This is a great piece from over at Family Security Matters. I have excerpted all of the thoughts of some of the top experts on Foreign affairs, national security and terrorism...starting with my favorite:
James Jay Carafano
The art of a great presidential campaign is to be all things to all people. Governing is different. The temptation after winning an election, however, is to keep campaigning, keep trying to consolidate and expand your political base. On so many national security issues from releasing CIA memos to border security it seems the administration is still in campaign mode. In the end, playing politics with national security always leads to disaster....and it’s our men and women in uniform who wind up paying the price. Remember that!
- James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., is a leading expert in defense affaires, intelligence, military operations and strategy, and homeland security at the Heritage Foundation.
Alex Alexiev
The question of what the Obama administration should think this Memorial Day is an easy one to answer, if its national security policies to date are judged with history as one’s arbiter. Though only a few months in existence, it is difficult to escape the impression that they’re based on tolerance and appeasement of the intolerant, the tyrant and the evil with respect to America’s adversaries and indifference or worse toward our friends like Israel. Such policies always and everywhere have made conflict and bloodshed more rather than less likely.
Yet, as we remember the countless Americans who paid the ultimate price to defend the land of the free, dark clouds are gathering over the fruited plains. For the pusillanimity of the administration abroad stands in stark contrast to its aggressive assault on our free enterprise system and the principle of limited government domestically – an assault that has already led to an unprecedented and frightening expansion of government power over the American people. Ronald Reagan once said that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. As we pay our respect to the fallen heroes who died for our freedom this Memorial Day, it behooves us to ask ourselves whether we may not be that generation.
- Alex Alexiev is an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute Washington, D.C.
John Armor
The Obama Administration officials should, on this Memorial Day, think about the warnings which Winston Churchill gave to Britons in years prior to 1939. Churchill saw the danger and described it accurately, when there was still time to minimize the murderous toll of World War II. Present officials in the U.S. should consider whether we are at a similar turning point in 2009.
- John Armor practiced in the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years. He is counsel to the American Civil Rights Union.
Alan Caruba
I suspect the Obama administration views our nation's military as pawns to move around on the chessboard of the world map and those who gave their lives in service to their nation as chumps. Having based his campaign on his opposition to the war in Iraq, Obama should lay a wreath at Arlington and then, in shame, go hide in the White House.
- Alan Caruba writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center.
John Dendahl
George Santayana, considered a prominent man of American letters despite his lifelong citizenship of Spain, had this to say of history: “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. ... Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Through omission and revision, those designing what passes for teaching in American government schools have assured that most students do not remember the past. President Obama could best honor those Americans who have given their lives for liberty by insisting that their histories be restored to a prominent place in the educations of American youth.
- John Dendahl is a distinguished force in American business, politics and education. He served eight years as Chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, served as chairman of the board of directors of the Mountain States Legal Foundation and as CEO of a leading supplier of analytical instruments and services for the defense and nuclear power industries
Lee Ellis
It should think about the dedication and sacrifices made by all American veterans over the years to defend and protect the freedom and liberty of this great Republic, rather than appeasing those foreign nations who want us to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Those captured from foreign battlefields, if placed in an American prison, could be released, escape, or recruit other prisoners to their cause. Their mission is to convert or kill all Christians and Jews. Just this past week, four terrorists were arrested in New York over an alleged terrorist plot to bomb two synagogues and shoot down our National Guard military planes. Congress was wise in refusing to give the President money to close Gitmo until we knew what would happen to the current detainees. Evil must always be challenged never appeased.*Peter Principal: The theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent.
- Lee Ellis is a retired journalist, narrator, and formerly a Vice President with both CBS and Gannett (USA Weekend). He can be contacted at indiolee@dc.rr.com.
Laina Farhat-Holzman
President Obama should be concerned about an imminent terrorist attack or simultaneous attacks on the United States. The Militants must believe that he is much softer on this issue than his predecessor and will put him to the test. I believe they will find that they have misjudged him; however a certain amount of real and psychological damage will be done. An attack or attacks will once more wake up the public that this is a real danger, not something cooked up by alarmists.
- Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or http://www.globalthink.net/. She also writes for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Linda Korrow
Our citizens, our values and our traditions are what built this country. A strong military have kept it. They are our strength. Reflect on the code of conduct of those who defend this country – duty, honor, and country. Maintain a strong defense and exemplify and continue to promote our values as cultural norms. They must be protected, defended, and retained to honor America and those who have died fighting for her.
- Linda Korrow is a freelance journalist and writer residing in New York City.
Jim Kouri, CPP
On this Memorial Day, President Obama should resolve to rebuke anyone in his party who should denigrate our troops, law enforcement or intelligence officers. For example, when Sen. Dick Durban says something like he did when he compared our troops to Nazis and Pol Pot, Obama should publicly rebuke him. Or when Rep. Pelosi calls CIA operatives liars, Obama should immediately publicly rebuke her. Or when someone such as Rep. John Conyers calls police officers racists, without hesitation, President Obama should publicly rebuke him. Sad to say, I doubt this will ever happen since some of Obama's friends are fervent terrorists who've killed cops, radicals who've bombed military recruiting stations, and politicians who routinely paint our nation's protectors as evil.
- Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance.
J.D. Longstreet
Looking at Obama's War, (The war in Afghanistan) as a veteran, and judging from his incrementaI escalation of that war, Obama is setting the U.S. military up for a major failure in Afghanistan.
- J.D. Longstreet is a 30-year veteran of the broadcasting business as an "in the field" and "on-air" news reporter (contributing to radio, TV, and newspapers),a broadcast commentator and a veteran of the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserve.
Rick Moran
The recent foiling of a terrorist attack in New York City may have crashed the comfortable assumptions of many in the Obama administration who, it appeared, were trying to soft pedal the War on Terror by changing its name ("Overseas Contingency Operations") and generally scaling back efforts to keep the issue of terrorism ("Man Caused Disasters") front and center. Let's hope they take the message to heart.
- Rick Moran is a free lance writer and contributes to several websites. He is the proprietor of the blog Right Wing Nuthouse.
Ben Shapiro
The Obama Administration should think not only about the sacrifices made by our soldiers, but what they sacrificed for: freedom from governmental oppression, liberty to pursue greatness, the value of family, the sanctity of life. And the Obama Administration should ensure that the values our soldiers spilled their blood for should not be given away voluntarily – to give away our freedoms and kowtow to foreign and perverse ideals regarding redistribution of wealth, international approval, and domestic licentiousness is a betrayal of our soldiers' memories.
- Ben Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School. He is also the author of the recently published Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House.
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