Sunday, July 20, 2008

Somalia North American Style?

The world's focus is on Israel, Iran, Lebanon, high fuel prices, high food prices, Obama and just about anything but the evil insanity in Mexico which grows by the day. Why this isn't a major issue of the Presidential campaign is another one of the modern mysteries.

These are the news articles delivered in yesterday's Google alert. They come like this everyday. I don't hear any politicians raising the alarm. Stratfor has warned that Mexico is headed toward "failed state" status. It could be that we will have our very own Somalia in North America.



Google News Alert for: mexico border violence

Mexico finds tons of cocaine in submarine
Reuters - USA
Some 1700 people have been killed in drug gang violence in Mexico so far this year, and Calderon's frontal assault has failed to stop attacks on police and ...
See all stories on this topic

Officer shot dead in Mexican border city
Houston Chronicle - United States
2008 AP CIUDAD JUAREZ, MexicoMexican officials say armed men barged into a police station in the border city of Ciudad Juarez and gunned down a ...
See all stories on this topic

Valenti in the drug war, Homeland Security and junior volunteers
Newspaper Tree - El Paso,TX,USA
Our research indicates that despite drug-related violence in other Mexican border cities, victims of that violence are not entering the US for treatment at ...
See all stories on this topic

Mexico finds tons of cocaine in makeshift sub
Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
The submarine find comes as troops on Thursday discovered 12 tonnes of marijuana in trucks near Tijuana at Mexico's border with California, police said. ...
See all stories on this topic

Group issues report on violence against women in Juarez
Newspaper Tree - El Paso,TX,USA
After hearing of Jurado’s arrest, several activists on both sides of the US-Mexican border came together to protest the charges made against her. ...
See all stories on this topic

Casino boss, 3 guards in big Chetumal trouble!
Amandala - Belize City,Belize
The case has created significant controversy on both sides of the border, as the Belizean version of what led to the arrests differs sharply from the ...
See all stories on this topic

Mexican Cartels Threaten Politicians, Families
The Ledger - Lakeland,FL,USA
Another civic leader, City Councilman member Mario Espinosa of Acuna, Coahuila, was killed late last year at his home across the border in Del Rio, Texas. ...
See all stories on this topic



110 comments:

  1. S.F. Once Shielded Suspect

    Man accused of killing a man and his sons was once a teen criminal shielded from deportation.
    ---
    Juvenile justice authorities locally had a policy for at least a decade of not turning over illegal immigrant felons to the federal government, interpreting San Francisco's self-proclaimed sanctuary-city status and state law as barring local officials from surrendering them for deportation.

    Mayor Gavin Newsom rescinded that policy earlier this month after The Chronicle reported that the city had flown a number of youths out of the country on its own, in possible violation of federal law, and then housed some in unlocked group homes from which they quickly escaped.

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  2. 3 more juvenile migrant drug dealers escape

    Three more juvenile illegal immigrant drug dealers sent by San Francisco to group homes hundreds of miles from the city have escaped, prompting juvenile probation officials to try to bring back the only youth remaining at such a center.

    The two latest escapees left an undisclosed group home in Visalia (Tulare County) on Thursday, said William Siffermann, San Francisco's juvenile probation chief. Siffermann said he had only learned of the third case, the June disappearance of an offender from another group home in Visalia, on Friday.

    The three were among the offenders previously protected from possible deportation under a long-standing city policy against handing over juvenile illegal immigrants to federal authorities, even those convicted of felonies.

    Chronicle stories about the policy prompted a national outcry, and Mayor Gavin Newsom rescinded it earlier this month. The city has since referred at least 10 juvenile offenders to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for possible deportation.

    Newsom acted shortly after eight Honduran juveniles convicted of dealing crack on the city's streets walked away from unlocked group homes in San Bernardino County, where the Juvenile Probation Department had sent them rather than refer them to federal authorities. Only two of the eight have been tracked down.

    The most recent escapees were also convicted of drug offenses, Siffermann said. They were sent to Tulare County earlier this year, he said, and were still at large Friday night.

