On January 7th I posted a video of CDR Kirk Lippold USN (ret) speaking at some forum. My only comment on the video was "Please run for elected office, sir. Please."
And today I read -
"Former commander of USS Cole considers run against Reid"
Yes, this is the way the world should work!
**Welcome National Review readers. I am flattered and awed by the attention. Let's turn this into support for CDR Lippold, a man who would bring honor the the US Senate**
CDR Lippold's future campaign website.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
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11 comments:
Excellent. If I get flush in the next couple months, I'll send him a donation.
Maggie, thanks for all the work you do for us readers. I might not comment much, but I like reading your blog.
Respects,
All wait on your every command, My Empress.
Um ... I admit he's a pretty good speaker, but is an officer who screwed the pooch by letting his command be attacked, then got beached and quietly shown the door _really_ a good candidate for an office of public trust?
Since when did Princess Crabby advance to "Empress" status!???
OH YEAH.... the day she got linked by NRO.
WOOT!
And please please please... RUN AGAINST REID, COMMANDER!!
Wolfwalker - I completely disconcur with your assessment of CDR Lippold's actions leading up to the USS Cole bombing. I don't know anyone with real experience who feels he "screwed the pooch" or "let his command be attacked". I believe you are judging his actions by standards that were not in place at the time of the attack.
As far as "being shown the door" that was the doing of Sen Warner who cravenly caved into the families of some USS Cole victims who wanted someone's blood...anyone's blood.
The ONLY group that should be held responsible for the attack on the USS Cole are the bombers and Al Qaeda.
What happened that day was truly a case of "There but for the grace of God...." I don't know anyone who would have handled it better.
Maggie,
The wikipedia entry on Commander Lippold says a Navy investigation concluded that:
a) Lippold and his crew failed to follow a number of safety procedures that might have prevented the attack. (Side note: This matches with other accounts I've read over the years.)
b) despite that failure, no one should be officially punished.
Yet after the attack, Lippold's career was dead-ended. He was up for promotion multiple times, and each time his promotion was opposed, not only by Senator Warner, but also by then-Secretary of the Navy Donald Winters. He retired in 2006, after spending seven years stuck at Commander rank.
This sounds to me like a case of an officer who screwed up by the numbers, but for some reason the Navy power structure decided he couldn't be formally charged and punished. So he was punished informally instead, by getting beached.
Is there more to the story than I've heard?
WolfWalker,
Please don't put any thing of any value into any thing John Warner said or did. He was a political hack, unprincipled and in office WAY too long.
He had been a Secretary of the Navy under Nixon (I believe) and didn't screw the pooch himself too much during that period.
However, he continualy strove for face time before news cameras, blew with whatever prevailing wind was the then "popular wisdom" displaying a shocking lack of principles and didn't show much wisdom at all in his life, from marrying Elizabeth Taylor (#6? Really?) to voting with the Democrats to bloat the budget. He was a RINO.
If Warner was against him, the Commander must have been doing something very right.
It was civilian's naval rules of engagement and base visitation procedures (established by the Clinton Administration) that set the stage to allow the Al Qaeda skiff to get close enough to the Cole to kill those sailors, just as their lack of insistence on actual security perimeters wound up getting the Airmen killed during the attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.
Also, if you think that the Navy promotion system is based solely on merit, you really have another thing coming.
Wolfwalker, I would refer you to Bubblehead's post on CDR Lippold.
From the Stupid Shall Be Punished -
"Beyond that, an internal Navy report raised questions about Lippold's adherence to security procedures and the ship's training regimen.
"But Lippold's chain of command, up to the Joint Chiefs chairman and the secretary of defense, overruled the Navy report, finding that he could not have prevented the suicide bombing.
~~~~~~~
http://bubbleheads.blogspot.com/2006/04/former-uss-cole-co-promotion.html
Also this website. In particular the pink that refers to "Key Points"
http://www.usna.com/classes/1981/Lippold.htm
CDR Lippold was treated shabbily by the Navy.
Wolfwalker,
And let us not forget the heroic actions of the crew after the bombing. The training they received prior to that fateful day saved lives. They may not have been ready for the actual attack - nobody would have been at that time - but that crew was well disciplined and highly trained. A direct reflection of the commanding Officer.
Thanks all for the additional info and links. I obviously need to rethink my opinion.
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