By Capt Joseph R. John, on February 25, 2016

In the below listed Op Ed by Admiral James A. Lyons, Jr. ’52, USN (Ret), former Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, he highlights the latest inept directive degrading the strength of the US Armed Forces.  The “Climate Change” directive is the latest inept directive designed to hobble the US Armed Forces.  It is a policy directive among a whole range of the Obama administration’s same inept policies and directives that have been degrading the “Combat Effectiveness” of the US Armed Forces for the last 7 years.  

Obama continues to issue these directives, with absolutely no opposition from the Republican Leadership in Congress.  The US Congress has the authority and power to oppose Obama’s steady stream of inept directives designed to hobble the US Armed Forces by using the power of the purse to restrict DOD Undersecretaries, and by ignoring their authority to execute their Constitutional authority, as an equal branch of government, enforcing Article 1., Section 8, Clause 14 of the US Constitution "To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the Land and Naval Forces;" to aggressively oppose such an inept policy directive.

Obama’s dangerous polices and blunders over the last 7 years have made the US more vulnerable to the enemies of the Republic as outlined below.  Those actions over the last 7 years by Obama were designed to make sure that the US would no longer be the only Superpower in the world.  The last two Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullins, USN (Ret) and General Martin Dempsey, USA (Ret) did Obama bidding in a steady series of policies changes that have negatively affected the National Defense of the Republic as follows:   

(1) They covered up the fact that two armed and ready US Air Force F-16Cs aircraft were sitting on the tarmac in Aviona, Italy 50 minutes away from Benghazi, that an AC-130H Spectre gunship was manned and ready on the Tarmac in Sigonella, Sicily, 45 minutes away from Benghazi, and that the US Army In-Extremis Force, 130 manned Charlie Company (known as C-1/10) was ready on the tarmac in Croatia, less than 3 hours away from Benghazi.  The only reason the rescue wasn’t ordered, was because Obama refused to execute “Cross Border Authority” which was required to launch a rescue mission to save the lives of the two Navy SEALs, who could have been easily saved, but they were killed 7 hours and 35 minutes after the attack began----hoping beyond hope that rescue aircraft less than one hour away would be launched to save them.

(2) They issued and enforced the new & dangerous Rules of Engagement (ROE) on US Combat Forces in “Harm’s Way." Those dangerous ROE were responsible for increasing combat deaths by 458%/year, and increased the wounding & maiming of thousands of military personnel by 378%/year.  Those Obama REO endangers the lives of all US military in combat, and led to the death of 17 members of SEAL Team SIX on the Extortion 17 helo flight, following their successful operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.

(3) Both Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff supervised the downsizing of the US Navy to the number of ships that the Navy had in its fleet before WWI, reduced the strength of the US Army to the manning level it had before WWII, and allowed the US Air Force to become a much smaller and older than in any time since 1947.  Instead of resigning in protest, they presided over Obama’s hallowing out of the US Armed Forces, while China, Russia, Iran, and ISIS increased and modernized their Armed Forces.  

(4) They presided over the purging of hundreds of Senior Officers, General Officers, and Flag Officers that opposed Obama’s hallowing of the US Armed Forces, and issued directives that removal of thousands of senior enlisted Non Commissioned Officers who opposed Obama’s systematic hollowing out of the US Armed Forces and his Social Experiment On Diversity, which violated their long well held traditions of service. 

(5) They allowed Obama to force the destructive “Social Experiment On Diversity” into the US Armed Forces resulting in the violation of Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, the degrading of unit cohesiveness, forced transgender recruiting, was destructive to unit moral, negatively affected unit “Combat Effectiveness”, hurt retention, and resulted in the rape of 11,000 straight males by gays in the US Armed Forces in a one year period.

(6) Obama’s directives are now forcing women into tip of the spear combat hardened units such as US Marine Corps Infantry, US Navy SEAL Teams, the Delta Force, the Green Berets, and US Army Ranger Battalions by degrading the physical fitness qualifications for those commands.   

(7) For nearly 7 years, the new slate of Politically Correct Flag and General Officers promoted by Obama, to take the place of Flag and General Officers removed from active duty for opposing the hollowing out of the US Armed Forces and opposed Obama’s Social Experiment On Diversity, are now implementing the “Climate Change” directives into all levels of command throughout the US Armed Forces.

(8) Obama recently turned his back on 70 years of close relations with friendly Sunni allies in the Middle East (Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrein), by executing a Nuclear Weapons Agreement (approved by the Republican-led Congress) that Obama and Hillary negotiated with Iran (the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, who have been killing and maiming thousands Americans for over 40 years).  That agreement is allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons and ICBM missiles that can strike the US.  As part of the agreement, Obama gave Iran $150 billion in frozen assets, some of which, even Secretary of State Kerry admitted, will be used to sponsor terrorism.  

(9) In a White House Rose Garden Ceremony, Obama shamelessly announced the exchange of a US Army deserter, Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, USA, for five four-star Taliban General equivalents, who will soon be leading Radical Islamic Terrorists on the battlefield in Afghanistan to attack and kill US military personnel.  Members of Congress are now alleging ransoms were paid to affect Begdahl’s release.  One might term that dastardly action as aiding and abetting enemies of the United States.