    The only illegal immigrant offender still at a group home outside the city is at a center in Atascadero (San Luis Obispo County), Newsom said.

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  3. "Siffermann said the two latest escapees "were presenting themselves as adjusting positively in these placements.

    In one case, we were just out to visit on the 8th of July.
    We had positive reports.
    "
    ---
    We had Tea, it was a splendid day, and a supremely pleasant visit.

    Sheer Lunacy

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  4. Newsom & Co. committed federal crimes, but don't hold your breath waiting for a conviction.

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  5. Great piece of prospective fiction there, lineman, but that's all it is, fiction.

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  6. There are Wal-Marts, in Somolia?

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  7. Lancaster mother killed in front of children

    Lucy Preciado, 26, a Latina woman, was stabbed to death during a domestic dispute in the 4100 block of West Avenue L in Lancaster about 2 a.m. Saturday, July 12. Paramedics pronounced Preciado dead at the scene.

    The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Preciado was found dead inside her home. She was stabbed by a large sword, possibly in front of her four children, who were inside the house when deputies arrived.

    Detectives from the Sheriff's homicide bureau sought the public's help in locating Preciado's 28-year-old Latino boyfriend, Jesus Humberto Canales, at right. Authorities said Canales is wanted for questioning in the alleged stabbing of Preciado.

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  8. It's an old imperialist trick. Create mayhem, and your politicos as the solution.

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  9. In Mexico you can tell the honest cop. He's the one shot at, or Fleeing To The US, Seeking Asylum

    Rat's been telling us about Mexico for a long long time.

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  10. Failing State

    Failing State

    Who's going to be the first to say the answer is to legalize drugs?

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  11. The problem is fighting terrorism by trying to hold territory. Too much territory. Not enough army. The problem territory is Pakistan, because Pakistan is the problem.

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  12. How does China deal with the problem?

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  13. If Rory Stewart is anywhere near right, we'd be better off keeping troops levels higher in Iraq, and leaving Afghanistan mostly to it's own devices, helping in those areas we are good at; the opposite of Obama's prescription.

    Obama wants to charge into Pakistan too.

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  14. What Obama really wants and needs is something to criticize, doesn't matter much what it is.

    An article yesterday said much of Europe is turning away from the economic prescriptions of an Obama. Lower corporate taxes for instance, and in Sweden you can invest your social security bucks in over 800 different investment choices. Wasn't the 'Irish Miracle' built on lower taxes, etc.

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  15. I thought it was based on rejecting Lisbon.

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  16. It's become apparent that we have overreached. Our army is too small to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers being killed while on their fourth deployment to Iraq is a totally unacceptable burden which is being placed on our military. The fact is, it's time for us to drawdown and drawback in that "country." We'll also have to keep a sharp eye on deployments to Afghanistan.

    We've got to rethink the strategy for this 30-year war which is all about containing the current Islamist jihadist revival.

    Top priority must be given to immediately stemming the flow of dollars to the oil kingdoms. So much wealth has already been transferred that sharia finance or sharia compliant finance will soon become as widely known about as subprime mortgages.

    Drugs and oil are the two major addictions which afflict the US and threaten to undermine our society.

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  17. Bobal: What Obama really wants and needs is something to criticize, doesn't matter much what it is.

    As opposed to McCain the Stoic. I'm still waiting for John McCain to condemn the Bush Administration as Chamberlainesque, Obama-like Nazi appeasers for opening a dialogue with Iran.

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  18. Whit,

    What's the average annual salary for an afghan in Afghanistan? I bet it's less than $10 US pesos.

    I bet with a force of 40,000 you can cleanse any and all Taliban from Afghanistan. Offer property rights to this force of 40,000 to anything and everything of the Taliban they capture. Was good enough for muhmud fighting the caesar. Should be good enough for uncle sam fighting muhmud.

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  19. But then there be the problem of what to do about all the lost drug revenue that now goes to the CIA.

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  20. Trish could probably shed light on the nature of US/Paki military relations.

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  21. Mattie,
    The Taleban have been paying more than the Afghan government for monthly wages which I believe are somewhere around $125 US.

