Over yonder on the Twitter tree, AgStateSense tweets:

CZ: Re Bracket Obama, Eisenhower (I believe) once said that in battle, plans are useless. But planning is essential.

For those of who do not do the tweet, allow us to translate his message:

Dread and Awful Czar:

I trust this missive finds you well in all things, and know that the people of Muscovy are well and truly blessed to live under your mightly gaze. Indeed, I too celebrate your every word, and hearken to a most wonderful essay by Dr. J regarding the inexplicably bad public relations move by the President, in which he opted to focus on predicting the outcome of sporting events in lieu of acting as a commander-in-chief. Praise be unto the good doctor! And yea verily unto you for your wisdom in allowing his gracious words to inspire me. Forsooth, my ears do tease out an echo of President Dwight David Eisenhower, whom I believe sagely spake: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” And might I humbly ask in awe, are you indeed completely right on everything?

Thank you, AgStateSense (if that is indeed your real name), for your perspicacity. The Czar is baffled not so much by the President’s reluctance to face the hard questions about the war on Libya, but by the public admission by Admiral Mike Mullen, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the military is largely unclear on what the game plan is. Holy cats, man! Who is in charge?

And on a not-unrelated note, JS writes in from his secret mission of correcting errors in some of the Vatican’s artwork, to say:

Dear Csar,

I read your post and was reminded of what some former Ambassador said on ‘Hannity’ tonight: American troops haven’t been under another country’s control for a long, long time. It’s a dangerous precedent to just let the UN run things and order our troops around.

Also, you’re completely right on everything.

God Bless,
JS

Whether you support the humanitarian response in Libya or whether you oppose the precendent-setting abuse of our military by the President, one thing is clear: the United States military is, in a very real way, not under the command of the President of the United States, but has been ordered into harm’s way by an unelected coalition of foreign nationals. This is astonishing.

Throughout both World Wars, American troops have had some of their orders written, compiled, and coordinated by non-Americans. But they were never specifically ordered into battle by anyone who does not report to the Commander-in-Chief. While our men and women in service are indeed receiving their Libyan orders from American officers, those officers were placed into harm’s way by the request of Europeans, who somehow got the Commander-in-Chief of the United States military to transfer executive responsibility. This is incredible.

Unconstitutional? That ain’t the half of it. Hypocritical? Seriously, who is still surprised by this President’s ability to forget core beliefs? Foolish? Yes, it is true that we have no idea who the “good guys” are in this fight, and that we might actually be aiding Al-Qaeda operatives in a very direct manner, but we have done weird things before in wars.

Look, if the Europeans asked the Americans to sort of, you know, coordinate the events in the air on the ground, fine. Command, communications, and control is something the United States does better than anyone elese. And we can help out big time, on the ground, in Operations Other Than War. But actively firing the majority of the missiles and sending in the USAF into combat missions is, in our mind, using the United States military in a combat role. The President isn’t fooling anyone with his usual “don’t worry about it” routine, or his “we’ve done this before” schtick, especially given his increasingly evident lack of historical knowledge on just about everything.

The Czar despises when people call for impeachment simply because they disagree with a President. The Czar certainly understands the calls for same from his own side, but while technically this is impeachable, the Czar does not recommend it. Instead, we should look toward thanking the Europeans for their time, but otherwise notify them that we are coming home from Libya. It isn’t our fight, never was, and if you want to approach our elected Congress about our taking on a combat role, please do so. We will be happy to provide military power on a time and materials basis.

Otherwise, to the people who support the humanitarian action, we must ask: why Libya? Why not Rwanda? Why not Sudan? Why not Burma? Why not the Ivory Coast? Why not the Copts? Why not the Israelis? Why not North Korea? Why not Zimbabwe, or anywhere a government entity physically overpowers its own people? One might wonder why a law school graduate like the President fails to understand the importance of precedent?

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.