General
Shelton told lawmakers that he was pressured to be less than honest
by the White House when he gives testimony before Congress. Credits:
DoD File Photo
“If
a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it
make a sound?”
“If
an Air Force general blows the whistle on the Obama White House, does anyone in the media hear the
corruption?”
(
Examiner.com)—A United States Air Force general is
blowing the whistle on another alleged White House scandal, but few
in the news media seem to be listening.
According
to General William Shelton, the commanding officer of U.S. Air
Force’s space command, he was told to alter his testimony before the
House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Strategic Forces regarding
an Obama White House attempt to award a defense contract to the
Lightsquared firm.
Lightsquared
is a high-tech company doing business in Virginia that’s owned by
billionaire Philip Falcone, an Obama friend and campaign
contributor.
According
to the National Legal and Policy Center, Phil Falcone had visited
the White House and made large cash contributions to the Democratic
Senatorial Campaign Committee. Soon after, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) granted his LightSquared a highly
unusual waiver that allows the company to build out a national 4G
wireless network on the cheap.
Republican
lawmakers say that after Falcon's visit, the Obama White House
allegedly tried to push through a Lightsquared's proposed wireless
network regardless of the objections emanating from military
commanders who believed the project could disrupt key U.S. satellite
systems.
At
a hearing on Thursday, lawmakers on strategic forces subcommittee,
especially the Republican chairman, Michael Turner, requested that
the House Oversight Committee investigate if Falcone's company
garnered any type of special treatment from the White House or from
Obama appointees.
The
hearing came after a report by a blogger on a news and commentary
web site alleged that the Obama White House pressed General Shelton
to downplay his concerns about the proposed Lightsquared
system.
"Under
extremely unusual circumstances, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) recently granted a company called LightSquared the
right to use wireless spectrum to build out a national 4G wireless
network. LightSquared will get the spectrum for a song, while its
competitors have to spend billions," according to NLPC's Ken
Boehm.
President
Obama's underlings deny any wrongdoing, and officials at
Lightsquared denied the charges that it is receiving preferential
treatment from President Obama or his staff.
Republican
staff members on the subcommittee say that the decorated General
Shelton told the lawmakers that Obama administration officials urged
the general to describe Lightsquared's system favorably during his
congressional testimony.
During
the hearing, General Shelton told committee members that the
wireless broadband network manufactured by Lightsquared would have a
negative impact on the current Global Positioning System (GPS)
relied on by both the U.S. military and private sector users of the
GPS.
General
Shelton told the committee members: Tests with Defense
Department experts, civilian agencies and others "indicate the
LightSquared terrestrial network operating in the originally
proposed manner poses significant challenges for almost all GPS
users."
The
general insisted through his spokesperson on Friday that he had not
"watered down his testimony due to alleged White House
pressure."
According
to a source familiar with the Lightsquared probe, many officers at
the Pentagon are highly suspicious of the President, the White House
staff and even Obama's appointees at the Defense
Department.
Another
occurrence being probed is that the allegation that Lightsquared at
first offered to sell satellite phones on its network, however the
Federal Communications Commission allegedly issued a special waiver
to the firm thus allowing sell terrestrial-based wireless service to
other companies.
Department
of Defense officials. such as General Shelton, in the past have
raised concerns about interference with GPS users, and the FCC would
then promise to disallow a firm to begin operating their network
until after intense testing is carried out to ensure there is no
disruption to satellite navigation.
The
head of the FCC declined to appear before the committee on Thursday,
which the chairman, Turner, called an "affront" to the
panel.
Meanwhile,
Falcone and Lightsquared executives are taking the offensive by
giving Obama-friendly journalists at Politico exclusive
interviews.
LightSquared
CEO. Sanjiv Ahuja, and its billionaire backer, Phil Falcone, denied
all allegations that the wireless company used its political pull
with the Obama administration to secure approval of its business
plans with the Defense Department.
“It’s
just very disappointing that people are not seeing the facts here,
and [that] this has become a real political issue,” Falcone, a
senior executive at the hedge fund firm Harbinger Capital, said
during his Politico interview. “It’s not a function of being a
Democrat or a Republican, it’s about trying to be an innovator. ...
It’s very disappointing and frustrating that we are getting
stonewalled like this. ... I kinda scratch my head every single day
and say I can’t believe this is happening.”
Falcone
and Ahuja denied receiving special treatment from the White House or
the FCC in their ongoing quest to become the nation’s first
wholesale wireless broadband provider, according to
Politico.
But
some observers see things differently. Mike Baker, a political
strategist and a former military officer, believes that this
investigation needs to be taken to wherever or whomever it leads.
He's like to see a special prosecutor appointed.
"This
is a very important national security issue, not some
politically-motivated witch hunt like the Valerie Plame-CIA case.
But we all know that with the news media protecting this president,
the chances of anything being done are slim or none," he
quipped.
"First
of all, we know what motivates politicians and big business. In the
middle you have a career officer who is a four-star general. Whom
would you believe? What's in it for General Shelton to make up
stories?" Baker asks.
"Let's
hope General Shelton sticks to his guns and that more Pentagon and
Justice Department officials decide enough is enough from this
administration," Baker
added.
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