Military. Heres bret baier. The iwo jima memorial reminds us of many things. First of course, of the uncommon valor of the troops but it also reminds us that it can be a dangerous world out there and our military never knows when it will be called upon to travel overseas and accomplish a mission. And it can remind us, as well, that as much as we may desire peace, theres no replacement for a military that is strong and ready. Let us pray. Eternal father, strong to save, as we bid fair winds and following seas to the fighting 56 september 2015 were witnessing a military funeral. Not of a person but a navy friday inaugurate, the uss simpson is decommissioning. Theres a feeling of sadness to say goodbye to a ship as important to the profession as all the rest that have gone before her. The simpson was the last u. S. Warship to engage in ship to ship combat in 1988 during operation preying man tis. Three vessels and at least two small boats sunk or very severely damaged. They must know that well protect our ships and if they threaten us, theyll pay a price. Not that long ago, navy had many of this class of frigate. Now theyre all decommissioned. Its not just the navy thats saying goodbye to all friends. In march 2014, the army bid farewell to the warrior helicopter, a workhorse of their air cavalry in iraq and afghanistan. All the pilots will be gone. All the aircraft will be gone. Its only going to be in the history books that people are even know the role it played. In the air force, the president has capped the number of f22 stealth fighters. Far short of the number originally envisioned. Our budget is a zero sum game and if more money goes to f22s it is our troops and citizen who is lose. These actions reflect a trend. Numerous military programs have been scrapped, including the combat search and rescue helicopter, the armys future combat vehicle program, the navys next generation cruiser and several Missile Defense systems such as the third site Missile Defense plan for poland and the czech republic. Along with this down sizing, is a major reduction in the troops themselves. For instance, the armys active force is expected to drop to the smallest since before world war ii. 450,000 soldiers. We have cut the military to its lowest levels, yet we are facing a world that is the most complex environment we have faced since at least the end of world war ii. Retired three star general Michael Flynn ran the Defense Intelligence agency during the Obama Administration. Frankly, the United States of america is in a less strong position today because of the readiness and the size of our armed forces. I spoke to robert gates, secretary of defense in the last years of the Bush Administration and the early years of the Obama Administration. He told me president obama promised him there wouldnt be any significant changes in the military budget for a while. Overall, did he keep to his word . Well, i think that began to fray, fray may be too gentle a word. Before too long, gates found himself cutting hundreds of billions from the defense budget. And that was only the start. Gates was informed the president wanted to announce even more cuts. Over the last two years, secretary bob gates has courageously taken on wasteful spending, saving 400 billion in current and future spending. I believe we can do that again. What was your reaction . Well, i guess id have to say i felt double crossed. After all those years in washington, i was naive. To many, the cuts werent about economic efficiency so much as a strategic change in the role of the military. You told president Obama Staffers that the defense cuts send a big strategic message abroad. The United States is going home, cut a deal with iran and china while you can. I think overall it has had that impact. Youre sending the message to the rest of the world that youre basically retreating. Later you meet with president obama and you tell him the way to compensate for force cuts in the next war is with blood. More American Kids will die because of our decisions. What was his response to that . I think he acknowledged it. What i was pitching at a minimum was the world doesnt seem to be getting better. Before you head down a path of deep cuts in defense, why dont you take it kind of slow . It was one of those things where i lost the argument. I think that he sees the military actually as something that is more dangerous to the world and i think that he looks at us i actually do. I think he looks at the United States military and sees it as a threatening application around the world than actually as a useful tool. How much more dangerous do you think the world is now than it was seven, eight years ago . I think more dangerous. Far more doing rus. The Obama Administration has been tightening the belt of the military. Is this being done to match a slimmed down version of American Foreign policy . Well look at that when we return. Sweetheart, think about your future. Jeff over there did, and just look at him he saved up, bought a house, hes got a beautiful wife. They even had a fancypants destination wedding, andoh, oh they had a baby aah smart and handsome ooh la la oh now ive been saving these frames for pictures of my future grandbabies for years, and the shopping sprees on organic clothing and itelephone cases is not helping you save for a family. Oh, gracious look at that. Hes a model ohh ha ha ha i bet you hes putting that money right into a 401k or his babys college fund. And his teeth are so straight. Feed the pig our diminished military didnt come about simply due to cost cutting measures. Some see it as part and parcel of this administrations