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General In Charge Of "Total Failure" Syrian "Train And Equip" Program Gets Promotion
The US effort to train and equip Syrian freedom fighters battling to bring democracy to Damascus and usurp a brutal dictator has been a smashing success (count the instances of sarcasm there).
Take ISIS for example. The Pentagon knew that the opposition groups the West and its regional allies were supporting could morph into something beyond anyone’s control. Recall the following passage from a secret DoD document dated 2012: “If the situation unravels, there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist Principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran).” Well, the situation did “unravel” and sure enough, one group of former “freedom fighters” metamorphosed into a band of sword-wielding, black-flag waving desert bandits who did indeed establish a Salafist Principality in eastern Syria with a “capital” at Raqqa.
And while that surely takes the top spot on the list of “most absurd outcomes from US meddling in Syria” a close second was this year’s “train and equip” program run by the Pentagon.
This was a separate program from those run by the CIA (which supports the Free Syrian Army that’s now under siege by Russia and Iran) and the aim was to appropriately “vet” as many as 5,400 anti-ISIS (supposedly) fighters by the end of the year.
The embarrassments began in earnest in July when the group (which numbered barely more than 50 at the time) had its commander and deputy kidnapped by al-Qaeda, who had already played spoiler to another group of US fighters in 2014.
But the real punchline came last month when, in an update to Congress, Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of the U.S. Central Command and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth admitted that only “four or five” fighters from the train and equip program remained in battle.
As we quipped at the time: “So the only thing that the DoD’s estimate of the actual number of fighters currently on the ground has in common with the Pentagon’s original goal of recruiting 5,400 by the end of the year, is that both figures have a '4' and a '5' in them.”
The assessment from Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.): “Let’s not kid ourselves, that’s a joke. This is just a total failure.”
But when it comes to US foreign policy in the Mid-East, failure is of course rewarded which explains why Maj. Gen. Michael K. Nagata who, because he was commander of American Special Operations forces in the Middle East, was ultimately responsible for the above mentioned “total failure”, is now set to be rewarded and promoted. Here’s The New York Times:
The Army general in charge of the Pentagon’s failed $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels is leaving his job in the next few weeks, but is likely to be promoted and assigned a senior counterterrorism position here, American officials said on Monday.
The officer, Maj. Gen. Michael K. Nagata, is stepping down as commander of American Special Operations forces in the Middle East, which made him responsible for the training program that ultimately produced only a few dozen fighters. That was a far cry from the 15,000 fighters that the program was going to train over a three-year period when it was formally started in December.
General Nagata has been in the Special Operations job for more than two years and was overdue to switch assignments as part of the military’s regular rotation of senior officers, the American officials said. The setback in training Syrian rebels does not appear to have derailed his career as one of the Army’s rising stars.
He is in line to be awarded a third star, to lieutenant general, and take a senior position at the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington, said officials who emphasized that the decision was not yet final.
General Nagata has also earned a reputation for creative thinking. Last year, he assembled an unofficial brain trust beyond the traditional realms of expertise within the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies, in search of fresh ideas and inspiration for how to combat the Islamic State. Business professors, for example, were asked to examine the Islamic State’s marketing and branding strategies.
Yes, a “reputation for creative thinking.” Creative thinking which led directly to this:
Training the Syrian rebels, however, proved to be a star-crossed task. In late July, many of the first 54 Syrian graduates of the military’s training program and the rebel unit in which they served came under attack by the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda. Classified military assessments later concluded that the rebels were ill-prepared for an enemy attack and were sent back into Syria in numbers that were too small. They had no support from the local population and had poor intelligence about their foes.
So have no fear America, because General Nagata is about to take a "senior" counterterrorism position which means the country will be protected from extremism by the kind of "creative thinking" that sent 60 undertrained fighters into the most dangerous place on earth "ill-prepared for an enemy attack" with "no support from the local population" and "poor intelligence about their foes."
