New Strategy

By LtCol Dominik George Nargele

New Strategy, well done! (General P. X. Kelley USMC [Ret]).

Nargeles book is pure platinum that vividly describes the impact of Communist oppression on him and his family as WWII ended, and his journey to and through the Marine Corps . . . a journey that included combat service in Vietnam and sensitive challenging diplomatic assignments that followed (Lieutenant General Stephen Olmstead USMC [Ret]).

The book New Strategy is an insightful look at the adversaries we have faced when we joined the Marine Corps in the 1960s (Major General Donald R. Gardner USMC [Ret], Emeritus Marine Corps University President).

Lieutenant Colonel Nargeles New Strategy book is a well-thought-out, absorbing, engrossing story and is not only about his Marine Corps service but also what needs to be done for the good of our country. Well done, Marine (Major General W. H. Rice USMC [Ret]).

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524688813

LtCol Dominik George Nargele

"Dominik G. Nargele, LtCol USMC (Ret), MA, MSA, PhD, was born in Kaunas and grew up in New York. Entered service in June 1957 and retired in February 1985. Completed 28th OCC and Basic School 2/61. Served as platoon leader and XO, Co H, 2nd Bn, 6th Marines before being assigned to 5th Marines in Camp Pendelton. Transferred in 1965 to Okinawa with 1st Bn, 5th Marines and landed in Vietnam on 6 July 1965 as platoon commander, Communications Platoon, 2nd Bn, 9th Marines operating against Communist forces until 4 June 1966. Was awarded the Purple Heart, Navy Commendation Medal and Presidential Unit Citation. Returned to Vietnam for second tour on 13 March 1969, served with G-3, 1st Marine Division and was awarded second Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V. Served from 1971 to 1974, in Potsdam as Naval Representative and from 1982 to 1984, in Santo Domingo as Defense Attache. Received MA and MSA from George Washington University and PhD from Georgetown University."

Book preview

© 2017 LtCol Dominik George Nargele USMC(Ret). All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/03/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5246-8882-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-8883-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-8881-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017906046

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: An Introduction To National Security

Chapter 2: Russia Is The Greatest Threat

Chapter 3: Dangerous Capitulation

Chapter 4: Us Marine Leadership And Not Leading From Behind

Chapter 5: Global War On Terror

Chapter 6: The Memorial Of Over 100

Million Victims Of Communism

Chapter 7: Communist Terror In China And Vietnam

Chapter 8: First Tour Landing And Operations In Vietnam

Chapter 9: Observations During Second Tour Of Duty In Vietnam

Chapter 10: Operations, Contacts,

And Detentions In East Germany

Chapter 11: Perspectives During Cold War Okinawa And Korea Service

Chapter 12: The Wars In Cuba And In The Dominican Republic

Chapter 13: War On Terror In Afghanistan, Iraq, And Iran

Chapter 14: Analysis And Lessons Learned, Social Media, And Others

Sources And Bibliography

This book is most respectfully dedicated

to the victims of communism and terror

and to the freedom and independence

of all captive nations and people.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A special thanks must go to the distinguished reviewers and those who made helpful comments: General P. X. Kelley, USMC (Ret); Ambassador Lev E. Dobriansky; Ambassador William A. Brown; Lieutenant General Stephen Olmstead, USMC (Ret); Major General Donald R. Gardner, USMC (Ret), Emeritus Marine Corps University President; Father Francis Giedgautas, OFM; Major General W. H. Rice, USMC (Ret); Major General John Cox, USMC (Ret); Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret); Charles Krutz, SES (Ret); Richard Hines, Foreign Service (Ret); Colonel William K. Rockey, USMC (Ret); Colonel Frederick C. Turner, USA (Ret); Captain Charles Chadbourn, USNR, Naval War College; Colonel William Coti, USMC (Ret); Colonel John Keenan, USMC (Ret), Editor, Marine Corps Gazette; Colonel Paul Nikulla, USAF (Ret); Colonel L. G. Kelley, USMC (Ret); Colonel James Quisenberry, USMC (Ret); Colonel William V. Bournes (Ret); Captain Samuel F. Wright, USNR; Bebe F. Rice, author; Trudy Wilkinson; Lieutenant Colonel Con Silard, USMC (Ret); Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Guiler (Ret); Lieutenant Colonel Russel Lloyd Jr., USMC (Ret); Lieutenant Colonel John Guenther, USMC (Ret); Lieutenant Colonel Frank Kelly, USMC (Ret); Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Metzger (Ret); Lieutenant Colonel Roger Clawson, USMC (Ret); Lieutenant Colonel Paul Grant (Ret); Commander John Gallagher, USN (Ret); Major Franklin Broadwell, USMC (Ret); Elizabeth R. Birkhimer; Gediminas Indreika; Jurate Micuta; Patricia Snellings; Ann Capps; Rachel Romaszewski; Kimberlie Capps Cerda; Gwen Cody; Xenia Jowyk; Cynthia, Jana, and Rocky Meskauskas; Ella Waller Nargele; Nora and Tim Cullen; Christine and William Marks; Lelia Belle Waller; Karen and Eric Meskauskas; Elaine Gardner; Audrey and Lacy Powell; Britton Warfield; and Virginia Morgan.