particular view of americas place in the world. The next first family of the United States of america. On the night he was elected, barack obama promised a different sort of Foreign Policy. The new dawn of American Leadership is at hand. It didnt take long to see this new leadership in action. On march 6th, 2009, secretary of state Hillary Clinton pressed a reset button with russia. Promising new era of better relations. And on june 4th, 2009, president obama gave a speech in cairo promising a new beginning with the muslim world. Tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many muslims. He had a confidence coming in as president 2009 that he could alter fundamentally our relationship with the muslim world. Joe lieberman was chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security from 2007 to 2013. Unfortunately, i think the message he sent was that the United States was no longer going to exercise its leadership of the world which incidentally through democratic and republican president ial administrations from the end of the war right up until this time had been the great guarantor of security and prosperity and freedom in the world. Jeffrey goldberg, National Correspondent for the atlantic who interviewed barack obama on his Foreign Policy tried to explain the president s approach. He refers to the Washington Play book, the Washington Playbook is something happens in country x and therefore we have to send 50 cruise missiles to deal with that problem and what he wants to do, he says, is break washington of the habit every problem overseas comes with a potential military solution. It was clear he had a new take. But the question remained, what would president obama actually do . He was against the war in iraq. But his military people warned against a hasty withdrawal. It was really important that we try to maintain a military presence there in order to make sure that the gains that had been achieved with a lot of blood by the United States, as well as iraqis, that those gains could be maintained. Leon panetta was president obamas secretary of defense from 2011 until 2013. Thats why the pentagon supported maintaining a presence there. The key to preserving an American Military presence in iraq was to negotiate a stay behind force. The president would have to take the lead. The only chance we would have had for an agreement would have been his intensive involvement, personally, and that didnt happen. And so, on december 18th, 2011, the last convoy of u. S. Troops pulled out of iraq. While all that was happening, the arab spring was spreading throughout the arab world. Demonstrations and riots and civil wars of people challenging their leaders. On january 25th, 2011, egyptians quaer gathered in Cairos Tahrir square to protest the policies of egyptian president whose know mubarak, the u. S. Ally. Ive always considered egypt to be critical to our ability to provide stability in the middle east. When it became apparent mubarak had to go, the military urged caution. But the president pushed for his immediate removal. Literally, the entire National Security team recommended unanimously handling mubarak differently than we did. And the president took the advice of three junior back benchers in terms of how to treat mubarak. One of them saying, mr. President , you got to be on the right side of history. And i would be sitting there at the table and i say, yeah, if we could just figure that out we would be a long way ahead. I dont think he believes that generals should be trying to influence policy making. On february 11th, mubarak resigned. The wheel of history turned at a blinding pace. The happiest day in the white house as it relates to the middle east probably theay that mubarak left. In june 2012, egypt elected a new president , Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. In february of 2011, egypts next door neighbor libya also went up in flames. The countrys dictator Moammar Gadhafi was cooperating with the u. S. Since the invasion of iraq in 2003. Many voices around the world were demanding he be removed from power. Once again, the president s top military advisers counseled caution. When he sided with those that urged him to support the overthrow of gadhafi his secretary of defense resorted to extraordinary measures. Did you actually tell your subordinates to limit the amount of information they gave to the white house on military options available in libya . All i said was, i dont want any military plans or options going to the white house i havent seen. I mean, you write it more bluntly. You say dont give the white house staff too much information on the military options. They dont understand it. Pretty much. A little more blunt. You had concern about that. Absolutely. About running military operations out of the white house. Yeah, yeah. The experience that we had had with that in vietnam didnt work so well. On march 19th, 2011, president obama citing humanitarian concerns ordered the American Military to lead a coalition to confront gadhafi. October 20th, the libyan leader has captured and killed by a mob. Eliciting this response from the secretary of state. We came, we saw, he died. Then theres syria. On august 20th, 2012, after the Syrian Regime led by Bashar Al Assad threatened to use chemical weapons against its enemies in the countrys civil war, president obama put him on notice. A red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. The president ordered the military to prepare to strike if assad did, indeed, cross that red line. On august 21st, 2013, the assad regime used the chemical weapons to kill hundreds of men, women and children. How