OBAMA HATES THE MILITARY? REALLY?

One of the minor gaffes that President Obama committed  was his failure to return the salute of the Marine guard as he boarded his airplane. True enough. His mind occupied, he stepped aboard, then realized his mistake, turned around and shook the Marine's hand and even talked to him for a moment. Hehand gesture made up for his error immediately and with more than a formal hand gesture. Of course, the right wing zealots give him no credit for that. Instead, they twist the whole small incident into an "Obama hates our troops" rant.

He hates our troops? He risked the disfavor of the right by working to free Sgt Bowe Bergdahl from the Taliban. He initaed spending for decent body armor and new technologies for the soldiers on the ground, and  reduced the troops in Afghanistan to get them out of harm's way, where a Republican president wearing a faux military service jacket put them, and conservative hawks would put them again without a second thought, if they could start the war they want with Iran.

Two days after taking office he issued a ban on torture, restoring the military's honor and returning them to the standards they'd already held - the ones that Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush overrode. What comes around goes around, and we couldn't expect other countries to treat our prisoners humanely if we reserve to ourselves our right to torture.


The Veteran's Administration had been bogged down since Vietnam. Some of them waited years for proper treatment. Obama increased the budget for veterans by 15% and specified that he wanted it used for more staff, enough to treat 120,000 more patients, and to speed up their care by transferring a horribly slow paper files system to electronics. He later added more money to veterans' care for new facilities, the serious treatment of their mental health issues, and veterans' homelessness. He increased military pay and benefits and improved military housing. He ordered the VA and DOD to work together on these issues. The first VA/DOD summit was held in 2009.

That doesn't sound to me like someone who hates our troops. Using them as expendable pawns in a fake war does, though. I know, I know; the latest right wing tactics is to ignore the mess George W made with lines like, "We're not talking about Bush, we're talking about Obama". But the two are inextricably linked. Bush made potty on America's floor and Obama began the cleanup. Liberals warned that the Bush policies would create more terrorists - and presto! - ISIL.

When liberals say that, it is not about blaming Bush, it's pointing out the  hypocrisy. A Republican does something and they say nothing. A democrat does something similar and he's a traitor! A muslim! The Antichrist! Or the reverse: they want Obama kicked out because he "wasn't born in America" - despite the birth certificate. Then along comes Ted Cruz, born in Canada, and says country of birth doesn't matter.

Obama also did not salute back when he decorated Army SSgt Salvatore Giunta with the Medal of Honor. He hugged the man instead. His choice, and Giunta was probably more moved by the hug than a mere salute.

Then there's Obama's infamous "Latte Salute" when he returned a Marine's salute, properly, with his right hand but with a cup of coffee in his left hand.  Republicans circulated a meme labeled PUT THAT

COFFEE DOWN! Was he supposed to bend down, set the coffee on the metal debarking stairs, salute, then pick it up again? Even on active duty military soldiers are not expected to drop something they're carrying to salute. Look at the picture of W Bush's "Scottie Salute". His face is

u

turned away from the marine .He did this with the dog several times. That's respect?


So, yes, it is true that President Obama failed to return a salute. That wasn't the lie. The lie was that Obama hates our troops. Somehow this little gaffe was supposed to prove that Obama hates America.

Oh, and there's one more fact. Returning a salute is not and never has been policy. Ronald Reagan started it in 1981, and not every president since has followed it. It shows respect, but it shows more respect that Mr Obama, realizing it, returned and did more for the Marine than he expected. But there's more. The Marines didn't like it, and some still don't. It is not military protocol for a person in civilian clothes to salute, especially one who has never served in the military. Of course, no one was going to call Reagan on his error. The president may be their Commander-in-Chief, but he (or she) is still a civilian. He is not entitled to salute. Obama didn't need to come back out and apologize, but he did anyway.

Somehow this little detail never made it to the press, or if it did, Mr Obama's opponents chose to ignore it. They again decided that their constituency are sheep. They decided to control what you see and hear.  That's the reason for this blog. To research the truth and put it out there (apologies to special Agent Mulder).

You're free to use it, rationalize it, ignore it, or debunk it with some crazy conspiracy theory about secret muslims and Sharia Law. But at least, in the words of Paul Harvey, "Now you know the rest of the story."  

GET THE FACTS!

     ... Mark Twain said that. Actually, I lie. What Mark Twain said was, "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics," and he attributed that to Disraeli. His real name wasn't even Mark Twain.
     In my opinion, there is far too much damned lying going on in politics these days. Of course there was in Twain's time too, and long before that, probably to the dawn of history. But then they didn't have multibillionaires backing their news sources and politicians, all to keep the voters ignorant enough to vote against their own best interests. They didn't have the Internet and the mindset that says, "They couldn't put it on the Internet unless it was true".
     People, you have got to stop getting all your news from Fox TV and Tea Party websites  They are not reporting news. They are feeding you a paranoid party line that they expect that you will swallow, because they think you are sheep. Frightened sheep at that --- and they'll do their best to keep you frightened and hating, because the people who back them want an uneducated public, the better to vote in politicians and policies that will keep them in power. These stories are seldom followed up on, and even when the truth comes out, you almost never hear about it.  It's the original buzz words and images that stick in people's minds.
        Do you know whatever happened to Bowe Bergdahl? Andrew Tahmooressi? The Taliban members Obama released from Gitmo? Why didn't Obama return his Marine guard's salute? Why was Michelle Obama texting during the Presentation of Colors at the White House? Why are the stories behind these things seldom followed up on or explained?