Ultimately, I am responsible for the contents and any errors. Thanks to Marel Mallari for her help with the preparation of this manuscript.

CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO NATIONAL SECURITY

Victory of President Donald Trump Means New Strategy: Peace through Strength

Every day, President Donald Trump makes America great again. I am most grateful to him, who saved America and kindly thanked me for my eight years of defending freedom against radical left, anti-USA democratic policies. Many said it could not be done, but President Trump’s hard work, patriotism, empirical reason, and faith in our country and God prevailed.

After the election, President Trump sent me an electronic thank-you letter and reportedly sent similar letters to other supporters. But in my letter, he wrote that people said we could never do it. But the election showed that America will again be a country of the people. The letter referred to me, saying that I fought like a winner, defied all odds, and history will remember the role [I] played in taking our country back. The letter stated that President Trump and his supporters could never have done it without people like me.

pixabaycomentrump_me_narcissism_grandiosity_1796203.jpg

President Donald J. Trump was elected on 8 November 2016 and will make America Great again.

Armed Forces Should Be Rebuilt as Soon as Possible

Congress and President Donald Trump must not waste a minute in 2017 on repairing the damage done to national security by President Barack Obama. After eight years of his assault on the military, the morale of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen, and Marines is at an all-time low; our nuclear deterrence is at its weakest in decades; and our armed forces are depleted. The 2016 outgoing Republican Congress blocked and prevented any final attack by Obama on our national defense before he left office.

Since his first day in office in 2009, Obama has relentlessly imposed massive cuts on each branch of the armed forces, resulting in the United States’ being unable to wage two wars at the same time. We are losing our naval supremacy in the Pacific and eliminating countless warships, aircraft, and weapons systems. Our nuclear warheads are down to fewer than fifteen hundred working ones, and we must pay the Russians to launch our astronauts into space. After many cyberattacks against America, we are increasingly vulnerable to even more cyberthreats by Russia, China, and other hostile nations. The army has been slashed to the lowest number of soldiers since 1940, and the air force is at an all-time low in personnel and aircraft.

Emboldened Vladimir Putin is waging war against democratic forces in Syria, especially Aleppo. He is rebuilding the Soviet Union, starting in Georgia and continuing in East Ukraine, Crimea, Moldova, the Baltic States, and more. Putin is violating our arms agreements, building new missiles and warheads while we destroy ours. Russian warships and aircraft harass ours, violating our airspace and seacoasts along with those of our allies. Red China is rapidly building the largest military in the world, seeking superiority in outer space, in cyberspace, on land, in the air, and on the seas.

Iran harassed our ships and is moving ahead with its nuclear weapons programs. Iran threatens directly and through its proxies—Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and their Sunni neighbors. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS—also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, or ISIL) is expanding globally and in the Middle East as a terrorist state. There is no telling what Obama may have tried to do to weaken our national security by executive order or other ways in his last days. We must give lethal weapons to Ukraine and Croatia to partially destroy Russian runways in Syria used to attack our allied Syrian democratic forces in northwestern Syria.

