THE ERROR IN CHIEF

Let's remember that our first President was a military man. It was understandable that the Founding Fathers, knowing George Washington would be elected President, would include a provision in the Constitution making the President the Commander in Chief of the military.

Washington had been Commander in Chief. As were Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ulysses S. Grant. None of our other Presidents held that rank in the military. Nine other Presidents were lower ranking Generals, 19 others served at below General ranks, and 13 Presidents, including Barack Obama, never served in the military at all.

So what makes Obama qualified to be Commander in Chief and make critical military decision about required troop levels and strategy, as he is now doing in regard to the battle lines in Iraq and Afghanistan? If he and other non-General Presidents and Secretaries of Defense are so qualified, we ought shut down West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and other military training institutions.

As political leader, the President should be the one to set the mission and to decide on war, with the consent of the Senate. But once that decision is made, the operation of the war should be placed in the hands of the military. That is what they have been trained to do, and it is in our interest to let them do it. Only our most trained and best military minds should be leading the way through the hell of war.

The traditional reluctance to place military controls in the hands of the military rather than in the hands of civilians, is misguided. It is placing those controls in the hands of the untrained and inexperienced that is the source of my concern.