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This is fucked up. Between this and Trudeau winning I am not sure how much more of Bizzaro world I can take.
I bet he comes out of the closet as a Geisha… that’s only to be expected in Obama’s Army.
http://us.jnto.go.jp/blog/how-to-meet-with-a-geisha-in-kyoto/
The “hegemon” turned out to be a HEGEMORON. ;-)
Looney
"Domo arigato, General Nagata"
Affirmitive action hire.
I thought it was reverse affirmative action for asians? and thats what happens when you purge all the smart senior officers who think for themselves. Although, in all honesty, this was a doomed venture before it even started. I doubt anyone could have made this work, since its a fucking retarded idea. If I give you an assignment to chop down the largest tree in the forrest with a herring, you can hardly be considered incompetent for not doing it.
And no, Im not defending this guy, with the jobs he has held he has A LOT of blood on his hands, and no, I don't think he 'deserved' a promotion.
"Don't ax, don't tell," has it's drawbacks.
~"General Nagata has also earned a reputation for creative thinking. Last year, he assembled an unofficial brain trust beyond the traditional realms of expertise within the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies, in search of fresh ideas and inspiration for how to combat the Islamic State."~
Oh, you mean apart from wiping every last man-jack one of them off the face of the Earth for they are engaged in full-blown, murderous fascism? Really?!? How's that going to work out? Holding some of these pieces of shit for over a dozen years in Gitmo didn't give the Pentagon enough time to come to terms with their adversary, so we need a "search for fresh ideas"?
Are - you - fucking - kidding - me???
Didnt they kick out all the smart and Constitution following generals and admirals ?
This guy's still in.
New Army jingle: "Be gay just like Barry". It replaces "be all that you can be" because of its obviously rayciss, homophobic, anti-inclusionary bent.
a friend of mine thats active duty said they had a visit from the admiral and his senior enlisted advisor recently, and he said that kind of stuff was what they wanted to talk about. The new focus is on "inclusiveness". They told my friend and his coworkers that they had already made a lot of changes, already allowing openly gay people to serve, and that now they were working on being even more 'inclusive' and allowing 'openly transgendered' people to serve as well. He said that the people saying it looked almost apologetic for taking their time to talk about this, and you could tell that they were just repeating the 'party line', but thats the future. THey still haven't figured out berthing arrangments.... I laughed my ass off on that one. So, rather than just having men and women, which was bad enough, we now will have men, women, gay men, gay women, women who want to be men, and men who think they are women, and small units in the military, like the CG, will somehow have to figure out how to make sleeping arrangements....
Most people in the military don't really care about gay people being in the military, its the fact that now its thrown around in everyones faces that seems to bother people. If it was up to me, we would have a MUCH SMALLER military than we do now, and it would stay within the US, not more 100s of bases spread around the world, no more entangling alliances. But, part of having a very small military, a 'self defense force', is that you need professionals, and since the openings would be limited, you would need to make sure you were getting the very best people. Today's military is heading in the exact opposite direction. "inclusiveness" and "diversity". and once your country gets the reputation of being run by a bunch of 'gays and trannies' you can forget about ever being respected again, ever. But, thats what the higher ups want to worry about. All the shit they could be worried about, like , hhhmmmm, the 22 veterans a day who off themselves, and they are talking about making sure transgendered people feel welcome. You just can't make this shit up.
Now that the military is an openly gay organization, red state families are going to try to keep their straight sons from enlisting.
The end result of this 15 years from now will be catastrophic.
A deliberate CF!!
I for one, do NOT want my Daughter to catch the Ghey!
Carl: You just hit a fucking home run with that post. Well done.
.
;-)
What's the problem here?
Everyone gets a trophy for participating.
Your taxpayer dollas at work.
"Yes we can!"
Fine with me, but they get ribbons and not stars.
Unless maybe those stick on stars.... Those we can afford.
Also we should be more inclusive about people reaching the rank of general. More inclusion, is what is needed.
