A response to the two following posts from Mike Walker, Colonel USMC (retired)
Bruce,
Denying that the war is with radical Islam is deeply disturbing. It goes to heart of credibility and trust. If our leaders are willing to suppress a fundamental truth in this war, it begs the question what else are they willing to be dishonest about? What else are they being untruthful about and what else are they hiding from the American people?
I understand some are going through these mental gymnastics out of fear of offending Muslims. Even if that goal was for the better good of all, by denying the truth you get yourself so far down the slippery slope that it can prove to be a fatal mistake. If a leader loses his credibility then he loses everything. If you cannot trust what a leader is telling you then that person ceases to be a leader and becomes an ineffective manager filling a command billet.
What makes this a double tragedy is that the moderate Muslims I worked with overseas wanted the United States to make a clear distinction between them and the radicals. They did NOT want all Muslims to tarred with the same brush but they equally wanted us to show our support for them by discrediting the enemy as BAD Muslims. They know that this war is inseparable from Islam. Some in the current administration have it very, very wrong and that is a very, very bad thing.
The bottom line is that you cannot develop a winning strategy in a war if you do not understand the fundamental nature of the war.
As for the CRM. It does not as yet exist. It has been formally discussed by the Afghanistan command. It is not a good idea. Below are the comments I sent a Marine friend (hence the abbreviations) on this issue earlier:
'A "Courageous Restraint" medal seems a bit silly.
If they want to address the issue, they could simply start approving existing awards (NMCAM's/NMCCM's/MSM's) where the write-up highlights presence of mind and/or sound decision making/leadership of the Marine in safeguarding civilians/saving the lives of innocent civilians where the risk of enemy fire was great and expected to be encountered.
If the Marines know they can be recognized with an award (albeit not one associated with valor) then it will achieve the goal desired which is an important one in this war.'
Semper Fi,
Mike
