This article points to one of the most distressing and concerning elements of Obama's push to action in Syria - the fact that America's generals [and no doubt many all the way down the ladder] are clearly not on board with what's being talked about here - and then the insinuation one can legitimately make that many of these military professionals don't think much of Obama as a Commander in Chief. The article mentions something that has stood out to me regarding Dempsey's public performances over the last few weeks - both in what he says and how he says it it's clear the man is not happy at all with the civilian leadership of the country, and not just Obama - Kerry, Hagel, Obama's entire security staff but of course first and foremost Rice - every time I see this man speak I get the feeling he'd rather spit than answer the question being put to him. This cannot be a good thing if Obama actually goes ahead with action against Syria and it goes badly [spirals out control and leads to greater involvement than planned for], especially if he does it against the wishes of Congress.
Let's look at Obama's history here with his military - the surge in Afghanistan, which Obama took a ridiculously long time to decide upon and then sabotaged by not supplying enough troops and attaching a deadline to it [can also throw in his treatment of McCrystal which I'm guessing pissed a lot of people off] - then there was bin Laden which Obama had a tendency to talk about as if it was his bravery that made it possible, and I think it was Biden who called it one of the most courageous presidential decisions ever made; one assumes this grandstanding over a mission that Obama had virtually nothing to do with no doubt pissed off a lot of people too - then there's Obama's drone wars which are an insult to military professionals who view drones as tactically useful, sure, but the way Obama is using them they become the illusion of power and Obama seems to want to see them as the be all and end all of American military might; I imagine many in the military have nothing but scorn for the way Obama uses drones - then you have Libya and 'leading from behind', again from what I've read and heard military professionals have nothing but contempt for this LFB nonsense; America did all the heavy lifting in Libya but the weak air forces of Europe got all the credit, a lot of people are pissed off about that and pissed off that LFB took a six week war and turned it into a six month one - and to leave behind what? A crime riddled jihadist nightmare.
Then there's sequestration, which is really having a negative impact on readiness and training - Obama was offered a chance to exclude the military from sequestration and refused - and now he wants to involve them in Syria? Hard to know, but I'm guessing many in the military have no respect for the man whatsoever - and I'm guessing that most of them believe that Obama's view of the military is not just at odds with the traditions of American power, but is actually antagonistic towards them. From what I've read, many in the military view Obama and his cabinet as being almost contemptuous of the military's thinking on issues - and they're deeply troubled by fact that many pushing for action in Syria seem to be completely discounting the threat of what the hell happens should Syria, Iran and Russia decide to counter attack? All very nice to say it's just a punitive action, a shot across the bow - but what if they decide to interpret it as an act of war? This is the central absurdity at the heart of the 'responsibility to protect' conceit and I'm guessing every military professional out there understands just how absurd it is and are shocked at having to serve a president who doesn't seem to have a clue.
[although I'm hedging my bets - I'm still convinced there's at least a chance that Obama doesn't at all intend to strike Syria and is really at this point just looking for a way to involve the GOP house in the mess - that may sound hard to believe, but when you have sway over the media like he does, a lot of dumb stuff becomes possible]