President Trump Is Right to Rebuild Nuclear Arms

President Donald Trump and Congress’s nuclear arms policy is right to rebuild the now low and disarmed supply. Actually deployed US nuclear weapons consist of 1,550 strategic weapons and 200 tactical weapons. These are the only US weapons that are operational and can be promptly used. However, they are so old that their safety and reliability are questionable. Nevertheless, opponents to the Trump policy of expansion and modernization, who push total surrender of arms, create fake numbers of US nuclear weapons that include obsolete, unsafe, retired, warehoused, and dismantled ones. The left lobby—with the Arms Control Association, Greenpeace, and others—falsely claim that up to 7,100 US nuclear weapons exist so that they can make even deeper nuclear and conventional arms cuts. The decades-old US systems are not suitable to counter Russia’s modern, brand-new, third-generation systems.

During the last eight years, Russia has achieved a dangerous superiority in overall numbers of weapons, which it never had before. Obama’s ideology was implemented to eliminate eventually all American arms, and Russia now has at least 4,750 nuclear weapons that have been counted, with many more kept secret by Russian security forces. They have 1,750 strategic nuclear weapons, 200 more than permitted by the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and they continue producing more. Russia has at least three thousand known tactical nuclear weapons, but there may be up to twenty thousand additional ones. President Trump must repair the damage done to national security by Obama as our nuclear deterrence is at its weakest in decades.

Russia Is Not a Friend

An existential threat to America and President Trump comes from Russia. Putin has nothing to offer because he has a weak economy and spends all he has on military buildup and global aggression. He has worked to make Iran the predominant power in the Middle East and Assad the winner in Syria. Putin’s nuclear arms buildup, in violation of all treaties with America, is the greatest threat to our country. Putin has illegally invaded and annexed Crimea and is murdering Crimean Tatars like Stalin did during World War II. He has now killed over twelve thousand Ukrainians and continues to conduct high-intensity warfare against the underequipped Ukrainian army, which is in need of antitank weapons, artillery counterfire radar, armor, and aircraft that Obama failed to give the hard-pressed Ukrainians.

The Russian Black Sea fleet has been greatly expanded and regularly attacks eastern Ukraine. It now has an aircraft carrier stationed in the eastern Mediterranean launching MiG-29 fighter-bombers against our friendly forces in Syria. Putin has greatly increased forces in the military districts along the Ukrainian and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) borders. Russian forces are now equipped with large numbers of tactical nuclear missiles far outnumbering, in that regard, the underequipped NATO and US units.

President Trump has to follow President Ronald Reagan’s policies of dealing with Russia. America holds all the potential cards that Obama either did not know how to play or did not want to, losing Crimea, eastern Ukraine, Syria, and the Middle East to Russia.

President Trump’s New Nuclear Arms Policy

As the new secretary of defense, General James Mattis will help shape President Trump’s new nuclear defense policy. The president made a great choice in selecting General Mattis to be secretary of defense.

Despite the late increased funding by Obama’s administration of recent long-range strikes into Libya and Syria, President Trump and Congress are right. After eight years of cuts, we must rebuild the low number of US triad and conventional forces, which was described earlier in this chapter. Besides their low numbers, these weapons are so old that their safety and reliability are questionable. Nevertheless, the disarmament lobby and opponents to the Trump policy of expansion and modernization push for the total surrender of arms. They include obsolete, unsafe, retired, warehoused, and dismantled weapons in claiming there are more usable weapons than there are.

Since 2009, massive cuts to the armed forces have resulted in the United States’ being unable to wage two wars at the same time. We have nearly lost our naval supremacy in the Pacific by eliminating countless warships and aircraft. America is increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks by Russia, China, and other hostile nations.

With Secretary of Defense James Mattis in place, these countries, as well as ISIS, are now under increased attack. We must build up our forces in Central Europe and give lethal aid to Ukraine.

President Trump Restores Security and Constitutional Rule

As he took office, President Trump took steps to restore security and constitutional rule of law. First, he canceled many executive actions and orders issued by President Obama. He began the process of installing Jeff Sessions as attorney general and selected a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia from a list of twenty conservative judges previously announced. He proposed the cancellation of all federal funding of sanctuary cities and ordered removal of the over two million criminal illegal immigrants in the United States. Then, President Trump suspended immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely be done.