would america respond . President obama ordered his military to stand down. They used chemical weapons against their own people and we did nothing. We demonstrated weakness instead of strength. Well have more on the results of president obamas Foreign Policy later. But when we return, we look at how hes transforming our military from the ground up. P . P [ cheering ] thank you thank you what a week we sat down, we kicked back, and we watched tv [ cheering ] this win is just the beginning it doesnt end here. Because your laundry can wait keep those sweatpants on order another pizza and watch on [ cheering ] dont wait a whole year for Xfinity Watchathon week to return. Upgrade now to add the premium channel of your choice so you can keep watching. Call or go online today. If our military is going through a transformation in how it relates to the rest of the world, its going through a revolution in how it deals with itself. When youre standing side by side in life or death situations next to other warriors, you have to know from the bottom of your soul that those warriors are going to stand with you. Mike waltz a former special forces commander as well as special adviser to Vice President cheney is referring to what is sometimes called the warrior culture. Watch each others back. You have to have that bond. Anything that interferes with that bond needs to be treated very, very, very carefully. Which is why some critics of barack obama oppose and fear the way the president utilizes the armed forces. They feel hes more comfortable with social change than military command. This president has imposed a political agenda on the military. Elaine donnelly is president for the center of military readiness. Hes done it by redefining the military as a Civil Rights Institution rather than the institution that defends its country. You wrote that president obama showed real passion on one issue concerning the military. His determination to overturn dont ask, dont tell. What did you mean by that . This was one area where i saw him become angry when things werent moving as quickly as he wanted them to move. I didnt see that anger at the lack of progress on really any other issue that i dealt with, certainly. Ending dont ask, dont tell was one of the first social changes on the military by the Obama Administration. It was hardly the last. Recently at ft. Gordon, georgia, hundreds of soldiers summoned to a Powerpoint Presentation about white male heterosexual privilege and the need to discuss oppression and the patriarchy, and then an exercise required of some rotc cadets just last year. We have heard some interesting things. The fact that male rotc cadets were pressured by the military to walk around in womens high heels in order to done in stlat their disapproval of the rape culture. I found that incident kind of bizarre. When i was a rotc cadet, i was doing pushups and running until i threw up if my boots werent shined to the level they needed to be. Even more controversially on december 3rd, 2015, the Obama Administration removed all restrictions on women serving in Ground Combat units. Will be able to serve as rangers and berets, s. E. A. L. S, marine corps infantry, air force parajumpers and Everything Else previously open only to men. By opening that door youre simply saying if thats something youre interested in doing, heres the standards. Congressman tulsi gabbert, a member of the Hawaii Army National guard served two tours in iraq. If you meet those standards, then you should be allowed to serve there, whether a man or a woman. Critics say its not that simple. The idea that men and women are interchangeable, especially in that much higher level of the combat arms its utterly absurd. The Sergeant Eaton served with the Second Marine Expeditionary force in fallujah. The standards lowered formally or informally. There is no such thing as gender neutral. The sexes are not neutral. Congresswoman gabbert contends that by lifting the combat restriction the military is simply recognizing reality. Women serving incredibly in our military for a very long time. Weve seen over a decade ago a woman whos actually in the National Guard was awarded the silver star for her bravery in close quarters combat. A lot of the advocates for women in combat say women have been fighting in combat for decades enits just not true. I was out there with the infantry on the outskirts of fallujah and we would frisk women for explosives. We were in danger all day every day we were doing that. Thats not the same as hunting the enemy where he lives, house to house. Cave to cave. Mostly on foot. Critics also point out that under the new law women will be ordered into combat. Whether they want to be or not. Im sorry but America Needs to think about their daughter in a hand to hand fight in a cage no rules against an isis figter. When the army did an official survey, the results came back that 92. 5 of the army women surveyed wanted nothing to do with combat assignments. What concerns me with this administration in dealing with this warrior culture, so critical to the success of our military, they dont understand it and oftentimes they mistrust it. If you turn the military into kind of a social experiment rather than a fighting force that has to meet certain standards and have a certain level of readiness to defend this nation, thats incredibly dangerous for the United States and frankly as the leader of the free world its dangerous for the world. Some fear social changes required of the military may cause trouble some day. Others fear they already have. Thats next. Next come on, come on. I havent got all day here it do