Day: April 17, 2017

Closing Thought–17Apr17

I hope that everyone had a good Easter…..My better half and I enjoyed a steak, baked potato, micro green salad and a lovely Sauvignon (would prefer a Bourdeaux but none in the cellar)….in the garden…a lovely cool day…..

Now to work…….

From time to time I write an op-ed for Ace News Room and then I reblog them here for my readers that do not visit Ace…….

These two are about National Security and Conventional warfare…….

My concern with foreign policy and for national security I see major holes in the Trump program…..so far that is….there is a chance that this will become less noticeable with time in office…

As this drama plays out….right now there is posturing within the Trump admin over national security but I believe that they are focusing on minor issues and letting major ones fall away into the abyss of stupid…..stupid is a strong word…maybe I should use incompetency in its place.

Source: National Security By The Numbers | Ace News Room

We have been fighting a war since 1941……this op-ed takes a look at conventional warfare and its future……

As someone who studies war but in international relations it is called conflict management and resolution…I am always looking at our reactions to situations that require an armed response……in other words….the use of our military.

With all this War on Terror do we still have a military that will fight and win in a conventional war? Or is a conventional war ………what the Hell is conventional warfare?

Good question…..and yes the professor has an answer……

Source: Is Conventional Warfare A Thing Of The Past? | Ace News Room

Hopefully my readers will find these op-eds informative as well as educational….please enjoy.

My day is finished…I need some AFK time……see you guys tomorrow with more stuff…..chuq

I Spy

NO!  This is not a rehash of the ’60’s TV show with Bill Cosby(never was a fan of that show)……

By now every American has heard of the CIA….and the NSA….and even the ultra secret DIA…..but do you think that is all there is to the intel agencies?

If so then you would be mistaken.

There is an even a more secret agency than any of the ones you thought you knew.

Ever heard of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency?

Of course you have not…that is until now.

If you’re one of the countless Americans who was distraught to learn of the revelations made by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, the mere idea that there might be yet another agency out there — perhaps just as powerful and much more intrusive —  should give you goosebumps.

Foreign Policyreports that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or NGA, is an obscure spy agency former President Barack Obama had a hard time wrapping his mind around back in 2009. But as the president grew fond of drone warfare, finding a way to launch wars without having to go through Congress for the proper authorization, the NGA also became more relevant. Now, President Donald Trump is expected to further explore the multibillion-dollar surveillance network.

Source: More Dangerous Than the NSA? The Massive Spy Agency You Haven’t Heard Of

There is so much more to our intel apparatus than what you see on cheap TV shows….and now you know a bit more than you did when you started this post.

Now do you feel safer or what?

You are welcome!

A Drive-By Tomahawking

I has been a week since the US attacked the Syrian airfield….and the analysis is still going on……personally, I want answers and I believe that most of my readers do also (but I could be mistaken for some want to believe).

Since the attack by the US on the Syrian airfield I have been trying to give all sides of the debate…..this is a piece I found on the Libertarian Institute website.

On Friday, the fact-checking organization weighed in on the legal debate over President Trump’s April 6 bombing of a Syrian airfield, with two essays concluding it was A-OK, constitutionally. “In some cases, people saying Trump needed congressional approval have gone too far” Politifact’s Lauren Carroll pronounces. For instance, Rep. Marc Pocan’s (D-WI) claim that there’s “no legal basis” for the strikes rates a full-on, needle-in-the-red “FALSE” on P-fact’s patented “Truth-o-Meter.” Tom Kertscher of Politifact Wisconsin asserts that: “For limited military activities like the missile strike, presidents can send in forces without approval from Congress.” You see, while the president may not have the legal authority to unilaterally launch a full-scale war, he can—if he thinks it’s a good idea, and assures himself it won’t bog us down—order up acts of war that don’t rise to the level of war: a light dusting of cruise missiles—a micro-aggression, constitutionally speaking.

Source: Weak Legal Pretext for Trump’s Drive-By Tomahawking – The Libertarian Institute

But with all the info available was this strike necessary?

Knowing that the evidence refuted the claim that the Syrian Air Force was responsible for the April 4, 2017 chemical nerve agent attack, the National Security Council (NSC) manufactured a false claim that intelligence actually supported [President Donald J. Trump’s] decision to attack Syria, and…to accuse Russia of being either complicit or a participant in an alleged atrocity,” according to Theodore A. Postol, an MIT Professor of Science , Technology and National Security, who has previously served as a scientific adviser to the Chief of Naval Operations.

Postol’s conclusions were set forth in three successive reports. In the first, the renowned scientist concluded that the photographic evidence of a bomb crater relied upon by the White House does not support the conclusion “the crater was created by a munition designed to disperse sarin after it was dropped from a plane.” To the contrary, the evidence “clearly indicates that the munition was almost certainly placed on the ground with an explosive on top of it that crushed the container so as to disperse the alleged load of sarin.

