{"id":13356,"date":"2009-01-14T20:05:50","date_gmt":"2009-01-15T03:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2009\/01\/14\/when-the-only-tool-you-have-is-an-army-every-problem-looks-like-a-war.html"},"modified":"2009-01-14T20:05:50","modified_gmt":"2009-01-15T03:05:50","slug":"when_the_only_tool_you_ha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/14\/when_the_only_tool_you_ha.html","title":{"rendered":"When the only tool you have is an army, every problem looks like a war"},"content":{"rendered":"

What? Someone from the military suggesting that we need to spend money on things other than the military? Inconceivable<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\n

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that senior officers must work to prevent the militarization of American foreign policy, and he urged generals and admirals to tell civilian leaders when they believed the armed forces should not take the lead in carrying out policies overseas.<\/p>\n

Adm. Mike Mullen, who as chairman is the nation\u2019s highest-ranking military officer, also called for more money and personnel to be devoted to the civilian agencies responsible for diplomacy and overseas economic development.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Silly man. Don’t you know that diplomacy is for wusses and Old Europe types? The only thing diplomats are good for is delivering your unilateral ultimatums … and even then it’s probably better to send over a political appointee than to trust those Liberals over at State.<\/p>\n

\n

Admiral Mullen\u2019s tour as chairman will continue into the new administration, and President-elect Barack Obama has asked the current defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, to stay on. Admiral Mullen\u2019s speech was wholly in sync with remarks made by Mr. Gates, who has delivered a series of talks, remarkable for a Pentagon chief, calling for more resources for civilian agencies responsible for American \u201csoft power,\u201d including the Departments of State, Justice, Commerce and Agriculture.<\/p>\n

Admiral Mullen acknowledged that the nation had \u201creached for the military hammer in the toolbox of foreign policy fairly often.\u201d But he underscored a lesson learned during his time in uniform, dating to the Vietnam War, which he described as \u201can acute understanding of the finite application of force abroad \u2014 as well as its impact at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Could it be that the dark spell of the current Administration is already fading?<\/p>\n

(via Obsidian Wings<\/a>) <\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What? Someone from the military suggesting that we need to spend money on things other than the military? Inconceivable! The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geopolitical-brouhaha","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26488,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/17\/why-look-justice-can-be-served-in-civilian-courts-after-all.html","url_meta":{"origin":13356,"position":0},"title":"Why, look — justice can be served in civilian courts after all","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 17-Feb-12 11:13am","format":false,"excerpt":"After the long litany of complaints from conservatives that anyone accused of terrorism has to be thrown into a military clink and handled by dubiously legal (and not terribly effective) military tribunals -- well, lookie here, we've got a terrorist who was tried, convicted, and is now serving a life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28026,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/29\/theyre-all-militants.html","url_meta":{"origin":13356,"position":1},"title":"They're all militants","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 29-May-12 9:52am","format":false,"excerpt":"It's easy to reduce civilian casualties from drone attacks: just identify, by definition, anyone (or at least \"any male of military age\") where a drone hits as a \"militant.\" Could be a relative. Could be the pizza guy. Could be the plumber. Could be a teenager. Guilt by association meets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.salon.com%2F2012%2F05%2Fglenn_headlines-150x150.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":160950,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/17\/pete-hegseth-thinks-stars-and-stripes-is-too-woke.html","url_meta":{"origin":13356,"position":2},"title":"Pete Hegseth thinks Stars and Stripes is too “Woke”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 17-Jan-26 11:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"In Trumpland, \"Independence\" is something to engrave on a wall, not actually allow for anyone.","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/censorship"},"img":{"alt_text":"trump cpac 2019 flag","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/trump-cpac-2019-flag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/trump-cpac-2019-flag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/trump-cpac-2019-flag.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/trump-cpac-2019-flag.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3815,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/26\/disturbing_thou.html","url_meta":{"origin":13356,"position":3},"title":"Disturbing thoughts","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Mar-03 8:13am","format":false,"excerpt":"I know that one of the \"It's a war crime!\" thangs going on lately has involved Iraqi military dropping their uniforms and, amongst the civilian population, taking pot shots at...","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24941,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/30\/killing-for-if-not-fun-profit.html","url_meta":{"origin":13356,"position":4},"title":"Killing for, if not fun, profit","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Dec-11 1:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The continued privatization of the US armed forces continues, as civilian contractors play a significant role in all those CIA and military drone flights, including ones that fire missiles and kill people.Interestingly enough, I'd never read the stats about the size of the support staff it takes to run a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128094,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/20\/governor-huckabee-is-outraged-outraged-that-a-gay-man-can-lead-the-army.html","url_meta":{"origin":13356,"position":5},"title":"Governor Huckabee is outraged, OUTRAGED, that a gay man can lead the army","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 20-Sep-15 9:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"Mike Huckabee is not happy about the president's nomination of Eric Fanning as the next Secretary of the Army. No, not happy at all (https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mikehuckabee\/posts\/10153290377432869):'It's clear President Obama is more interested in appeasing America's homosexuals than honoring America's heroes. Veterans suicide is out-of-control and military readiness is dangerously low, yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/o-MIKE-HUCKABEE-facebook5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/o-MIKE-HUCKABEE-facebook5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/o-MIKE-HUCKABEE-facebook5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}