Leaders lead in adversity, too LTC (ret) Allen West

Profiles In American Leadership Today’s poor examples versus history’s great ones Some officials in Washington will tell you we don’t have a spending problem. (Boy, they must be drinking something good!) But when you analyze the cuts set to kick in today, you learn that they represent only a 2.4 percent decrease in the growth of the federal budget. Actual spending still will increase! The cuts will be only $85 billion a year; the United States truly borrows that much in a month. The Federal Reserve also is printing money and buying mortgage security and treasury bond debt to the tune of $85 billion per month. So what is all the hoopla about sequestration? On Tuesday in Newport News, Va., President Obama decried the idea of sequestration. He never mentioned that the idea sprang from his White House. Instead, he highlighted all of the presumably terrible consequences for federal programs that could happen because of budget cuts. As I watched this performance, I asked myself, “Is this the new face of American leadership?” I remembered when I was a military commander and wondered what my unit would have thought of me had I stood before them and complained about how bad things were. What if that day before we crossed into Iraq in 2003 I stood before our battalion and screeched about how we would die, how great the enemy was and how we were not trained sufficiently to win. Where would the inspiration be? Could it be that with the election and re-election of President Obama, we as a nation have forgotten what resolute leadership looks like? While watching the recent confirmation hearings of CIA Director-designate John Brennan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, I asked myself: “This is it? This is the best we have as the greatest nation the world has ever known?” Just this week, new Secretary of State Kerry was over in Germany yucking it up before telling an audience, “In America people have the right to be stupid.” Is that leadership?

True leaders from American history   My years in the military taught me that leadership has five components: courage, competence, commitment, conviction and character. We studied many profiles in American leadership, and I would like to share a few with you. Could you see any of our current elected officials at Valley Forge, Pa., during the American Revolution, encouraging a ragtag Army to hang on as George Washington did? Do we even teach our kids about “The Swamp Fox” Francis Marion and his exploits during that war? How often do we study why Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” because of the courage of the men at Fort McHenry, Md., who kept our flag flying despite the constant British naval barrage? Or what of the courage of those men who stood stalwart under the command of Gen. Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans? Do we know why Confederate Gen. Thomas Jackson received his nickname “Stonewall” at the First Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas, depending upon which side people fought)? And who was that single figure at Little Round Top, a professor of rhetoric who gave an order that saved Day 2 at Gettysburg, Pa.? (In case you missed it in history class, the answer is Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.) How many Americans remember that when Germans surrounded the entire 101st Airborne Division in December 1944 in Bastogne, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe responded to the call for surrender with one word: “NUTS!”? Consider the Battle of Guadalcanal when, between August 1942 and February 1943, U.S. Marines looked out and saw that their naval support had departed. Did those Marines quit? No, just remember the young lieutenant colonel named Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller who inspired his Marines and the resolve of Sgt. John Basilone. I served in Korea in 1995, and those were some of the coldest winters I have ever encountered. But that cold pales in comparison to the extreme conditions at Chosin Reservoir in November-December 1950, when the Chinese Army surrounded our forces. Did the American leaders surrender or complain? No, they vowed to attack in any direction. The first full encounter between U.S. military forces and the North Vietnamese Army came in the La Drang Valley. Lt. Col. Hal Moore withstood odds of one American to every five Vietnamese and defeated the enemy – exploits of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 7th Cavalry Regiment made famous in the book and movie “We Were Soldiers Once and Young.” In Mogadishu, Somalia, two brave Delta Force snipers landed to protect one downed and injured U.S. Army pilot. Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. First Class Randy Shughart exemplified the highest standards of courage – an 18-hour battle to ensure no man was left behind. And last year, we saw former U.S. Navy SEALS disobeying orders to save and protect Americans at a consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Leaders lead in adversity, too See, leaders lead, and they do so when the goings are tough. As a matter of fact, they thrive in adverse situations. Has America forgotten leadership – men who challenged us to go to the moon or told an evil empire to tear down that wall? We need to share profiles in American leadership to inspire the next generation because I fear that our schools shall not, and the current crop of individuals in positions of leadership are nothing more than imposters. / Steadfast and Loyal, Allen B. West

The Frightening World John Kerry Faces John Kerry fulfilled a lifelong dream by becoming secretary of State earlier this month. But now that Kerry is in the reality of the job, scholar Michael Ledeen has some insights for Kerry to consider about foreign policy issues around the globe. Ledeen, a PJ Media contributor and scholar at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, shared his ideas about Asia, the Middle East and the Americas in a Next Generation TV interview with Allen West. “A new secretary of State, if he looked honestly at the world,” Ledeen said, “would see a really frightening global alliance that has been organized against us and is waging war against us right now.” He outlined priorities for Kerry in the short, medium and long terms. The immediate focus should be Iran both because of its nuclear weapons research and its alliances with North Korea, Venezuela and other countries critical of America. Ledeen emphasized the relationship between Iran and North Korea on the nuclear front in particular. North Korea tests the device (i.e., the nuclear bomb) as Iran tests the missile that could be the delivery vehicle for a bomb. “They’re working on all this stuff together,” he said. That’s why the United States should act now. “We should have a policy to bring down [the Iranian] regime and, if possible, to bring it down non-violently, non-militarily,” Ledeen said. “And I think it can be done.” Kerry’s mid-term focus should be Russia because of the potential for trouble from its weakened economic state, Ledeen added. It’s important to keep tabs on “the malicious things that Putin is up to.” In the long term, China is America’s biggest and most serious threat. “These other places can cause us trouble,” Ledeen said, “but they’re not going to destroy America. China is big enough and potentially strong enough so that in the long run China could destroy America.” Watch the full interview for Ledeen’s thoughts on U.S. policy toward Israel and other countries and regions.

The Bullies Of Broward County To most people, it makes perfect sense during Black History Month to ask a successful, well-educated black man who rose to military leadership and served in Congress to share his personal story with the next generation. But to a few bullies led by one white male, the Broward County School Board in Florida blew it big time by inviting former Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., to speak to the Gifted Student Advisory Council. When the bullies heard that West, now the head of programming at Next Generation TV, was going to speak, they pitched a public fit. “Bullying does not just happen in our schools,” West recounted in a video commentary about the controversy. “It has indeed become part of our political discourse, as used by those unable to engage in an in-depth, intellectual debate.” West wondered whether the event would be canceled but was thrilled when council Chairwoman Heidi Jameson stood firm against the critics. The end result: West spoke for 90 minutes at Lauderdale Lakes Middle School, and he answered question after question from curious minds from the next generation. West said the community learned a valuable lesson from his willingness to speak at an event where hostile critics didn’t want him, from Jameson’s decision to stick by her decision and from the no-show protestors. “In growing up in the inner city, I learned that the best thing to combat a bully is to get in [his] face and fight back,” West said. “Running away, cowering and compromising only emboldens bullies.” And he is convinced that the next generation “will inherit a greater and even more exceptional America when they witness us standing up for their future before the bullies who would intimidate and destroy their hopes and dreams.” Get a glimpse into West’s inspiring story in his commentary.