Category: Military

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Don Vandergriff: Next Steps for Military Personnel Reform

Ethics, Military
Don Vandergriff

Next Steps for Military Personnel Reform

Mandy Smithberger, 19 September 2016

Ten years ago the Center for Defense Information published Raising the Bar: Creating and Nurturing Adaptability to Deal with the Changing Face of War. Written by Straus Military Reform Project Advisory Board Member Major Donald E. Vandergriff, USA (ret.), the book has been used in numerous courses, including in the Department of Military Instruction at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and remains a pivotal reform text. This spring Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s attempts to modernize the military, an initiative called “Force of the Future,” have been largely rejected. We interviewed Vandergriff for his thoughts on the next steps for military reform.

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Don Vandergriff: Personnel Reform and Military Effectiveness

Ethics, Military
Don Vandergriff

The following piece was first published in August 2015 by POGO’s Center for Defense Information.

Warfare is first and foremost a human endeavor. Wars are fought by people using their minds; weapons are only tools to implement people’s ideas. It is people, and the ideas they wield, that make the difference between a sharp, decisive victory like Desert Storm and a slow, deadly slog like World War I. Fostering the right ideas requires a culture of Mission Command. But in today’s military, harmful personnel practices preclude such a culture.

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Owl: The Murder of General George Patton

09 Justice, Corruption, Government, Law Enforcement, Military, Officers Call
Who? Who?

General George S. Patton was assassinated to silence his criticism of allied war leaders claims new book

“…after a decade-long investigation, military historian Robert Wilcox claims that OSS head General “Wild Bill” Donovan ordered a highly decorated marksman called Douglas Bazata to silence Patton, who gloried in the nickname “Old Blood and Guts”. His book, Target Patton, contains interviews with Mr. Bazata, who died in 1999, and extracts from his diaries, detailing how he staged the car crash by getting a troop truck to plough into Patton's Cadillac and then shot the general with a low-velocity projectile, which broke his neck while his fellow passengers escaped without a scratch.

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Russ Baker: Trump and the Deep State

Commerce, Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Officers Call
Russ Baker

Trump and the Deep State

That’s our target: the unelected power structure that defines and controls so many of the government’s actions and our political “choices.” One thing clear about President-elect Trump: notwithstanding his “outsider” rhetoric, he has quickly embraced many aspects of the Deep State — perhaps without even knowing the concept. Indeed, we see no indication that Trump has longstanding ties to the Deep State. But he would not be the first president who ended up ceding power to these elements while in office — or, by resisting their influence, found himself out of power one way or another.

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Nori Huddle: Assassination of NATO Chief Auditor to Conceal €250 Black Budget for NATO-Sponsored Terrorism — Media Black-Out Occurring by Design

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, 10 Transnational Crime, Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military
Norie Huddle

Media blackout on death of NATO auditor – was he assassinated to cover-up NATO’s black budget?

In the weeks leading up to his assassination, at the hands of top NATO officials themselves who ordered the job, Chandelon reportedly came in possession of additional dossiers that document supplementary details for the previously assumed €250 billion black hole in NATO’s books. It is believed that the data included therein would also have enabled Chandelon to be at the basis of corruption charges being brought against NATO’s top officials and the Belgian government, who hosts the dubious NATO headquarters in its capital district, and enough incriminating evidence concerning NATO’s secret funding of real terror cells both in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Palestine) AND in Europe, including in Turkey.

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ZeroHedge: Erdogan Says He Has “Confirmed Evidence” The US Supports ISIS

Corruption, Government, Military

Erdogan Says He Has “Confirmed Evidence” The US Supports ISIS

One year after this website demonstrated that Turkey was cooperating with the Islamic State, in the very least trading cash in exchange for crude oil sold to various Turkish outposts (a trade which was subsequently ended by the Russian air force), Turkey has flipped the tables and on Tuesday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he has uncovered evidence that US-led coalition forces have helped support terrorists in Syria – including Isis. “They give support to terrorist groups including ISIS” Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara on Tuesday, adding that US coalition forces “give support to terrorist groups including Daesh, YPG, PYD. It's very clear. We have confirmed evidence, with pictures, photos and videos.” Which, incidentally, should also not come a surprise in light of the May 2015 declassified Pentagon report, which claimed that ISIS was created as a Pentagon tool to overthrow Syria's president Assad.

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