Source: MIT Scientist: “White House Lied, Manufactured Evidence to Justify Tomahawk Missile Strike.” – LA Progressive

I believe the only way that we can have a overview of the situation is to check out all sides of the debate….

The missiles used were Tomahawk missiles….and according to most reports all 59 did not hit their target, there is a bit of confusion on just how many……but this then leads us to ask….if the missiles were not that accurate or were somehow intercepted then just how effective can they be?

While researching (something everyone should do before they voice an ignorant opinion) I found a Defense site that questions the Tomahawks existence….

As the U.S. military prepares to do combat in an increasingly threatening and competitive global arena, the Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile may not be “the weapons system solution for the future,” the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said April 13.

“I think we have to decide what’s next after Tomahawk,” said Air Force Gen. Paul Selva at an Air Force Association breakfast in Arlington, Virginia. “My gut tells me, as I look at the requirements a decade or more out, that a subsonic, non-stealthy, low-maneuvering, unitary warhead may not be the answer.”

Source: Senior Pentagon Official Casts Doubt on Tomahawk Missiles Future

I will admit that I do hold some of the same beliefs on foreign policy as the Libertarians…..I do have a problem with their domestic stuff so they are out as far as support during elections…..some politicos need to embrace their issues on foreign policy but as it is today we have NO opposition to continuous war….the voices that are there are sidelined by accusations and innuendo perpetrated by the MSM.

Please let me know what you think about this situation.

MOAB……The “Big Bang”

Before I go any further on this “Big Bang”….there is important news coming out of Afghanistan that the media chooses to ignore…..

Any American soldier has been killed in Afghanistan……An Army Green Beret…..

Staff Sgt. Mark de Alencar, 37, was killed by “small arms fire” in Agarhar Province Saturday, the Department of Defense

de Alencar was married and had five children.

And NO one cared.

I have waited before I posted more on the MOAB explosion…..I wanted to see what others had to say about this “big bang”…

The “mother of all bombs” dropped on the Islamic State in Afghanistan Thursday not only killed 36 militants but also destroyed their base within a 1,000-foot-long network of tunnels and a stockpile of weapons, says the Afghan defense ministry. A presidential spokesman tells the BBC that ISIS commander Siddiq Yar was among those killed as the GBU-43/B Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb detonated in the Momand valley of Achin in Nangarhar province.

Officials say civilians had previously left the area and weren’t affected by the blast, which the district governor described as “the biggest I have ever seen.” President Trump says the strike was “another successful job,” per CNN, which notes the US military had pegged the number of active ISIS militants in the area at up to 800. They had been launching attacks on Afghan troops from the tunnels. One person who was displeased by the move: former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who called it “an inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country.” Read more about the specifics of the bomb here.

Here it is…The “Big Bang”…….30 seconds of ecstasy (if you are a lover of destruction)……

According to the intel there were about 800 ISIS fighters in the area…..and this huge ass bomb killed 36….at what cost?

My economics is not very good but I do not believe that is a sound return on investment…..just a thought.

After the report of the deployed MOAB the Afghan ex-president has lost all confidence in the Afghan government and the US…..

An angry former president, Hamid Karzai, on Saturday lashed out at government and the U.S over Thursday night’s bombing of Achin district in Nangarhar.

Karzai said he did not recognize “this symbolic government,” and has decided to work to get rid of America in Afghanistan.

He criticized government for “allowing the U.S to drop such a big non-nuclear bomb. If govt approved it, the act is treason.”

He said the bombing was an insult to Afghanistan and that the U.S was just using Daesh as an excuse.

Karzai also said it was a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty and a violation of the environment.

He said that following Thursday’s move he had decided to take a stand “to rescue Afghanistan from U.S terror”.Karzai’s remarks come just two days after the U.S on Thursday night fired off a Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), commonly known as the Mother of All Bombs, against a Daesh tunnel complex in the remote area of Nangarhar.

The move was met with mixed reactions but the national unity government has confirmed it was aware of the plan ahead of the bombing.