Therefore they should have a new rank of Private General...
Between Harper being a tinpot dictator who specialized in picking international fights and curtailing freedoms at home, the media being their progressive selves, and the usual fact that the last thing that a ramrod mulitcutural society will ever be long term is conservative, the results are not surprising to me anyways.
Everyone involved in the failure to stop 9/11 attacks also got promotions.
The Nobel Prize Winner's war in Syria has claimed over 300,000 lives and created more than 4 million refugees. That should merit a promotion if not a Nobel.
Failure is rewarded in fascist, police states when it works to the state's advantage
Promoting the ones that are failures is the way to get rid of the people you do not want. It use to be you either fired them or demoted them, but because of lawsuits, the easier way, especially in large bureaucracies is to give them a stellar review and accolades and send them upward, but out of your hair.
Who said he 'failed' ?
You don't think his job is actually fighting terrorists, do you ?
precisely
He assembled an unofficial brain trust beyond the traditional realms of expertise within the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies, in search of fresh ideas and inspiration for how to combat the Islamic State.
The CIA forgot to let him in on the joke
Exactly. His role was weaking Syria in a multi-front war and distributing weapons to extremists to conquer through division. In that real role of his, he did a great job. Kind of hard to imagine how these MIC clowns did not foresee Putin intervening to save the only country offering him a Mediterranean naval base though. Have these idiots learned anything from 300+ years of Russian history, aka the search for ice-free ports? I hope Putin continues to utterly embarass and discredit our pathetic Western leadership.
The US spent $25 BILLION over a decade of arming and training the Iraqi army, who in turn abandoned $500 Million in arms and equipment to a handful (800) of ISIS fighters who over ran 30,000 Iraqi soldiers during late spring 2015. This event was an astounding success to the MIC, who will now be charged with re-training, re-arming, re-manufacturing, re-contracting and re-billing the American taxpayer for these services. Who wouldn't be promoted with credentials like this?
While that may be true. That run called the American dream will be taking General Nagata and everyone in the chain of command above him and below him down the toilet with him permanently!
Guess at the rate we're going we might as well reward insanity at this kind of level as it really is epic in breaking all the records!
It was a nice ride at every other sovereign nation's expense while it lasted though!!!!
Yeah, but "It's just a ride!"
Sycophant loyalty is rewarded in a fascist state.
The "victims" of the Porter Goss bloodbath at the CIA were not promoted.
Then agaim if the CIA had been more cooperative with Cheney, Rummy, Wolffullofshits... then perhaps they would not have needed the build-out of redundant and parallel capacities within the DoD.
The creation of DNI was a boon for under-qualified desk jockeys willing to kiss Neocon ass almost as much as the creation of the Homeland Insecurity leviathan was.
You are only allowed to fail upwards as long as your lips are planted firmly on your boss's ass.
If you hit it on the head with a hammer and drops and gives you a blow-job, promote it.
We're looking at it from a rational standpoint. He followed orders perfectly, like the 9/11 stooges did. The satanic bastards like those people to be in the same room as them.
Yeah, 'cause it worked so well for Der Fhurer.
Well, maybe "creative thinking" will prevent terrorism caused by a "failure of imagination?"
It's so fucking comically tragic you can't even laugh anymore!...
Go to the mirror boyz and girlz and taker a good look!!
You've earned it!!!
I guess his name is Ho Lee Fuk, maybe?
General Nagata Clue
Old and well-worn strategy for governments when they cannot politically fire someone, promote them out of the position, and give them a high-ranking position managing something totally inconsequential.
Another worthless "Yes-Man" Demoted up the chain. I've been watching this for 30+ Fucking Years. FUCK ME SIDEWAYS!
I've never met an officer above full-bird colonel that I had any respect for. It seems there's only one way to earn those stars, and like most initiations, it is fully dehumanizing.
Talking about dehumanizing, do you remember Albright's answer re the 500'000 children killed in Irak ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnskeu-puE
I've watched the same video 10-20 times, and I still cannot believe she gave this answer. Just spine-chilling.