President Obama should have called out radical Islamist terrorists as an enemy threat to United States and dealt with the Muslim Brotherhood, which should be declared a terror organization since it is involved with Islamic supremacist attacks and subversion. It undermines laws such as in the controversy with District Judge Charles Haight, who shackled the New York Police Department for trumped-up violations of 1985 Handschu guidelines. The flawed 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial of Islamic terror should be reopened to prosecute co-conspirators. Legal action is needed against 80 percent of mosques preaching sedition, and they must be evaluated and then closed if found to be dangerous.

President Obama brought in tens of thousands of undocumented sharia-compliant Muslims and settled them in conservative (Republican) states to reduce GOP majorities as part of his support for the Hijra Islamic jihad doctrine of spreading Islam. It will be reversed along with a global Islamic jihad movement operating in America, which brought the events of September 11, Fort Hood, the Boston Marathon, San Bernardino, Orlando, New York, New Jersey, and so on.

The jihad works in phases. In 2010–2013, radical Islamists destroyed the hated Arab governments of Egypt, Iraq, and Libya with the help of Obama’s diplomacy and backing of Arab Spring uprisings. In 2013–2016, the jihadists declared an Islamic caliphate. Presently, they lead fighting between believers and nonbelievers, waged from about 2,400 mosques and Islamic centers in the United States that support terror cells and key Muslim Brotherhood networks. The final phase calls for the war to go hot and seek victory of Islam over Christianity and the West. Each year, over one hundred new Islamic nonprofits are created with Muslim Brotherhood direction that are funded by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, US left Democrats, and anti-US sources.

Under Obama, jihadists penetrated the White House and top government levels, influencing our domestic and foreign policies. They denied key enemy information to our military and police. Local police must be freed to penetrate, monitor, and close mosques and Islamic centers, prosecuting or deporting seditious imams. Using freedom of religion as a cover for terror must be ended. Individuals committing terror attacks must be declared traitors and treated like enemy combatants, sent to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

New Strategy Must Be Based on All Past Experience and Lessons Learned

The New Strategy to make America great again requires a strong military, second to none. Enemies must know that they will be defeated if they start armed conflicts. America must handle persistent enemies with all of its economic, scientific, civil, and military power. Civil affairs must be given support to set up democratic-allied governments in armed conflicts. A friendly government must exist in tactical areas of responsibility (TAOR) as much as possible. Overlooked before the Obama nuclear deal was the fact that, since 2001, Iran has had at least twelve nuclear-capable, Kh-55 Russian-made cruise missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to a range of up to 1,500 miles. These weapons were procured illegally from Ukraine and allow Iran to hit a target anywhere from New Delhi to Cairo.

Both cruise and ballistic missiles can carry nuclear warheads, but the cruise missiles are more difficult to intercept due to short launch times (mere minutes compared to Iran’s ballistic missiles, which take an hour or longer to launch).

Unfortunately, the nuclear deal with Iran will allow Tehran to expand is arsenal of cruise missiles and more weapons systems, with about $150 billion provided by the United States following the lifting of sanctions. UN Resolution 2231 removed the bans that prevented Iran from buying conventional arms that could be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Russia and China have noted the treaty provision and, eager to rebuild ties with the Iranian defense industry, will provide new turbofan engines and guidance systems to improve the range and accuracy of Iran’s cruise missiles.

Chinese-made antiship missiles are fundamental to Iran’s strategy of contesting US predominance in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Iran fired several such missiles against US-flagged oil tankers at the end of the Iraq-Iran War, provided C-802 Saccade antiship missiles to Hezbollah, and test-fired two new antiship cruise missiles in naval maneuvers.

Given Iran’s history of transferring cruise missiles to Hezbollah (and probably Hamas), the United States and its partners must continue to interdict Iranian arms exports. In addition, the United States must give Israel several squadrons of F-15 aircraft into which Israel can put its own electronics, along with state-of-the-art bunker-busting bombs and airborne-refueling tanker aircraft. To overcome the handicap of brave Kurdish fighters, our best fighting allies, the United States should give the Kurds lethal weapons in order to counter the millions of dollars’ worth of US arms captured by Iran proxy forces. America must help Israel, the Kurds, Egypt, Jordan, and allied forces before it is too late.

A strike against treaty-violating Tehran’s nuclear facilities may have the bonus benefit of giving the Iranian people, betrayed in 2009 by Obama, a second chance to overthrow the dictatorship of the mullahs and theocracy.