(tolonews.com)
Karzai is not being timid about his disapproval….
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai is mincing no words in assessing the United States’ bombing of an ISIS stronghold with its second-largest non-nuclear device, reports the New York Times: “Shame, shame,” he says of current President Ashraf Ghani’s admission that his government coordinated the bombing with the Trump administration. “No Afghan with self-respect would do that. He is a traitor, a traitor.” Karzai further said he will work toward “ousting the US,” and the Times notes that he has grown more vocal in his anti-American sentiment since leaving office—despite having largely come to power on the back of the American military. Karzai is denouncing the bomb to anyone who will listen, telling al Jazeera that “This was an inhuman act, a brutal act against an innocent country, against innocent people, against our land, against our sovereignty, against our soil and against our future.”
This attack may have far ranging consequences….but the US continues to defend the “Big Bang”…..
…….attack with the “Mother of All Bombs” (MOAB) by US forces against eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province was done without approval from President Trump, Pentagon officials insist, saying that they believe they didn’t need any such approval.
Officials continue to defend the strike as appropriate and claim it was a success, but the information on the ground is certainly raising doubts about that, with the Afghan government claiming the strike with the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal killed 36 ISIS fighters, and ISIS saying that no one was killed at all in the strike.
(antiwar.com)
Needless to say that this attack will only add to the distrust the Afghans have for the US……after almost 16 years there is very little trust remaining.
Many are asking just why this massive bomb was dropped….a good question considering the minor damage it actually did…..and an answer if one needs one…..

President Donald Trump praised the U.S. military for successfully blasting an Islamic State stronghold in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province with a Massive Ordinance Air Bomb (MOAB), the biggest non-nuclear explosive in the American arsenal.

“It was another successful event,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “If you look at what’s happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what’s happened over the past eight years, you’ll see there’s a tremendous difference, tremendous difference.”

The Islamic State group has made inroads in Afghanistan in recent years and has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks, including last month’s assault on a military hospital in Kabul that killed more than 30 people and injured 80 others.

Source: Why the Big U.S. Bomb Was Dropped on Afghanistan | Small Wars Journal

The bomb is a scary thing….once dropped made a point….but what is that point?  Will this scare the “opposition” into submission?

“I’m really very good at war. I love war, in a certain way,” bragged candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Iowa. This is the same Donald Trump who avoided the Vietnam draft by claiming a bone spur in his foot, a medical problem that never kept him off the tennis courts or golf courses, and miraculously healed on its own.

But with the escalation of US military involvement in Syria, the record number of drone attacks in Yemen, more US troops being sent to the Middle East and, now, the dropping of a massive bomb in Afghanistan, it looks like Trump may indeed love war. Or at least, love “playing” war.

Source: The ‘Mother of All Bombs’ is Big, Deadly – and Won’t Lead to Peace | By Medea Benjamin | Common Dreams

There has been some blowback from the bomb drop…..the US is having a difficult time…….

US dropped its MOAB, or “Mother of All Bombs,” the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used, was dropped on Afghanistan. Though ISIS denied any deaths in the attack, the Afghan government claimed 36 ISIS fighters were killed, and no civilians.

This claim, which did not include evidence of the deaths, was still a questionable outcome for the MOAB strike, dropping an $18 million bomb to kill a handful of ISIS fighters. Faced with that, the Afghan government revised the death toll upward, now claiming 94 ISIS fighters killed, none of them civilians.

President Trump ratcheting up tensions across the world, and playing up the idea of imposing military solutions in Syria and North Korea, this strike once again plays up the narrative that he’s up for heedlessly escalating military strikes, even in a situation where the use of the MOAB wasn’t warranted nor amounted to anything. The big explosion, ultimately, was the whole point, and the death toll very much irrelevant, despite desperate attempts by the Afghan government to justify it.

(antiwar.com)

I believe that you have enough info to process an informed opinion….do so!

Everything is not always as black and white as they would have you believe……I am struggling to see the benefit of using this bomb….other than some minor PR.

This is my last MOAB post until something more substantial emerges…..

And the beat goes on!

Is India Next?

America has had an off again, on again relationship with India….at one point we hated them for they were aligned with the USSR…then they were I buddies….now it is pretty much up in the air who likes who…..

Everyone knows how the US feels about AQ….well that is everywhere but in Syria……it looks like AQ is spreading its influence into the sub-continent, India to be more accurate….

: In the region, AQIS is a highly significant group. This is an assessment that’s shared by top officials within the U.S., such as General John Nicholson, Commander of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan, who talked about this recently in an interview with CTC Sentinel.

AQIS was formally announced in September 2014, but its origins go back before the formal announcement. Al Qaeda has had longstanding relationships in the region for some time, as is well known. The center of gravity for al Qaeda, and for its senior leadership, was in Afghanistan-Pakistan and South Asia for around 15 years, so the group maintained longstanding relationships, not just in the post-9/11 world but also prior to the 9/11 attacks. They were able to cultivate strong ties with sectarian and Kashmir-focused militant factions, and the network spans several countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

Source: AQIS Fits Into al Qaeda’s Global Strategy | The Cipher Brief

This could a conflict in the making especially after the president and his cronies have made it clear that the US would use troops wherever needed….does that mean that we will be sending special ops people to the sub-continent any time soon?