Heckova job Mickey.
The Peter Principle is alive and well.
Most promotions in government are based upon the principle of "you gotta fuck up to move up".
YEP
Nope, you give great reviews to the people you no longer want on your team; it is the only way to get rid of them. Once promoted, they become some others problem. Unfortunately, in this type of position, real lives are destroyed as a result of such policies.
Use to be in the U.S. military, oh...40 odd years ago that a "General Nagata" would have been bung-holed for screwing up an assignment as badly as he did his job and the only "star" he would have received were the ones pulled off his shoulder and shoved up his ass!...
Not anymore... Know "why"?...
Because they are the last rail of "yes men" left that they keep scraping from bottom of the barrel the last 20 years that move into the "no men" column! So much scraping in fact their is no more residual wood left at the bottom to hold the "shit" they are collecting!
When your "yes men" are outnumbered inifinte times over by the "no men" you get your Major General Nagata(s) promoted for "fucking up"!
When I saw Colin Powell lying his ass off in front of the United States people I knew the golden days of our military had ended.
When I saw Colin Powell lying his ass off in front of the United States people I knew the golden days of our military had ended.
Yes indeed CB
And what you may or may not have known that when Powell with the help of his deputy Colonel Lawrence Willkerson drafted that lie that has killed millions in Iraq, and tortured and scarred for life million(s) more, a young Lieutenant in the Army in 1968 was honing his skills to cover up his "first atrocity" called My Lai!!!
You didn't think the cocksucker got to 4 stars on brains and beauty now did ya?
Look up Oliver North on yt
Promoting the ones that are failures is the way to get rid of the people you do not want. It's is common practice today. It use to be one either fired them or demoted them, but because of lawsuits, the easier way, especially in large bureaucracies/organizations is to give them a stellar review and accolades and send them upward, but out of your hair.
He didn't fail. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Oversee a vast waste of taxpayers money to enrich the MIC. You fail to appreciate how expensive election efforts are. Do you expect the peons to pay for billion dollar election efforts DIRECTLY out of their pockets? No, it has to be laundered through taxpayer expenditures.
HOW MANY AMERICANS understand they are paying for campaign efforts through their taxpayers dollars via the defense budget (and other budgets)? Not many can make the connection because the MSM refuses to report on it.
Losing is winning when everyone gets ice cream.
Problems like this often start first with strategy...either the lack of one, or the unviability of the one they have.
Is a strategy that is not executable really a strategy?
He can do less damage once he's no longer in "the field". Old military adage "fuck up - move up".
The US effort to train and equip Syrian freedom fighters battling to bring democracy to Damascus and usurp a brutal dictator has been a smashing success (count the instances of sarcasm there).
Markers:
You missed "smashing success"
Good catch.
...but I bet he supports the Rainbow coalition and that is what is of utmost importance in today's Armed Forces.
..and so that explains why these generals are suck buttfucks.
Thus proving the old adage - "It's not what you know, it's who you blow". I'm sure he will also get a Participation Trophy, and a home edition of "Syria - The Board Game".
Peter Principle (squared)
For those who don't remember, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
Obedience has a higher value than success in the US military.
There was no "training" program per se. It was a token training and the rest of the money was used to provide weapons, ammo and equipment to whatever CIA backed force we happen to be backing at the time. All of these fucking programs are about spending taxpayers money so that it can come back in via lobbying bribes for more war. Its the PAC donation cycle.
If you connect the clues, like Lois Lerner, Eric Holder and so many others. Those people that have lied for government end up with promotions and being taken care of for their "service". How many clues does it take before Americans start to see the picture?
I understand that for Democrats/liberals/statists, clues don't matter at all. But for thinking adults, a lot of things should be obvious, especially propaganda efforts in the MSM.
