When a childhood friend of mine joined the Marines, I got a call from Uncle Sam. He wanted to know how long I’d known Dan. He wanted to know if Dan had ever espoused any radical beliefs, or if he had associated with any groups that had. He asked if Dan had ever lived overseas, or if he had ever said anything that would indicate disloyalty to the U.S.A. They wanted to make sure that he was qualified to receive security clearance he would need to become an intelligence officer. As I understand it, Dan spent the next few years watching a whole lot of al Jazeera.

The point is, the military takes their security pretty seriously. If you come from a radical background, including associations with people or groups that are less-than-patriotic, you probably won’t be granted any meaningful level of security acceess. With this in mind, John Washburn, who is ex-military, makes a great point:

[B]ased on Obama’s prior associations, I can safely say that obtaining an upper-level security clearance would be impossible for him. The minute the Pentagon discovered his Wright association alone – never mind the one with a domestic terrorist – he would be denied access to any significant national security information. If he joined the military, he would not be granted the most basic security clearance. Yet, as President and Commander in Chief, Obama would have access at the highest level. This man wouldn’t be qualified to be a White House staffer, much less President unless, of course, the American people voted to put him in charge. And there are some who believe his associations don’t matter? Yeah, right.

This reminds me of that old saying about the fox guarding the hen house. Use your vote wisely, American.

Tags: election '08, national security, Obama
Categories: Politics

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.