Not P.C.
(1) Examine the role of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in terrorist activity. Afghanistan is simply a pawn that is manipulated by all the major power players. This is a strategic consideration, and policy should be adjusted accordingly.
(2) If Islamofascists (not my term, nor do I agree with it) are the threat, than address it. Anybody with a scrubbed or new passport from an Islamic country should be isolated and properly screened. No commercial flight should allow more than one Islamic foreign passport-bearer on board any U.S. domestic or foreign flight.
If more than one must board, then a U.S. Air Marshall should be on board. If this is offensive to anyone's sensibilities, then weigh it against secret detentions, renditions, etc. My proposal is libertarian when viewed in this manner. This is a proactive, tactical measure.
(3) Get the U.S. military back into being a military force. An airborne/ranger/mechanized/armor/ artillary unit is not complete without combat support and combat service support apparatus. Contracting these functions through sweetheart bids does not facilitate the war-making abilities of our forces. All this does is to enrich the Carlyle-Haliburton contingent.
Please bear in mind that this comment is to the end of enhancing military performance. This does not imply that military power can negate terrorism, nor that I endorse the military option.
(4) Eliminate contractor fraud. Since the only elements that benefit from our misguided War on Terror are the contractors, graft is not surprising. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Saudi Arabia, the bin Laden family, Haliburton and Carlyle Group are the true beneficiaries of the WOT.
The interrelationships between thes elements should be examined now by Congressional committees.
posted by rangeragainstwar at 6:59 PM
10 Comments:
Jeez, what a heretic. You'd better watch out. You might be drummed out of the CSA's inner circle. You know, those guys that wear ACUs to work in the Pentagon and go to suit-and-tie conferences wearing combat boots. Shit, they're tough. They can do anything. Law enforcement? They don't need no stinkin' badges.
Bremer set the Blackwell list, for sure. (I took my combat boots off to reply.)
It would be very easy to fund the air marshal idea if two hundred billion plus dollars had not been wasted somewhere else. We could even make the "mistake" of having "too many" as opposed to having (hopefully?)"just enough."
Add in a few billion more for real airport (bus and train) security in terms of checking cargo - and I think you've got some real gains.
But ... we need to waste money there so that we don't have enough to spend here ...
Like you said - "they" decide to come "here" - it is likely to be by plane - or train - or bus. Not by genetically modified long-distance submarine camels equipped with the dreaded weaponized camel-piss.
(No offensive meant to the Arab or Muslim community - I'm just mocking the mindset of the Bill O'Reilly / Faux News demographic ... )
Killer,
I further propose to seat these suspect subjects in the last row of seating in the aircraft, because even they are smart enough to know they cannot back a plane into a building--no one has that much finesse. So, end of problem.
Glad you're on board.
If the US military complex had been willing to keep their promises for rebuilding and restoring Afghanistan in particular, and to a lesser extent Iraq, they would not be facing the resistance they are facing now. The real irony of the current war is that the US was actually quite welcome in the beginning, both in Iraq and Afghanistan, even in Baluchistan/Kandahar. A functioning Marshal-plan would have been doable. Bush chose tax-cuts and cronyism, and gave the money to Haliburton & co.
Then they tried to assasinate Hekmatyar, went face to face with Falujah, adapted torture, humiliation and maximum response as a legal doctrine of conduct, and raised incompetence and corruption to new and amazing levels. The stories for the management of Iraq under Bremer are just staggering, worst case of pork-barelling in modern history. Muslims read papers too.
And now you, and so we as well, are in for a long war. A war wich will not necessarily end when you pull out, because of all the blood debt the US has incurred. I really cant see how the US can remain in the theatre. The idea of the superbase demands that you control the perimeter, wich the US doesnt do anymore. Naval presence is risky, as the wargamesbefore the iraq-war proved. Dronetech and laser-targeting is becoming public domain, so the military superiority is fast becoming less, as Hezbollah proved. And pulling out means retaliation in the US, that much Bush has right.
In short, were f%&ked. The profesionals over here I know are stunned. Absolutely amazed.
A wonderful piece, Martin. You can tell that American's often forget that Marshall was a state program and not a military program. I believe the downfall is using DoD as lead agency in this terror scenario. I do not conflate Afghanistan and Iraq with terrorism. These are separate issues. Thanks for your input, and I am pleased to have readers like you.
Its really quite depressing ;-) Should have thought Catrina would have been an eye-opener for competent america. Hezbollah does way better engineering than you. Sad but true.
Hezbollah probably has taken all of its training from U.S., British and German engineering schools.
Re: last point; Very true. 10 to 15% of the resistance was european, british/frebch-lebanese who stayed behind. Several norwegians came out in the papers: ow we fight.
Our european army includes the touaregs. They are quite hard.
Thanks for the update.
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