Generals Blast Obama’s Order of Troops to Fight Ebola

‘The purpose of our soldiers is to fight a war, not medical battles’

Two retired U.S. Army generals have blasted President Barack Obama’s decision to send U.S. troops to West Africa to battle the Ebola virus epidemic, saying the military is to fight wars, not disease.

In exclusive interviews with WND, retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin and retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely condemned Obama’s decision, as U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel approved up to 4,000 boots on the ground from a previous ceiling of 3,000.

The concern is that these soldiers, who will be exposed to the environment where the virus is prevalent, could bring it to the United States and potentially spread the disease as they rotate back to the United States and are assigned to other units.

As WND reported, the soldiers would be responsible for command, control, logistics, civil affairs and medical assistance, even though U.S. officials emphasized that their exposure to Ebola would be limited.

The soldiers would not be exposed to patients, except for Navy units that will maintain labs to test samples for the Ebola virus. Already two such portable labs have been set up. They can process some 100 samples in one day.

Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin

“This is a president who thinks like a community organizer and not like a commander-in-chief who takes his responsibility for his troops seriously,” Boykin said. “At a time when our military has been at war for 13 years, suicide is at an all-time high, [post-traumatic stress disorder] is out of control and families are being destroyed as a result of 13 years of war, the last thing the president should be doing is sending people into West Africa to fight Ebola.”

These military personnel, Boykin said, don’t have any qualifications to fight an Ebola epidemic environment.

“That’s not what the military does,” he said.

“When [General] Douglas MacArthur in 1962 stood in the mess hall of West Point and made a very impassioned statement, he looked at [the cadets] and said, ‘Your mission remains fixed, determined and inviolable. It is to fight and to win the nation’s wars.’

“That should be what the president is focused on now. The mission of the military is to fight war, not to fight Ebola,” Boykin said. “It is a misuse of our military, and I for one am very opposed to this [deployment].”

Boykin pointed out that there will be no inoculation for Ebola prior to troop deployment. Defense Department spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said that the only preparation service members will receive before heading to West Africa will be briefings on the disease.

“It still comes back to the question whether this is a military mission,” Boykin said. “At this point, no. It is not a military mission, and given the 13 years of war, this is the last thing we should be doing.”

Boykin questioned where the United Nations was in forming a coalition to send into West Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic.

“What about the other African nations? What about a coalition? Where is the U.N.?” Boykin asked. “There should be a U.N. coalition to try to stem the tide of this Ebola [epidemic]. This isn’t a U.S. military operation, and it should not be a U.S. military-led operation.”

Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, made clear to WND in response to a question at his daily news conference that other countries’ response to the epidemic, including the U.N., comes only from an invitation of the government of Liberia, basically evading the issue of any U.N. initiative.

He said that the government of Liberia specifically had asked for U.S. assistance.

In questioning the lack of a U.N. response, Boykin expressed outrage over its immediate response when Israel defends itself from Hamas rockets in the Gaza Strip.

“Let the Israelis respond to one bombing or one missile attack,” Boykin said, “and the U.N. will come out of hiding.”

Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely (ret.)

Echoing Boykin’s concern over the use of the military to fight Ebola, Vallely not only said it’s a “bad idea,” but also warned the U.S. military already has been “put through so much.”

“There are plenty of other assets that America has if it wants to go over there and build hospitals and clearing centers and things like that,” Vallely said. “So, I think it is a very bad misuse especially when [U.S. troops] now are being asked to step up to the plate again in Iraq. So, I think it is a very bad decision on Obama’s part.”

Three weeks ago, Obama had declared the Ebola outbreak to be a “national security priority.”

However, Vallely said the Ebola event can be “twisted or contorted into that, but the military isn’t the only one involved in the security of America.”

In fighting the Ebola disease, he said there is the Center for Disease Control and, “Other parts of the government can step up to the plate to put up the necessary security or contractual-type arrangement to build facilities for security. I just think it is a very bad misuse of our military. It’s just another bad decision on Obama’s part.”

Pentagon officials emphasized that U.S. service personnel would be in a support role only and would not have direct access to Ebola patients, even though U.S. Navy lab technicians will be handling samples to determine whether patients are infected with Ebola or not.

“It is so naïve to say (U.S. troops) won’t be exposed but they’ll be in an area of infectious diseases,” Vallely said. “So, just by the nature of being over there puts you in an environment of exposure of an infectious disease.

“We have so many threats on our border, so many threats coming out of the Middle East and the threat of terrorists coming into the United States that there are other assets that can be put to a contractual use to provide security [in Ebola-affected regions] or to provide other support activities,” Vallely said.

Pentagon officials said that the military also would be providing command and control, in addition to logistical support, but Vallely underscored that the military isn’t the only asset to provide such services.

“There are many capabilities that can support communications – again that’s something that can be contracted out, and it’s been done before,” he said. “It’s just not a good idea to put our soldiers in harm’s way especially when you look at how Obama has treated our military.

“Soldiers will do what you ask them to do, but there’s a certain point where you have to say, ‘Let’s see, what’s the purpose?’ and the purpose of our soldiers is to fight a war and win,” he added. “It’s not to fight medical battles. That’s up to other assets.”

[H/T WND]

Black Americans Believe the Secret Service is Trying to Get Obama Killed Because He’s BLACK

Is the Secret Service doing such a bad job these days because of President Barack Obama’s race?

