Father of Fallen Marine Slams Obama

21-year-old Marine Hunter Hogan was killed in Afghanistan on June 23, 2012. Almost immediately, his father spoke out against the Obama administration. “We…want to know why the media in our country has coddled instead of covered this Teflon coated administration,” Steve Hogan said in a statement shortly following his son’s death. He went on to question why, during the Bush administration, every single casualty of war was reported on the news while virtually no one reported on military deaths once Obama took office. “Why isn’t the media covering this instead of the protestors?”

Hogan is in the news again this week, slamming the president with a public rebuke of the White House condolence letter. “I wonder how many of these get returned to you,” Hogan wrote on the letter. He went on to eviscerate Obama with a thorough condemnation. “My son, as well as most Marines I know, despise you and your lack of representation for our military.”

Hogan went on to bring up a subject that has been utterly ignored by the mainstream media. “Your ridiculous rules of engagement have caused the massive amount of casualties on your watch in Afghanistan.”

Now that the war in Afghanistan is “over,” the chances of the liberal media picking up the story are slimmer than ever. But it’s a point that deserves its time in the sun, if only because grieving parents like Steve Hogan demand it. This president has been an embarrassment in his role as commander-in-chief, endangering America’s national security as well as the lives of soldiers sworn to serve.

Rules of Engagement

Predictably underreported is the fact that America’s fatalities on the field of battle went through the roof in the early years of Obama’s tenure. Military analysts blamed the surge on the president’s strict rules of engagement. These rules cut down on airstrikes in an attempt to reduce civilian casualties. The results, however, have put more troops in harm’s way. In other words, this president has put the lives of Afghan citizens above the lives of Americans.

War is a dirty business, and that’s a fact liberals will never understand. Fighting a war with one hand tied behind your back is perhaps worse than not fighting it at all. We saw where liberal loyalties lied when the Senate report on “torture” was released last month. Democrats are more concerned about the treatment of terrorists than they are about the lives of those who have volunteered to protect the country. And Obama is more misguided than any.

This would be an important topic of conversation even if we were out of the combat field. But we aren’t. Troops are still in Afghanistan, and the uncertain fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria continues. We should aim to wage war in the most strategic ways possible, limiting collateral damage whenever possible. But when those strategies put American military servicemen in coffins unnecessarily, someone needs to be held accountable.