A new NATO combat brigade in this year’s budget is a badly needed positive move by Congress and Obama administrations to do more to secure the eastern front against Russia. The White House announced that its fiscal 2017 budget has $3.4 billion for the US European Reassurance Initiative (ERI), up from $789 million. The ERI was first launched in 2014 after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. The good news in this year’s budget is that the Department of Defense (DoD) will outfit and deploy a brigade that will operate along NATO’s front line, including the Baltics and Poland. The brigade will be combat ready and have prepositioned heavy equipment on the continent. This represents a major improvement over the rotation of 150 US soldiers into Poland and the Baltics for joint training. A brigade may not stop an armored invasion, but it could respond to Putin’s tactics of sending Russian Special Forces into former captive nations like he did in Crimea and Ukraine.

The brigade’s presence should reassure NATO’s eastern members, especially the Baltic states that are being harassed by Putin with tactics similar to those used against Ukraine. Poland could also use some reassurance after Obama withdrew the agreed-upon US missile shield in 2009. Poland is one of a few NATO members now spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense.

The Kremlin falsely claims a violation of the 1987 US-Russia agreement, but it has invaded Georgia, broken the 1994 Budapest Memorandum that guaranteed Ukraine’s territory, and repeatedly violated NATO’s airspace. Because the brigade will rotate among several countries, it will not violate the 1987 agreement. The objective of the brigade is to have a significant enough NATO force to deter Russian aggression.

Mortal Threat to America

A mortal threat to America comes from too few ships, a greatly expanded civilian defense staff, and new Russian naval forces. Unilateral disarmament for seven years and explosive growth of bureaucracy to 970,000 civilian defense employees, up several hundred thousand from the Reagan years, have left the US Navy with 280 ships to effectively protect vital interests in the Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea. Yet the Obama administration plans to cut more ships in favor of more missiles and aircraft. By not rebuilding the fleet, the Obama administration left too few ships and created longer deployments, sapping the service. Reagan administration spending, with little more quantity, produced 594 ships, 15 carriers, 35 air force fighter wings, 220 strategic bombers, and 20 army divisions, with full stocks of weapons and good maintenance. However, Obama administration spending has produced a force nearly half the size, with depleted weapons and low readiness.

The Obama disarmament has resulted in half of all military serving on staffs with much red tape, responding to hundreds of civilian offices, 17 independent agencies, 9 unified commands, and 250 joint task forces. The bloat of civilians and use of defense funds as welfare, social engineering, and minority/gender directives has reversed the historic ratio of fighters versus nonfighters. With many layers and offices, it now takes twenty-two years to develop US weapons, whereas it only takes Russia and China seven years to produce the advanced ships and fighters of the so-called fifth generation. After decades of neglect, Russian naval forces are being modernized with advanced submarines and increasingly lethal ballistic and cruise missiles. The naval buildup includes three new classes of advanced submarines and several new types of warships that will provide a flexible platform for Russian offensive capabilities, threaten neighbors, project power, and return Russia to superpower status. Recently, Putin greatly increased funding of new weapons, with the goal of restoring Soviet-level power by 2020. Following the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea last year, Russia is emerging as an elevated strategic threat and proliferating advanced weapons to other countries.

Russia’s wartime naval strategy remains focused on nuclear deterrence and layered defense. The centerpiece of the Russian navy remains its missile and attack submarine force, currently made up of fifty-six submarines. The current fleet includes twelve nuclear missile submarines, twenty-six cruise-missile equipped submarines, and eighteen attack submarines. A total of thirty-one major surface ships are presently deployed, with most of them over twenty years old. The nuclear submarine fleet is the priority of the Russian shipbuilding program. Several new classes are being built and deployed. The newest Dolgurukiy-class missile submarines are armed with SS-N-32 Bulava missiles with ranges up to 5,281 miles. The first was launched in December 2013, and the others are nearing deployments with plans for building eight submarines by 2020. Another class of attack submarine is being built to protect nuclear missile submarines.

Under the Obama administration, the lack of attention to Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons left America vulnerable to devastating attacks by Russian nuclear forces. Russian high-tech weapons such as lasers and other directed weapons threaten to disrupt or damage electronics with radio frequency bursts. Russia’s high-energy weapons are being developed with antisatellite and cruise missile defense capability. The good news is that the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, under the leadership of Senator John McCain and Congressman Mac Thornberry and signed by President Obama, reduces Pentagon civilians by 25 percent and intends to vastly improve the broken procurement system and red tape.