While grabbing some breakfast this morning at my hotel, I had to sit within earshot of a TV blaring CNN. I quickly ate and got the hell out of there before becoming ill. But in the 5-10 minutes I was sitting there all I heard was propoganda. I am not saying any of the other networks are any better, but my God it was sickening to hear all of the blathering idiots on CNN regurgitating all the propoganda coming from the Ministry of Truth. Orwell's vision of where it was all headed was spot on. We are doomed.
) How do we get this neanderthal out of our office!?
) promote him out.
Here is a real general, a true military leader and a Mongol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Shoygu
http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/politics-and-society/sergey...
I'm glad he got this promotion since it'll give him a higher salary so that he can receive a higher retirement pension. I am happy to hear that my income taxes will reflect a lifelong reward for this gentleman's job well done. Thank you for your service from a grateful nation. {{{{ p.s. - F*ck you, you failed worthless piece of shit }}}}
Thanks for the excellent analysis..hard to find this type of journalism in today's media.
The Army has been pussified since 1980 or before. The Patton's type are sent out before they make Major or LTC. Few hard chargers and a shit ton of yes men. The USMC still has some balls in the senior ranks.
USMC has got shit for brains and you are confusing that with balls.
Face it: There are a whole lot of inept, incompetent, and politically correct general officers within the US Armed Forces. The "warrior spirit" has been despised and purged from the ranks of "forward-, excuse me, 'creative'-, thinking officers with "stars" envisioned in their career paths.
However, all is not lost.
There has to be a large pool of field grade officers (Majors and Lt. Colonels) with enough real combat experience within the Army and Marine Corps, who just might get through all the politically-correct screening to become colonels and generals in the next decade. And those among them, who will be attending Command and General Staff College at Fort Levinworth, plus those who will attend the War College at Carlisle, will be going to school to learn how the Russians are doing it in Syria and Donbass.
Hopefully, all they ever hire will be incompetent commanders. Makes the US less dangerous.
LOL, you F'up and you get promoted. It's the lefty/liberal thing to do.
In the Soviet Union they did the same thing.
Failures were spun around into successes.
Collective farms were failures but were hailed as a success.
When will Barry announce trans-gender generals?
Until I see an effort to overthrow the government of Saudi Arabia this "overthrowing of brutal dictator" line sounds like nothing more than complete bullshit.
It is not a "total failure" from the point of view of America and Israel.
They got many people dead, and much destruction, a weakening of one of the links between Hezbollah and Iran.
So why shouldn't he get a promotion?
USA sent yet another country into bloody slaughter, and funneled in hordes of Al Qaeda ISIS FSA terrorists, bought and paid for by USA and its allies.
From the point of view of a devil, the promotion looks well motivated and deserved.
Hey Nagoota,
Did you get a special participation trophy for incinerating hospital patients on their intensive care beds?
That was a mideast special ops gig, WASN'T IT?
Up and Out.
That is the type of country we have become. There is no such thing as failure.
From the helicopter children being unable to cope with the stresses of college to 1/4 of our population on daily ecstacy now called anti-depressants.
Amerika has become a nation of pussies. Just look at our President. He is a wimpish dork.
No wonder Russia and China are no longer afraid to push us around.
Put him in charge of the Secret Service.
He looks like he might be more proficient - and happier - running a dumpling cart.
He's not White. That's reason enough in the new vibrant sexually-liberated US Army.
This makes perfect SENSE, because if you got RID of all the FuckUps in DC, it would be a ghost town...
I need a different administration, one that is actually different. What the hell is this slopehead doing in an administrative position anyway. I want to fire the lot of them.
When you see a string of failures, and you see that nobody is ever held responsible for them (other than some underling who couldn't possibly have had the authority to affect the outcome), you have to wonder why.
One possibility is, of course, that there's a brotherhood of sycophants looking out for each other. Another is that firing somebody for failure requires somebody to stand up and take responsibility overall, and if nobody knows how to get positive results, nobody is going to take charge and make themselves the target.