    Who is funding this?

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  22. That $125/month is for the Afghan army.

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  23. "That $125/month is for the Afghan army."


    So get some Cubans in there.

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  24. They work for much cheaper. Drive labor cost down.

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  25. I'm not believing drug money goes to the CIA. Maybe a rogue agent or three. Maybe.

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  26. Dialogue with Iran seems over, T. as of yesterday. They said f-it.

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  27. Since nothing ever improves in Afghanistan, no matter who tries, how about just shooting all the males over age 8, those younger to be raised without the now banned koran, bringing in some Swiss to breed with the gals, and run the country? That way, in a generation, you'd have order, chateaus, fine wines, a good sensible religion, mostly civic, and the bird hunting would still be good.

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  28. Mat's right about who's paying. We are, as drug consumers, or oil consumers, if they are being paid that much. When Rory Stewart walked through, though, everybody was dead broke.

    My previous comment above was mostly tongue in cheek.

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  29. "I'm not believing drug money goes to the CIA."

    Stocks don't go up, they are put up.

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  30. Theory must correlate observation, Bob.

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  31. Sun Jul 20, 09:25:00 AM EDT seems about right to me. Bobal is also correct in that Obama seems to have it reversed. The US could do many things except maintain the patience and political will to do them. That includes just about anything important such as social security reform, welfare reform, immigration, oil consumption, deficit spending and especially Afghanistan.

    The left was not supportive of going into Afghanistan, they were temporarily acquiescent after 911, looking for their footing.

    Three weeks after the US attacked Afghanistan, NPR led in their first morning news with a story about innocent civilian casualties. That was their real emotional response. Anyone who believes Obama and his quick change artists will persevere in Afghanistan is delusional.

    Islamic Afghanistan and the radical redoubts in Pakistan will defy and outlast the wavering stamina of the American public and the pusillanimous that lead us. A vicious short and disproportionate response to direct US attacks would have worked, and been appropriate against the Taliban and AQ. I doubt a long war of attrition is sustainable in Afghanistan. I guarantee you that when we get to 1000 KIA, it will no longer be the lefts favorite war.

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  32. As long as we're in Iraq, the left will hold up Afghanistan as the example of where we should be. As we drawdown in Iraq, you'll see less support for our continued presence there. To be honest, depending on how things go in Pakistan (and I am pessimistic about that situation) I may be all in favor of departing Afghanistan too.

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  33. The US could do many things except maintain the patience and political will to do them.

    Well I think that's right. Looked at in historical perspective, our effort in Iraq and Afghanistan don't count up there very high. It's the constant media attention, and the need of the opposition party, (we don't have a loyal opposition) to keep a negative focus on in the effort to gain back power, that's a real weight around our necks. Most people really haven't been affected much by our professional army's (army people have) efforts the last years. But they grow weary of hearing about it. If we didn't have a speed of light press, and a power seeking opposition, maybe we'd be better off.

    On the other hand a lack of continual focus might let the government get away with stuff they might not, otherwise.

    So, this post goes in a circle and says nothing.

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  34. I think we ought to hand in there in Iraq, long as we can, it's where the oil is, and they have been making some progress. Maybe a reconciled more or less rational society is a possibility there.

    All hell may break out with Iran, throwing everything into confusion.

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  35. KABUL, Afghanistan - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says the situation in Afghanistan is "precarious" and "urgent."


    In an interview broadcast Sunday during his first trip to Afghanistan, Obama said the U.S. needs to start planning now to send in more troops. He has called for an additional one to two brigades — or about 7,000 troops — to be sent to Afghanistan to help counter a resurgent Taliban and quell rising violence.

    Obama told CBS News that Afghanistan has to be the central focus in the fight against terrorists.

    He said the Bush administration allowed itself to be distracted by a "war of choice" but now is the time to correct the mistake.

    Obama also sat down with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and pledged continued aid to the country.

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  36. don't worry bob, we're not leaving Iraq entirely. No responsible Iraqi politician wants the US to get out completely. al Maliki's remarks are for public consumption. What the Iraqis do want is for us to fade into the background, act as advisors and let their police and military take the lead. The sooner we do that, the better for all concerned.