      Let's look at  some criticisms brought against President Obama and run a fact check.
      First, the woman texting in the infamous photo? Not Michelle Obama. She was a woman in the crowd who bore a superficial resemblance to Mrs Obama (especially to people who think all black people look alike). CNN ran the picture and chose to ignore the close-up pictures that would have made it clear that it was not Michelle Obama in the photo. The First Lady was not in the crowd. She was at the head table, where she belonged, and wearing a completely different gown and hairstyle than the texter. The photographer would have had to have known that. The editor at CNN would have known it too, because he saw the close-ups that would have given up the game.
      Marine Sgt Andrew Tahmooressi was held on criminal charges in Mexico. He had brought illegal (in Mexico) and loaded guns across the border. He wasn't a political prisoner.The President of the United States does not demand the release of a criminal who committed a crime against a foreign country. He sent John Kerry and congressmen to ensure that Tahmooressi was treated fairly. Also, his detractors do not mention that the president was briefed by Democrats and Republicans on the Foreign Affairs committee that they expected Tahmooressi to be released shortly. Why should Mr Obama demand something that was going to happen anyway? He was released, when his lawyer presented videotape evidence that he had crossed the border accidentally with guns legally purchased in the US.
       Mr Obama was guilty of one lesser sin. He praised Mexico for "assisting the efforts of my negotiating team"; as far as I can tell, there was no negotiating team. His people only provided the Consular service,  human rights, emotional and medical support due any American: in a foreign jail. Obama took credit for something he didn't do.
        Sgt Bergdahl was a POW. He was not looked on as a deserter at the time of his captivity; in fact he was promoted to Sergeant in absentia.  It is military policy to never leave a man in enemy hands, no matter what he has done. It was not only appropriate for Obama to negotiate his release, it was required. It was military protocol.
         Fox News, on the O'Reilly Factor, reported in January that Bergdahl's lawyer had received a "charge sheet"  for desertion, according to a retired Lieutenant Colonel guest. There was no charge sheet. The Army Times ran a rebuttal the next day. The military had not yet decided whether they would charge Bergdahl. They did not do so until March. And then Fox reported the story as "Bill O'Reilly Vindicated"! How does a lie that he promoted vindicate him because it came true two months later?

         The men released from Gitmo were evil men, no question. But they were not terrorists. They were war criminals arrested for war crimes and atrocities in the Afghan war against the Shi'ites --- not terrorism. The conservative press didn't care. They labeled them terrorists and reported with no evidence that three of them were now high ranking ISIL leaders. A photo was circulated showing one of the detainees, Mohammed Fasl, holding a bloody knife over five severed heads. But again, they knowingly misnamed the person in the photo as Fasl. They had to know it wasn't him, because that picture had appeared several times in the years before Fasl's release but with the real person's name attached, Islamic jihadist Khalid Abudhuraman. Again they preyed on people's ignorance; don't all muslims look alike?
         Obama saw this deal as saving an American soldier's life and as a tentative first step in opening negotiations, and eventually peace talks, with the Afghan Taliban. But he hedged his bet. The detainees were released under condition that they stay in Qatar and were barred from foreign travel for a year, under strict Qatari and American monitoring. He extended that ban in 2014 indefinitely.
          Did Obama release the prisoners illegally? Well yes. The law he broke required him to notify Congress 30 days in advance of any Gitmo releases. He had called a highly classified meeting with the Speaker of the House, the chairs of the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees and others in November 2012 and told them of his plans, followed by an update meeting in January 2013. The law did not require him to get Congress's approval.  At the meetings, Obama notified them of his negotiations for the exchange but did not inform them once the deal was solid. Intelligence told him that Bergdahl was ill and that the Taliban was backing away; he was losing his leverage. Fast action and security were necessary to save an American soldier's life.
         It's getting late. I'll go over how Obama did not fail to return a salute in my next entry.
         Think about it. How many of your guns has Obama taken away? Do you know anybody who knows anybody who knows anybody who is facing a "death panel"? How many times do you have to see the birth certificate? Are you living under Sharia law? These things are not misunderstandings, they are lies.
         This is a free country --- anybody is free to spout any crazy conspiracy theory, partisan propaganda or unreasoning hatred they want. Just make sure it has some relation to the truth. I have a relative whom I love dearly, who thinks President Obama is a thug and a bum. I don't care what he thinks of the man personally, but his dislike should be based on facts, not lies and distortions.
         Beware of news reports that do not give sources ("an unnamed official"). Stay away from blogs that are only feeding back what you want to hear. Don't trust liberals --- or conservatives. Research all of them, left, right and apolitical. Snopes.com is an excellent rumor-checking site, one I've used since my days as a UFO buster, but don't trust them alone either. 
         Robert A Heinlein wrote, "What are the facts? Again and again and again --- what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget 'what the stars foretell', avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable 'verdict of history' --- What are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your only chance. Get the facts!"