President Donald Trump Explains Obamacare in Simplified Form

President Trump said that we have been gifted with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don’t. It purportedly covers at least ten million people, without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, who have recently demonstrated their objectivity and professional integrity written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it; passed by a Congress that didn’t read it but exempted themselves from it; signed by a president who smokes; with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes; for which we’ll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect; by a government that has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, and the post office; all overseen by a surgeon general who is obese; and financed by a country that’s broke. What could possibly go wrong?

Crash Course on Obama Foreign Policy

America is battling radical Islamic terrorists and needs to declare war on the Islamic State. Yet, despite national security being the top worry of Americans following the murder of fourteen and the injuring of twenty-one in San Bernardino, California, President Obama made no shift in policy.

When Ronald Reagan was president, America had nearly fifteen thousand nuclear weapons. Under Obama’s unilateral-disarmament policy, that number is down to fifteen hundred aging and decaying warheads (which may soon be slashed to just a few hundred). Obama has ignored Russia’s encroachment on its neighbors, the latest invasion of Syria, and Putin’s plans to expand his global reach by establishing permanent military bases at our back door in Nicaragua and Venezuela. Obama has allowed the Islamic State to run out of control in Syria and Iraq. Sending a small detail of fifty Special Forces soldiers to nineteen countries is not a serious response.

China has unveiled a new stealth bomber, a copied version of the latest F-35, and is rapidly building up its entire military. China has declared vast parts of the Pacific to be Chinese territory and is increasingly threatening Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and our other allies in the region. The Chinese have also cyberattacked our most sensitive business and military computer systems and may soon be the dominant world power in space. Iran is speeding up development of a nuclear bomb and taking covert action around the world against Israel.

While Putin threatened nuclear war, built more military bases in Syria and Ukraine, modernized his military, and violated our airspace, Obama actually accelerated policies to totally disarm our military, eliminate nuclear deterrents, and open our borders to thousands of illegal aliens (including, no doubt, members of the Islamic State). In the nuclear age, a repeat of the appeasement policies in place prior to World War II could result in the deaths of hundreds of millions. Congress and 2016 presidential candidates must not allow Obama to doom us and the world to that tragic, horrific fate.

Healing Crippled America

Everyone talks about Donald Trump, and that is probably the best thing to happen to politics in a long time. Trump fills the vacuum left by a political faction that has for years promised its voters it would do things it had no intention of doing. Trump has the fire in him to make America great again and probably do it the right way. Far from destroying our democracy, he is exposing all its phoniness and corruption and changing it in the process. We finally have someone who genuinely loves America and is not beholden to the financial donors. He will be beholden to no one except regular Americans. Because he is the way he is and says what he says, he shakes things up, which is very much needed.

Eight Years of Unilateral Disarmament Endangers America

The latest studies call for a new US Army Armored Brigade in Germany facing the Russian buildup and a new infantry brigade facing North Korea in South Korea. After seven years of unilateral disarmament by President Obama, America is endangered around the globe. Congress must oppose President Obama’s plans to cut additional active duty army personnel to less than 450,000 and further cut about 20,000 Marines. He must be stopped from eliminating our strategic defense shield; refusing to modernize and maintain our shrinking and decaying nuclear arsenal; eliminating our nuclear deterrent; further erasing our borders; conducting more self-defeating arms reduction treaties with Putin; dismantling our ability to operate in space; and further cutting naval and air forces. While the world is in turmoil and the chances of global war are increasing, the Obama administration and many politicians must stop being preoccupied with the threat of ISIS, the conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and some radical Islam terrorists, allowing a much larger threat to grow from Putin and his military buildup. Putin is attacking his neighbors, increasing his foothold in the Middle East, modernizing his war machine, and violating our shores and airspace while openly threatening nuclear war if the West tries to stop him. He is encouraged by the lack of opposition from President Obama, who has ignored Russia’s growing encroachment on its neighbors, on the Artic, and now in Syria and the Middle East. Obama condoned inaction against Red China’s increasing land grabs in the Pacific and ISIS’s expansion in Syria and Iraq and greatly empowered and rewarded Iran’s terrorist regime with political support, money, and a sure path to nuclear arms. Obama’s dubious hope that Iran would become friendly toward America failed with not much future promise of friendship.