    As far as the oil, the Iraqis have already awarded the first round of contracts and we should definitely be the prime beneficiary of increased production.

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  37. Yup, make the backwater the important place, to heck with the oil fields. More troops won't make much difference I'd bet. We can pop jihadis in those mountains till the cows come home, more will pop up. Right from Pakistan.

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  38. Hope you're right Whit. They awarded some contracts, good.

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  39. DR's link pointed out

    As fighting intensified in Helmand, with the controversial strategy of sending soldiers to hold district centres such as Sangin, Naw Zad and Musa Qala, Tootal says his forces were “stretched almost to breaking point”. Something else was becoming clear. “I always knew we didn’t have enough helicopters.”

    There were just seven Chinooks for his 1,200-strong battle group in a theatre where it was highly risky to move by road.


    Remember when we discussed the fact that the allies would not commit their helos to Afghanistan? I'd bet that the majority of allied casualties have come from VBIED attacks. If and when we get more helos there, it will only be a matter of time before someone supplies the Taleban/al Qaeda with shoulder fired missles.

    No mobility means no control. Might as well leave. Ask the Russians.

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  40. From the AP
    •OIL CONTRACTS: The Iraqi government will limit no-bid contracts being negotiated with several major oil companies to one year, a senior Oil Ministry official said.

    The contracts sparked a backlash because they involve major Western oil companies.

    Iraqi officials have stressed that the contracts are only for technical advice and equipment and that the companies will receive money in return, not a share of oil production. They say the deals are a stopgap measure to boost oil production until open bidding ends next June.

    But some believe the no-bid deals could give the Western firms an advantage in the larger bidding process, which is expected to include 35 foreign companies.

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  41. Yes, tghe Russian history should be instructive but alas, for Obama (the next POTUS) it appears as if it will be as Iraq was to Bush. Another friggin' quagmire to get bogged down in.

    It is sad watching this slow motion train wreck occur.

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  42. This is going to get very interesting.

    From the NYTimes, June 29:

    Some 40 companies from around the world had jockeyed for the contracts, but they were being awarded without competitive bids, the report said. Those about to land the deals — Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Total — had held oil rights in Iraq before Mr. Hussein nationalized the fields and kicked them out more than three decades ago. They all came from countries that had either been stalwart allies of the Bush administration or — in the case of France, which is home to Total — had lately increased their support for the American-led campaign to isolate Iran.

    Just as striking were the companies that failed to capture a foothold: the Russian oil giant Lukoil, which had signed a deal to exploit a huge field in southern Iraq while Mr. Hussein was still in power, only to see it revoked just before he fell, and Chinese firms with their own claims. Before the 2003 invasion, the Russian and Chinese governments had lent muscle on the United Nations Security Council toward fending off American-led sanctions aimed at the Hussein government.

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  43. The government officials [Department for International Development, UK?] refused, so for the whole of 3 Para’s six months in Helmand, the machine sat there in its plastic wrapping.

    Bureaucrats. Probably needed a couple hoses and an extension cord. Maybe a drain line.

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  44. Doug, avoid "Mexican Wedding Party" in Central Valley. Code for "Knife Fight."

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  45. Sounds good to me. I don't see what the problem is.

    There is no problem. It's just NYT reporting that's quoted by the Wobblies.

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  46. Deuce said it. Bob caught it. I'll repeat it.

    ...The US could do many things except maintain the patience and political will to do them.

    Wish I had the solution.

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  47. Obama is a maggot. He is going into a war zone to make political capital:

    "KABUL: Afghanistan must become "the central front" in the war on terror, Barack Obama said Sunday in the Afghan capital, sharpening his policy clash with John McCain over whether the war in Iraq has been a distraction from that effort.

    Obama has pledged to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan and to focus more on terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan.

    "We have to understand that the situation is precarious and urgent, and I believe this has to be the central focus, the central front, in the battle against terrorism," Obama said in an interview with CBS News."