Ranking member of the House Oversight Committee Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) is one of the people looking into the Secret Service’s failings, and on Sunday’s “Face the Nation” he revealed what a large chunk of America’s black community is thinking: The Secret Service would be doing a better job to protect a white president.

Cummings was quick to say he personally didn’t believe racism was to blame, saying that the Secret Service has been having serious problems since well before President Obama took office, but he noted that “85 percent” of the black people he’s talked to about presidential security believe that the president’s race has something to do with why he’s being guarded so poorly.

Cummings also claimed that the Obama family is not worried, despite the security breaches.

“The president’s people have told me that he feels very comfortable,” Cummings said. “He feels good about [the Secret Service], and most importantly the First Lady feels good about it.”

Van Jones responds to a New York Times article pointing to African Americans’ belief that the Secret Service is purposely trying to do a bad job in order to get Obama killed because he’s black.

[H/T TheBlaze]

Judge Jeanine Slams Govt. Ebola Response: ‘Your Job Is to Protect Us!’

On last night’s “Justice,” Judge Jeanine Pirro said our government was unprepared for the arrival of Ebola on U.S. soil, and the reaction to the case in Dallas has been inadequate.

She explained that the Obama administration has minimized not only the danger, but also the means of transmission of the deadly virus.

“Stop telling us it’s just about the exchange of bodily fluids,” Judge Jeanine said. “Why didn’t you tell us that the virus can last for hours on a surface like a door knob and or a counter top at the local coffee shop?”

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Watch her opening statement above, and read the full transcript below.

Ebola – what a mess. No one – and I mean no one – should be allowed to enter the U.S. from any West African nation ravaged by Ebola.

And any American citizen who goes there and wants to come home needs to be quarantined for 21 days until we figure out what we’re doing.

Look – we have a real problem. I don’t want to hurt anybody. And I’m good with sending humanitarian aid to those in need. Fill up those c130’s with supplies and doctors and do military transports.

But guess what? At a certain point you take priority over everyone else in the world. And when it comes to the health and security of your family – and my family – everyone else takes a back seat.

The fact that we’re even having this discussion is insane!

Now we’re told that it would be counterproductive to the economy of Liberia to stop flights from coming here. Really? Another country’s economy is not the criteria to determine whether we put our families at risk.

And trying not to offend the rest of the world, making nice so people won’t be angry or making other countries economically successful and any other politically correct hogwash coming out of Washington be damned!

Your job is to protect us! Take a listen to President Obama:

“First and foremost, I want the American people to know that our experts, here at the CDC and across our government, agree that the chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low.” – September 16, 2014

“The world is less violent than it has ever been. It is healthier than it has ever been.” – June 11, 2014

Right, and you can keep your doctor and health care plan, Al Qaeda’s on the run and ISIS is not Islamic.

Come along with me and see if what I say makes sense.

Thomas Duncan – Ebola man – lied to come here. Now why did he need to come here? Did he know after transporting a dying woman refused by a Liberian hospital and sent home to die that he was at risk?

He is not a U.S. Citizen. How is it that he can be granted a visa to come here in a matter of hours?

And if our hospitals are all Ebola trained why after he told them he came from Liberia did the Dallas hospital send him home for yet another 3 days during which time he became more contagious, vomiting around an apartment complex and exposing kids to the virus, who then go to school!

And I should feel safe when the hospital today actually admitted that they lied when they said they didn’t know he was from Liberia?

Where’s that so-called Ebola checklist that asks if you’ve traveled to an Ebola-infected country?

And why did the nephew have to call the CDC because “the hospital again wasn’t taking the illness seriously?”

We’re so prepared that officials didn’t even attempt to sterilize the apartment for five days!

And if we’re so ready for this, why did the locals say not to worry only 12 or 18 people were in direct contact – Dallas County says 80. And the CDC says 100!

And I should feel safe when under a national spotlight relatives sharing the same bathroom refuse to remain in isolation, and instead send their children to school with yours.

And why were men cleaning the vomit outside the apartment in t-shirts, sweeping the waste into the Dallas sewer system.

Isn’t there a protocol for destroying and transporting Ebola waste?

Right now, thousands Liberians come into this country every year.

Why? Take a look at this map of Africa. Those countries highlighted deny entry to citizens of Ebola-ravaged nations. And take a look at this image of a Liberian soldier enforcing a quarantine so that their own countrymen do not come in contact with them.

Yet our government minimizes the danger and also the means of transmission.

Stop telling us it’s just about the exchange of bodily fluids. Why didn’t you tell us that the virus can last for hours on a surface like a door knob and or a counter top at the local coffee shop?

And the head of the CDC – when asked if there should be more rigorous airport screening says this:

“Like any intervention, there are upsides and downsides. There are a lot of downsides. You slow travel. You end up costing people money.

Who’s going to get screened? And who’s going to train them? If you have a positive, where are you going to bring them?”

If you have a positive, where are you going to bring them? You’re the head of the CDC. Are you stupid?

So you’d rather put us in danger? You’re the head of the CDC! You find a place to put them and treat them!

And then White House spokesman Josh Earnest says that screening procedures are in place at our border and people are screened as soon as they get here.

Really? You’re kidding, right? What’s that? You’re saying that because you don’t want people to panic?

You don’t want us to panic – how about I don’t want us to die!

Tell us the truth – for once!

[H/T Fox News]