Senators Warner & Webb: pure politics

We don't need to review the lessons of Pearl Harbor, Port Author, and others over and over again - do we? Senator Warner (R-VA) and Senator Webb (D-VA) play a lot off their times as SECNAV and their "national security credentials" in their jobs in the Senate. They just tainted their brand among professionals.

Just because you say it doesn't mean it is true, or that others will not question it - even if you are a Senator. When you say things that cannot be supported by any study of history or study of the realities of warfare in the 21st century - then expect your word to be treated for what it is.

On Mayport's CVN - military-industrial pork barrel politics as basic as it gets.

Virginia officials are asking the Navy to delay its plan to base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Mayport until President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

U.S. Sens. John Warner and Jim Webb and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said Thursday the plan to create a new homeport for a carrier in Mayport, instead of using the nuclear-capable one at Norfolk, is “strategically flawed ...”
...
The Navy said it chose Florida in order to spread out its Atlantic fleet beyond Norfolk. But Warner and Webb, both former Secretaries of the Navy and members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, said the Florida base offers no strategic advantage over Norfolk.

“Moving a carrier to Mayport does very little to mitigate risk to the carrier fleet,” Warner, R-Va., said in a news release.

Shame on both of you. The money part of the argument (you can read that in the article) is fair game - especially if you know that the Obama Administration will act according to its nature and gut the military - but to make statements like you did about Strategic issues WRT Fleet Risk and Strategic Homeporting is just sad. Sad.