    McCain and the Republicans should go after this glad-handing scum bag hammer and tong.

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  48. 2164th said...
    Obama is a maggot. He is going into a war zone to make political capital:



    Weeellll, of course! McCain's been urging him to go, he's running to be commander in chief and there are two wars on. Do you actually expect him to ignore the wars and campaign on domestic issues only?

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  49. "Kabul and Kandahar must become the Bel Air and Holmby Hills of the Stans.

    When I am President, I will bring Change, Hope, and unlimited Prosperity to this Region Brimming with Unrealized Potential.
    "

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  50. Gee, Westhawk thinks sending more troops is a mistake.
    Guess Westhawk must not know his ass.

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  51. I wasn't borned yesterday, Linear.
    (but w/o advice, I'd probly show up in my best White Kirkland Tee Shirt.
    ...make great crimewatch Photos.)

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  52. from Westhawk:

    "The Pakistani government has done virtually nothing in seven years to help stabilize Afghanistan. The Afghan government openly accuses the Pakistani intelligence service of organizing the insurgency inside Afghanistan; Afghan-Pakistan political relations have broken down. A fundamental tenant of offensive unconventional warfare operations is to possess a sanctuary from which your fighters can organize, train, and deploy. Likewise, a fundamental tenant of foreign internal defense operations is to deny the enemy an effective sanctuary. The U.S. and Iraqi governments were able to achieve this in Iraq. There is no prospect of the U.S. and Afghan governments replicating this success in Afghanistan without the full cooperation of the ISI and Pakistani government, which is simply not going to happen.

    Thus, the U.S. seems to be reinforcing a failing strategy. Worse, if the U.S. adds three brigades to Afghanistan, it will make all of its forces their even more dependent on main supply routes that run through Pakistani territory. This will further reduce U.S. flexibility to strike against the very source of its problems with its Afghan campaign.

    The U.S. needs a strategy that increases its leverage against, rather its dependence on, Pakistan. Such a strategy would make the Afghan-Pakistan frontier a true two-way road. But in order to achieve this condition, the U.S. would have to be willing to give up its main supply routes that effectively run through enemy territory. And this would mean having a completely different (smaller, lighter, unconventional) force structure in Afghanistan."

    I think that about sums it up.

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  53. PakMil sucks and they're inclined to some serious treachery. (The other guys got our fucking night vision.) Really, really bad combination. Cut 'em loose and you're gonna have to take care of all those target packages yourself. Rock. Hard place.



    NATO agreed to take over Asscrackistan when it looked like a good deal.

    Now it's the booger on their finger that they can't get rid of. (Want more air mobility? Lease it, for Chrissake. We fly every goddamned thing that'll get off the ground and stay there awhile.)

    What's wrong with 'Stan? I'll tell you what's wrong with 'Stan. Nowhere near enough of those motherfuckers have been killed. Nowhere near. And it ain't got nuthin' to do with number of uniforms. Or the Afghans, who are good enough.

    Get with it.

    Or go home.

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  54. "Bureaucrats. Probably needed a couple hoses and an extension cord.
    Maybe a drain line.
    "
    ---
    Simple Minded, Right Wing, Straight-Lined MF'rs!
    ---
    FYI:
    We live in a complex, interrelated, interdependent biosphere, overlain w/myriad equally valid cultural response repertoires to environmental challenges.
    While the proposed Washerteria does not sit on a designated Wetland Area, there are several criteria that need to be met before the appropriate federal agencies, as well as the association of local federated Jurgas can issue a jurisdictional determination.

    Now I suppose we are supposed to believe that YOU, or any other unqualified slub in the vicinity could just plug that piece of equipment in and properly handle the manifold environmental consequences that are SURE to result!
    ...right!
    My ass.

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  55. We used to argue about the best way to kill them, now, we just wish some one would. The technique wouldn't much matter, at this point.

    As long as it's going to just be a police chase, we'd best head home, rather than lose some more sons on hills we abandon, after the fight..

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  56. I liked it so much, I posted it at Westhawk, Trish.
    w/o attribution in case you would like it that way.

