battlefield and choose to fight against each other instead.
Always trying to win a political fight for power...rather than fighting for a win for our Country.
Our National Security Team must begin with them...and if we can win the battle at home...than we should feel very comfortable that we will always win... the larger battle abroad.