November 30, 1997
MEMORANDUM FOR: Jim Nicholson, National Chairman, Republican National Committee
SUBJECT: The Un-gendered Military and The Clinton Administration's Long Range Goal
1. In accordance with your request following our brief conversation of November 15th, the memorandum amplifying my views follows.
2. The former Assistant Secretary of the Army, Sara Lister, has let the Administration's cat out of the bag by her statement describing the Marine Corps as an "extremist" organization.
The democrats have learned from their success in the last presidential campaign how effective it has been for them to turn "extremism" into a dirty code word to use against their opponents. The mainstream media, with its anti-Conservative & anti-Republican bias have supported the Democrats throughout in this regard by picking it up whenever "extremism" was used against targets they wished to oppose as well.
But when Lister used it against the Marines the major media was faced with a dilemma. They simply did not want to be caught castigating the Marines while at the same time they did not wish to criticize a female army assistant secretary who was a major spokeswoman for their views. So what they all did was keep quiet in the hopes that the issue would go away. The day the Washington Times made it a headline story not one major network (NBC, ABC, CBS or PBS) picked it up that night (Thurs. Nov. 13th). The Washington Post did not carry it until the next day and then only on page A22 as a wire service from the L.A. Times in an article that emphasized her apology with a Defense Department spin that indicated the matter was ended.
However when Rep. Gerald Solomon along with others in the Republican party (including its National Committee Chairman) picked it up and turned it into an issue they scored a success unlike anything they have had since the election of 1994. Sara Lister was gone almost immediately and the spin was out there by the liberals to indicate that she was out of the mainstream - but privately to them she really was not.
3. To understand the long-term game plan requires some background information. At least two or three years before the Navy's unfortunate incident on the third deck of the Las Vegas Hilton the Tailhook convention and symposium which had been held there annually for some years had featured talks to the young and middle grade officers by the senior flag officers on future developments. When the talks turned to the direction being taken to integrate women those seniors were greeted by perhaps a thousand young voices raised in a chant, constantly increasing in volume, of "NO WOMEN IN TAC AIR!" Everyone, senior and junior alike, knew what the degradation would be in combat readiness as a result.
However, when the rowdyism of the 1991 Tailhook's post convention's activities became a political issue in the 1992 election year (largely because it was so ineptly handled by the Navy itself), the effort to make amends resulted in a corrupt investigation that destroyed the careers of the innocent along with the guilty - (Commander Bob Stumpf, the Navy's top pilot and former leader of the Blue Angels as an example - among others).
This was exacerbated following the election of 1992 by the advent of the Clinton Administration with its emphasis on jobs for women and the adoption of a double standard throughout the military despite the denial by Defense Department spokesmen that such exists.
You are well aware of the number of people this administration has appointed to high places who have no real qualifications for the jobs they have been given but who have an agenda to push regardless of the damage they do to established institutions - and Sara Lister is one of those. Indeed, if I may use her ignorance of uniform regulations as an example, her remark that the Marine "checkerboard fancy uniforms" contrast with the "Army (being) sort of Muddy boots on the ground" denigrates the Army as much or more than the Marines. (As an Assistant Secretary is she unaware the Army's blue service uniform is as "fancy" as the Marines and shows every bit as much spit and polish when properly worn as it is almost every day?) In her view it is the military male "spit and polish" and its macho image that must be eliminated along with the last vestige of male chauvinism and what she is really saying is that we have accomplished this with the Army, now lets get on with the Marines.
4. Sara Lister is one of the leading exponents of the "un-gendered military" with the long range purpose of turning the military into a "Peace Corps" type of organization. As such she has been, in my opinion, doing the bidding of the Clinton team to prepare for its future. Taking it a step at a time, a warrior force so exemplified by: a) Naval Aviation is subdued and broken by the Tailhook incident and a Chief of Naval Operations commits suicide. When a courageous young lieutenant, Patrick Burns reveals the truth about the way the Navy has falsified the training records of the woman killed flying off ABRAHAM LINCOLN as well as the other woman removed from carrier fight status for incompetence from the same air wing, he is threatened with loss of promotion to Lieutenant Commander. b) The Air Force strategic command is forced to abandon the proper punishment under the law for a "lovelorn" female B-52 pilot and the Air Force Chief of Staff resigns. c) The Army Secretary (Togo West) signs a memorandum which outlines the positions open to women making a mockery of the duties performed in combat by the Engineers, Air Cavalry, Special Operations Aircraft and the like, and withdraws it only after the Army Chief of Staff strongly opposes it. Acceptance of the basic principals is pushed by West and Lister when General Gordon Sullivan is gone.
5. With first Navy, then Air Force and now Army properly subdued, only the Marine Corps is left to beat down and that is what Lister was trying to do as the willing servant of the man who appointed her - Bill Clinton. WHY?
In my opinion Clinton's long range goal is to turn the military into an adjunct of the Peace Corps and he must do it in the remaining years of his presidency. WHY?
Not having any political future with the power equal to the U.S. Presidency, Clinton's long range goal is, in my opinion, to be Secretary General of the United Nations. HOW?
