General Hayden: U.S. Troops In Iraq "Over-Regulated And Constrained"

Michael Hayden

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: High-level government officials tend to avoid commenting on politics after they leave their posts. That's especially true for high-ranking members of the military who serve in presidential administrations.

But several top Obama administration officials have criticized the president after leaving government. The latest is Air Force four-star general Michael Hayden, who was director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President Bush and then, for a short time, under President Obama.

Appearing on "Newsmax Prime" with J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan yesterday, Hayden made some extraordinary statements about why our efforts in Iraq are not succeeding.

Hayden argued that we will never be able to defeat ISIS unless we put more boots on the ground and until we let them "do the kinds of things they're capable of doing." Hayden continued:"[U.S. troops in Iraq are] not free to move forward with Iraqi units below the brigade level. They're not free to have tactical air control parties forward in order to bring in precise air power. We don't use our special operation forces very often, although we did have one successful raid about 10 days ago. There are more things we could be doing even with the forces we have, but again, we're over-regulated and constrained. It appears to me that the political control of this military effort is actually incredibly powerful."Hayden added that some military pilots involved in anti-ISIS airstrikes have complained that the rules of engagement are too restrictive and suggested that the order to be cautious may be coming "all the way back here to Pennsylvania Avenue."

With these comments, Hayden repeated what most of the Republican candidates for president (with the notable exception of Rand Paul) have been saying. If Hayden is right, that Obama has chosen a war strategy that allows him to say that we're doing something but is also doomed to fail, then this is a scandal of historic proportions.

It is a wonderful time around the world to be a jihadist. It's a growth industry, and it will continue to be as long as the only country able to stop it is hobbled by a lack of leadership.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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