Retired U.S. Navy Admiral James "Ace" Lyons believes President Barack Obama has weakened America’s military at a crucial time in world history.
"He's unilaterally disarming our military capability and in the time in the chaos throughout the world," Lyons told former Congressman Allen West, guest host of "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"Certainly [with] the tragedies that are going on in the Middle East and the threats we're receiving both from Russia and China, this is not the time to be unilateral disarming our military."
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Lyons, who commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet from 1985 to 1987, believes the president is unable to effectively administer a solid foreign policy.
"Quite frankly, he's in over his head. He doesn't have the experience really to carry out his responsibilities as commander in chief of our great military forces," he said.
Lyons said one of his major concerns with the United States taking action against the Assad regime is that there are no "good sides" in Syria’s civil war.
"Clearly, there's no secular force that can be clearly identified and our principle objective in the Middle East today and for the foreseeable future is to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon capability," he said.
"Everything else pales in comparison. So, to waste our assets going into that civil war, which clearly would put us on the side of under the al-Qaida and Muslim Brotherhood rebels makes absolutely no sense to me."
Lyons said if he would advise General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel not to move on Syria.
"I think it's a mistake to go in, but if the president orders this limited strike … we have to be prepared for a number of options on how Syria and her allies would respond to this active war by the United States," he said.
"We have to go through and look at the assets that the enemy side has and then be prepared ... It's the one thing for the president to say, well, I'm only go do this limited strike. He doesn't control the whole game plan. There's another side to this equation which has not been properly addressed."
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