To accomplish that he must have a sycophant (or "clone") like Gore follow him into the Oval Office. There is very little precedent in U.S. history or even world history for the close relationship that characterizes their reciprocal dependence. As Thackeray wrote, "the king always hates the crown prince," but in this case the succession to the president's office of someone who is party to a deal is essential. HOW ELSE?
Clinton's remaining years as President will be devoted to world travel with his wife (together or separately) to reach every major country in some way to establish their political support. Clinton will use the U.N. platform to establish a foreign affairs image to the maximum extent possible despite his lack of any coherent U.S. foreign policy. Clinton has already approved the substitution of U.N. insignia on Army uniforms. HOW DO YOU GAIN ACCEPTANCE BY ALL SERVICES FOR U.N. COMMAND?
Starting with early training, officers and men will be asked to fill out questionnaires that ask, inter alia, about their willingness to accept orders from foreign U.N. officers. Quite clearly over a period of time those who oppose these changes will be passed over for advancement. This is the same approach that has been used for the selection of service chiefs to ascertain their acceptance of (and willingness to promote) women in combat positions. If they don't go along they don't get the job.
Once the essential qualities that have made the U.S. military the greatest fighting force of modern times are eliminated and command has been turned over to the United Nations using the multi-national force as a beginning model, then the rest becomes easy despite the constitution. WHY?
Because the combination of the national media, the Hollywood elite and the willing cooperation of the weakened military leaders has been joined by the male senators. The abject fear that they have demonstrated of their female colleagues has made them psychologically incapable of framing arguments on the floor of the Senate that deride the myth of female equality in the normative role of the male in wartime combat. Those few female senators themselves have supported the vocal minority of radical feminists against the majority of American women who oppose it. WHAT THEN?
Bill Clinton will have built his "bridge to the 21st century" and his new world order -- paid for and almost entirely supported by the resources of the United States. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT?
It will collapse in the face of reality. WHY?
The domination by Western culture will never be accepted by the Islamic or the Sinological cultures, the populations of which are fast exceeding the West.
We will have weakened our own military while allowing that of our western allies to degenerate by our acceptance of military burdens that should be theirs alone such as the Balkans.
We will have given to the Chinese enough of our military technology to create modern sea, air and land forces which coupled with a growing imbalance of males over females, now approaching some sixteen percent, will make our control of the western Pacific tenuous at best.
We can count on Saudi oil only as long as the current regime remains in power but if overthrown the Islamic threat can escalate from just two rogue states to the entire Middle East with a concomitant increase in internal U.S. terrorism. [Republican presidents have guarded against letting the Russians enter Middle East negotiations while Clinton has opened that door for Russian Foreign Minister Primakov whose interest has always been to support Saddam Hussein and stir up Islamic opposition to the United States.]
We will have short changed our defense budget for weapon systems, missile defense and combat training for spending on social programs that have nothing to do with true military capability. [Former high ranking Defense Department budget and logistic analysts have calculated that the cost of these "people programs" that have nothing to do with increasing our combat capability are now running at close to $3 Billion a year. If that same amount was being put into developing anti-missile systems that would be effective against low, high, and medium altitude incoming missiles, they would be part of an answer in itself to the threats from rogue states like Iraq or North Korea.]
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Throughout this nation's history the Congress has been that part of our government where the ideas have been debated and the decisions made that have determined the course of the Republic. By abandonment of well thought-out orations on such a vital subject as the nation's defense by the substitution of thirty second sound bite statements in support of radical feminist issues, the Congress has abrogated its oversight over those responsibilities delegated to it under Section 8 of the Constitution. It is now time to reverse course.
The opportunity is there for the Republican majority to build on what has been accomplished with the disposal of Sara Lister. HOW?
First, when the Senate holds confirmation hearings on Togo West prior to being given the Cabinet level job of Secretary of Veterans Affairs, he should be questioned about his support for the Lister initiatives throughout and not just her slanderous remarks about the Marines (to say nothing of who is buried in Arlington National Cemetery and who got paid for that sacred privilege.)
Second, the Senate Armed Services Committee should convene a formal investigation of Lieutenant Patrick (Jerry) Burns, USN and the status of his promotion to Lieutenant Commander, by calling the Navy Secretary, the Chief of Naval Operations, et al, as witnesses to determine the truth of his charges about falsified training records favoring females and the double standard that has been used.
Third, the investigation of Lieutenant Burns should be expanded to the other services to determine the extent of falsified records designed to establish the equivalence of females in combat positions.
WHY?
Simply put, a thorough investigation by a committee of the Congress made up of experienced legislators who are patriots before they are partisans is the only way to restore confidence in the nation's military leadership, both uniformed and civilian. After all, it is our Nation's defense and it is our taxpayer's money that is being used - and oversight is the responsibility of the Congress.
FINALLY!
The Republican Party should not let the "Lister" issue die. It is the best defense that it has against the "left wing" Democrat and Liberal charge of "Extremism." When faced with that charge on any issue the party's spokesmen should reply:
"If you think that is extremism - TELL IT TO THE MARINES!
With best wishes for you continued success, I am
Most sincerely,
Signed/ Clarence A. Hill, Jr. Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
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