Still another thing to consider is whether or not the stated objectives were ever really the true goals. That's where I come down on US Foreign Policy. Sure, the sycophants and yes-men are there, and over-represented in top leadership for the other reasons I mentioned. But also, the true goals of the US are rarely as stated. Nowhere has this been more dramatically illustrated than in the past 4 weeks of events and propaganda in Syria.
Wolfowitz and Brzezinski were awfully damned clever coming up with the strategy of creating a ring of pure evil chaos around the perimeter of Russia, China, and the E.U. Failure truly is success in that framework. Not one major US goal in the Middle East has been achieved in the past 15 years, yet everyone involved has been promoted and given accolades. Except Gen. Tommy Franks who immediately retired and disappeared, and Gen. Petraeus, who dipped his wick in the honeypot.
When you know you're being lied to, in order to discover the truth you have to work backwards from visible outcomes to hypothesize the true motives. I'm not saying I'm right, but it makes more sense to think that what we consider "Failure" was the real objective, than to rationalize why everyone responsible for the "Failures" has been rewarded. When you consider who has benefitted from all the "Failure," it makes even more sense.
TRUMP 2016
Sounds like an ideal candidate for president of the US. A total failure is the next logical step after the abject failure that is the current incumbent.
Well we have the "dynastic entitlement" duo of Bush and Clinton. From my vantage point Trump is better than another Bush or Clinton.
Rome had an empire. It fell. Kublai Khan ruled the largest empire ever. It's gone. The time was when th sun never set on the British Empire. We swiped it from them after WW II, it's gone.
Now it's our turn. The U.S. Empire is falling and no one can stop it.
Who is worse, Nuland or Nagata or Breedlove or Petraeus or Goering? Do they do bad things because they are bad people or are they bad people because they do bad things?
No matter, they are bad people and they will fail. That is good.
Does anyone think that Generals at his level "suddenly fail?" He was micromanaged by The White House, State and the CIA, from his first day on the job to his last. Every Military commander has been micromanaged for years.
Nagata 2016! Run, Mike, Run! Run, Mike, Run!
He doesn't really have to win. That's not the goal of any of our wars anymore. The American people just have to be made to believe that we are still safe from the neck cutters. Most of us do, so mission accomplished.
It's "failure" only if you assume the offical story is true.
He's only doing what his BOSS told him to do. The fault if any llies with the Boss, not the underling
This sounds about right for the US government. Promote the inept.
F up, move up...
that's the Army way.
He must be dating the new gay Secretary of the Army...that is the way Obama's Army rolls. Just think the YMCA crew...comes to the Army.
Obama accelerates USA total failure
Glitter bombs! War should be more festive!
And Pinatas! Lots of pinatas!
Sorry General ass-hat...
While you are innovating by studying the marketing strategies of ISIS, the Rooskies are vaporizing them with cruise missiles and cluster fucking bombs.
What did Josef Stalin, Winston Churchhill and Franklin Roosevelt all have in common?
They were all genocidal kikes on the payroll of the Red Foreskin.
How long does anyone think Putin and his generals LOL at this ass clown?
"Training the Syrian rebels, however, proved to be a star-crossed task. In late July, many of the first 54 Syrian graduates of the military’s training program and the rebel unit in which they served came under attack by the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda." (my bold)
Uh...is that the "moderate" al Nusra we support? And get mad when they are bombed...but they attack the troops we train...??????
Huh? The MSM can't keep their stories straight...because their leaders make it impossible for them to do so.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/all/modules/blockquote/images/menu-leaf.g...); background-position: 100% 100%;">Training the Syrian rebels, however, proved to be a star-crossed task. In late July, many of the first 54 Syrian graduates of the military’s training program and the rebel unit in which they served came under attack by the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda.It was the lavender uniforms, they stuck out like sore thumbs.
Is he qualified? Unless he's planning a gender change or orientation announcement, I don't think he meets all the diversity requirements. He's not even from a preferred minority group.
Becuz he made some ppl rich & some richer