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  57. Think how much easier the targeting would have been 4yrs ago when we (and Tony) called for it 'Rat.
    ...I thought Trish brought up objections, but perhaps I misremembered.

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  58. Trish been eating some jalapenos. Right on the mark.

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  59. She told us that putting ground troops in would lead to disaster.

    The ground not suitable to organized action using the means and methods of the US military.

    We argued for death from above.

    She argued lack of actionable intel on target packages, we spoke of destroying the supportive infrastructure of the local tribes.

    She was trying to run a COIN operation, we wanted destruction from above.

    Police chase vs war.

    Not much has changed, but trish is now a tad more intoxicated by success against the FARC.

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  60. Tony called for Arc Light.
    I'd like to think some brilliant and overly educated mind from BC could temper that w/a little compassion, but they haven't been right yet.

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  61. Tony was there back in the day.
    A little less idealistic than Bro Barry.

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  62. (not that I am saying a beefed up Peace Corps might not be just what the Dr. Ordered)

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  63. Oops, "Dr." = Phd, we're talkin BC.

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  64. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  65. Afghanistan as a nation-building candidate (the current mission) is almost certainly a lost cause. The only question is in what manner we eventually leave, the political consequences of that defeat at home and within NATO, and what happens when the neighbors jockey to fill the vaccuum (a matter of potentially life and death importance for some of them).

    Changing the mission is a possibility, but it is also an admission that Afghanistan cannot be 'solved.' Depending on what that mission is, there's still a significant chance we could be stuck there indefinitely for questionable benefit and at significant risk, locked into the region's complicated politics.

    Riding the tiger at this point.

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  66. Probably best to attempt to come to some arrangement with various neighbors, leave, and get ready to watch the roulette ball roll.

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  67. "She told us that putting ground troops in would lead to disaster."

    Into Pakistan. Yes. Because it is not - most emphatically NOT - a place for "troops."

    "The ground not suitable to organized action using the means and methods of the US military."

    Roger.

    "We argued for death from above.

    "She argued lack of actionable intel on target packages, we spoke of destroying the supportive infrastructure of the local tribes."

    A target package IS the product of actionable intel. That's what makes it a target package. And actionable intel within our little operational slice of Pakistan is orders of magnitude more difficult than Afghanistan. The bar is that much higher.

    "She was trying to run a COIN operation, we wanted destruction from above."

    Destruction from above is a component of COIN. As any COIN person will tell you.

    Where we have not killed nearly enough of those motherfuckers is on the very ground where we have virtually a free hand to do so, and the running intel to do it.

    Right where we sit. In Afghanistan.



    Police chase vs war.

    Not much has changed, but trish is now a tad more intoxicated by success against the FARC.

    Sun Jul 20, 06:26:00 PM EDT

    Doin my part for Russell and Company, sweetheart.

    Like it so much, I'm thinkin' about makin' a career of it. If the terms are good.

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  68. I want to thank Trish for her efforts for our country. While I sit here on my ass.

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  69. Finally, another true believer!

    ...I still have to catch up on both the Mat and DR conspiracies.
    Usually goof-off too much to get the message, specially when it does not include Clff Notes, which Mat has yet to provide.

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  70. How come you think you know better than Trish and the assemble geniuses here, Sinless?
    Trish seems to hearken back to the way things used to be when the idea was to win the war.

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  71. Colombians don't eat jalepenos.

    And trish is on vacation.




    In re "easier targeting" four years ago. No. Last year will probably stand out as the high water mark. Gonna find ourselves in the soup soon. Had to happen sooner or later. Just fucking exhausted.

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  72. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  73. "How come you think you know better than Trish and the assemble geniuses here, Sinless?"

    Because, irrespective of and with all due respect to present geniuses, and a nod to the always unpredictable future and a region in general flux, I know a good deal about the subject and the case.

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  74. I was just getting ready to guess your position as:
    Given the World as it is, and our hopelessly PC Condition in almost all things, the correct remedies will never be applied.

    Close?
    If Trish's or our methods were applied do you agree meaningful results could be accomplished.