Reportedly, the Russians are thinking the unthinkable—that they could use nuclear weapons and get away with it. As President Obama disarms America more, our enemies see their chances for successful nuclear and conventional attacks increase exponentially. After seven years of no military strategy, poor foreign policy management, abdication of leadership, and deflection of responsibility, when President Obama addressed the US Congress for the last time, he was eager to claim accomplishments. He tried to put a positive spin on the policy of disarmament, leading from behind, and his broad embrace of priorities held by leftist ideologues and socialist governments. Unfortunately, while popular in some parts of the world, the Obama policies are dangerous illusions that conflict with reality. Even supporters admit that Iran received billions of dollars to support terrorism as its power increased. ISIS is not seriously degraded, as promised. Ukraine is still under attack by Russian troops as more forces are sent and bases build along Ukrainian borders. Red China and Russia are on the move everywhere as their military power is expanding. North Korea tests ever-larger nuclear weapons and makes threats. Renewed relations have not changed the tyranny in Cuba, and questions remain about the allegations of global warning.

Fallout of Leading from Behind

The promised fundamental transformation by President Obama apparently means using the power of his office to punish the military and national security of America for alleged sins of over two hundred years of imperialism and enslavement. In the past six-plus years, many such steps have been taken, including slashing the US Navy to its 1917 size and the army to 1940-level numbers. When he left office, Obama left the US nuclear arsenal smaller than it was under President Truman.

Obama canceled the missile defense system in Poland to appease Russia. He stretched US forces so thin that they are now more vulnerable to attack, and more casualties will result in more conflicts. He abandoned years of military sacrifice in Iraq by pulling out too soon and betrayed Israel and our allies while giving support and foreign aid to our enemies. He also opened our southern border to possible terrorists, drug dealers, and illegal aliens.

As a result of the policy actions by the Obama administration, the strength to protect our freedom has been reduced, the ability to make allies and keep them is now minimal, and our international power to influence other nations is gone. The freeing of Islamic terrorists from Guantanamo Bay has reinforced the fighters on the field of battle against us. Ending the US embargo on Cuba without concessions strengthened the Castro dictatorship and its evil power. The climate change agreement imposes no carbon-emission restrictions on Red China but will badly damage American industry.

Congress and Obama must stop reckless disarmament in the face of growing danger. We must reverse adverse defense policies as Russia is modernizing and upgrading its nuclear weapons and testing a new generation of long-range ballistic missiles. Red China is increasing its nuclear stockpile. North Korea has become a nuclear power, and Iran will soon be one. After years of having no real military strategy, bad foreign policy management, abdication of leadership, and deflection of responsibility, President Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly last month—and was eager to claim accomplishments. He tried to put a positive spin on his radical-left policy of disarmament, leading from behind, and broad embrace of priorities held by European socialist governments.

United States Can Still Fix the Iran Deal

President Obama may not have had any interest in war, but war may have had an interest in him, as the old Russian proverb goes. Congress and President Trump must correct the dangerous Obama defense policy on ground forces before it does real harm to the US military.

Having reduced the US Navy to pre-World-War-I levels, the army to pre-World-War-II levels, and nuclear weapons to below-1950 levels, Obama slashed national security to the point that the United States will be ill-prepared for the kinds of missions that history, demographics, technology, and politics counsel us to expect.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is on his way to recapturing large parts of the territory that the former Soviet Union lost after its collapse. He is now looking to take control of the Arctic Sea and already routinely violates our airspace over Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam with long-range bombers. Russia and Red China are regularly encroaching on our shores with submarines and warships; China’s navy will soon grow strong enough to dominate the Pacific and up its bullying of our allies Japan and the Philippines. China, Russia, and Iran are establishing bases and outposts in Latin America, Cuba, and the Caribbean. Putin has taken over the Middle East and considered Obama a weak fool who could always be stared down.

Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, a corrupt theocracy that has killed thousands of Americans in past years, is not based on reality. The Iranian version of the deal is a far cry from the Kerry/Obama pronouncements and has no practical value for America. Iran has made a treaty with Russia, Syria, and Iraq and has flouted Obama’s peace advances, continuing to sponsor global terror and taking more US citizens prisoner. The Supreme