(10) Obama is urging Congress to approve the closing of the Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and allow the transfer of the remaining detainees to the US, in order to try them in U.S (which would give them the same Constitutional protection that US citizens have).  LTG Thomas G. McInerney, USMA ‘59, USAF (Ret), who rose to the third highest position in the US Air Force, said the US can’t be safer when 30 percent of the Radical Islamic Terrorist detainees released from Gitmo return to radical groups and continue their efforts to kill Americans, and that closing Gitmo would be a big mistake.  “They’re beheading people because of their radical ideology of Radical Islam, the Quran, the Hadith, and Shariah law,” he said. “That’s what motivates those people, not because they’ve got people in Gitmo.  If you're (Radical Islamic Terrorists) caught on the battlefield, then you should be treated appropriately.  We didn't let the German and Japanese POWs go before the end of World War II, did we?  We ought to keep them there for the rest of their lives or until the war is over.  We should not be releasing any of them."  LTG McInerney said, "What kind of president do we have that is basically aiding and abetting the enemy?" (WND.com 2/24/16)

Obama has been free from exposure of the above unpatriotic actions designed to destabilize the US Armed Forces, because the left of center liberal media establishment is not doing its job of investigative journalism and because his newly promoted Flag and General Officers have kept quiet, so they wouldn’t get summarily relieved, while they continue to quietly witness the degrading of the strength and “Combat Effectiveness” of the US Armed Forces.  The US Congress has had the authority and power of the purse to oppose Obama’s very dangerous directives designed to degrade the strength of the US Armed Forces by acting on their Constitutional authority in Article 1., Section 8, Clause 14 of the US Constitution "To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the Land and Naval Forces;" to oppose Obama’s destructive military policies.

Obama continues to tell the American people, that “Climate Change” is the most dangerous threat facing the Republic, and that it is not the aggressiveness of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, the Islamic State, and Radical Islamic Terrorism.  He continues with one directive after another, like this most recent “Climate Change” directive to degrade the strength of the US Armed Forces.  The “Climate Change” directive is sapping the energy of personnel at all levels of the US Armed Forces, when they should be training to defend the Republic, and preparing for combat with ISIS.  Please read Admiral Lyons below listed article on the subject.

Copyright 2016, Capt. Joseph R. John. All Rights Reserved. This material can only be posted on another Web site or distributed on the Internet by giving full credit to the author.  It may not be published, broadcast, or rewritten without permission from the author.   
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How to further degrade military effectiveness
The president’s climate change order makes war fighting harder
By James A. Lyons - - Monday, February 15, 2016

When you want to take a country down, the first thing you do is weaken its military. That's why "sequestration" turned out to be the perfect storm for the Obama administration. It provided the legal basis — actually, an excuse, as in "the budget made me do it" — for the unilateral disarmament of our military forces. Consequently, our forces have been degraded to levels not seen since prior to World War II, and in the Navy's case, not since before World War I. It should be remembered that sequestration was an Obama administration initiative.

Compounding this disastrous situation, with all the instability and challenges we face throughout the world, our once-proud and uncontested military forces have also been subjected to debilitating social engineering directives. This is being done under the mantle of "diversity." These include the removal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"; forcing women into all combat roles, including our Special Forces and Navy SEALs; and the integration of "transgender" personnel into the military. None of these directives enhance readiness or capability. Of course, the restricted Rules of Engagement our soldiers are forced to observe is another factor leading to the destruction of our military capability and effectiveness, as well as adding to the unnecessary loss of military lives.

The net effect has been to not only undermine the moral fiber of our military, but to adversely affect unit integrity, cohesiveness and most importantly, the "will to win." We most recently saw an example of this with the capture of our two 47-foot heavily armed Riverine Command Boats in the Persian Gulf on Jan. 12 by two lightly armed Iranian center console craft. "Humiliation" describes it best. This was the darkest day for the U.S. Navy since the North Korean capture of the USS Pueblo.

Another directive that will adversely affect combat readiness and effectiveness is the recent Executive Order 13653, which directs all government agencies, including the Department of Defense, to prepare for the "impacts of climatic change." The department last issued a broad directive on climate change in July 2015. President Obama has once again declared that climate change is our No. 1 national security threat. There is no doubt Russia, China, Iran and ISIS will certainly reinforce that view.

Consequently, the Pentagon has ordered all commanders down to the tactical unit level to incorporate "climate change" into every aspect of military operations, including combat, intelligence and surveillance, exercises, testing, procurement and whole hosts of other related areas, which are ill-defined. Mind-boggling.

The undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics wrote the directive, which was approved by the Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work. It is understood that this directive provides numerous orders to service secretaries and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on how the strategy to counter climate change is to be incorporated into current war plans, operational plans and operation orders. What the secretary should have already known is that our operational planners always factor in climate and prevailing seasonal weather conditions, including all aspects of terrain. The single objective is winning — not satisfying some faculty-lounge, ill-conceived logic on debatable climate change.

Further, the directive orders a new layer of bureaucracy to include a wide array of "climate change boards, councils, and working groups" to ensure climate change is integrated into all programs, plan and policies. With the bloated bureaucracy we already have, we certainly cannot afford another one, particularly with the tight budget crisis we have.

Let's face facts: military planners and operators must deal in reality. That reality is based on how to "win" wars with the least possible loss of life and protect this great nation's security. Factoring "climate change" into our operational plans and orders makes no sense and is only going to add another layer of confusion and distraction from the principal objective of "winning."

The claim by climate change proponents that there will be more frequent or severe weather events requiring substantial involvement by Department of Defense units is not supported by the U.N.'s most recent global warming predictions. Nonetheless, our military forces have shown over many decades that they are ready and capable to respond to any humanitarian crisis. There is no military in the world better than that of the United States for "projecting humanity." Fortunately, even though diminished, we still have the capability to project power.

The climate change proponents are cut from the same cloth as the social engineers who have never served in the military and never will, and who will never bear any of the responsibilities of the negative impact they have forced on our military forces. They particularly ignore the unnecessary military casualties suffered as a result of these ill-conceived directives. The Joint Chiefs of Staff should continue to take a strong position against these debilitating directives, which adversely affect our military forces' readiness and capabilities. Nothing less is accept

• James A. Lyons, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, was commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations.able.