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  75. That said, my ego is not attached to my pessimism, and I'd love to be proven wrong - because absent a major unforeseen change, we aren't leaving anytime soon, though some of our "traditional friends" might.

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  76. Hey, you didn't respond to my post:
    Soon you'll be as bothersome as Trish at her obscure best.

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  77. I was thinking.

    I don't know. We'd have to specify much more distinctly what those methods are, how they would be applied, and what the goal is (the current goal being itself a function of the "PC condition.")

    As it is, I haven't been given much to go on other than a call to kill a lot more of them.

    Overall, however, I doubt it would leave us much closer to fulfilling our current goals, which are essentially to force a dysfunctional country to behave and better itself.

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  78. "which are essentially to force a dysfunctional country to behave and better itself."

    ...In the middle of probably the worst region you could possibly choose to operate in, no exaggeration needed.

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  79. Shots of aguadiente all around, barkeep!

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  80. I would think that killing Taliban and those that support them, taking out training camps, and etc would be a valuable contribution to our security.
    Wasn't that what was agreed to that Bubba should have done in Afghanistan?
    (Which is why 'Rat, Tony, and I are for missions on the other side of the border, also)

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  81. ABC News knew where a training camp was 4 years ago.
    Even posted video.

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  82. You do NOT know what is truly good for you, Doug.

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  83. "Anise, like fennel, contains anethole, and is known to be a phytoestrogen.[3]

    Phytoestrogens, sometimes called "dietary estrogens", are a diverse group of naturally occurring non steroidal plant compounds that, because of their structural similarity with estradiol (17β-estradiol), have the ability to cause estrogenic or/and antiestrogenic effects.[1]"
    ---
    So you were Hormonal when you wrote that great post!

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  84. (Neither does sinless, but we are counting down the weeks.)

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  85. At my age I don't need any additional estrogen.
    Already fear my own shadow.
    Might be good for my dry skin, though.

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  86. It's similar to ouzo. Not as syrupy. Bottom shelf stuff, but don't knock it. Til you've tried it.

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  87. Researchers are still exploring the nutritional role of these substances in such diverse metabolic functions as the regulation of cholesterol, and the maintaining of proper bone density post-menopause. Evidence is accruing that phytoestrogens may have protective action against diverse health disorders such as prostate, breast, bowel, and other cancers, cardiovascular disease, brain function disorders, menopausal symptoms and osteoporosis[1][4][3]
    ---
    Wife ruined her stomach with Fosmax.

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  88. Patronize as you wish, but I'm not a bumpkin.

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  89. Jeeze, you respond to her personal attack, but not my specifics!

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  90. "Jeeze, you respond to her personal attack, but not my specifics!"

    Too late to open up another can of worms, need to go to bed.

    Night all.

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  91. Come back when you can stay longer!

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  92. He was just trying to catch up w/my natural hospitality w/an overt (and slightly unseemly) act.
    ...now that it's out there tho, I'll join him in thanking you and yours for your service.
    Good to be on a mission not doomed from day 1.
    Hope mom is doing OK.

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  93. "Good to be on a mission not doomed from day 1."

    They're not doomed, Doug. It always just looks that way.

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  94. And my mother is doing smarvelously. Has her hair back and will soon throw away the wig.

    Every day - according to Gene Simmons' mother - above ground is a good day.

    I think that's a mighty fine philosophy.

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  95. Great news!
    Is dad in good health?

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  96. Well, golly, the General's still around.
    Good to see you think highly, enough, of the Afghans ability to defend themselves.

    As I read at westhawk, the Colombians and Brazilians have just agreed to work together on securing their Amazonian border region. He thinks this is in response to Hugo's antics in the area.
    The timing of rhe agreement ties in neatly with the demise of FARC's operational security.

    Well done.

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  97. Miller's friend Martin Short figures it's inevitably going to get grim some day, so he refuses to waste any time not being happy in the meantime.
    Everyone that knows him says he's ALWAYS smiling.

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  98. And yes, my dad is well.

    His lovable, taciturn self.

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