Month: April 2017

Closing Thought–18Apr17

These days there is a wealth of push back against the presidency of Donald Trump……and many are looking for ways to fight his presidency…..in a legal way…..

I found a piece about a new party that is dedicated in the confronting the Trump agenda……the Resistance Party.

We fight to defend constitutional rights, democratic norms, & the rule of law in the United States

Source: The Resistance Party – We Are the Resistance

Resistance is there you just do not know it because apparently the antics of some idiots in the LA bayous is more important…..of course this will be of no consequence….because no one cares.

If you are not a fan of the Trumpster then maybe check out this “party”…or just roll over and do it again…..wink wink…..

That is it for me for today….see you guys tomorrow with more stuff….chuq

 

Let’s Debate Syria

Yesterday in class a student requested a substantive talk on the Syrian situation….and since I encourage my students to research a situation I decided to closed down my lesson for a half hour to have a debate on Syria….( I have the power)…..

The young lady started with that she understood why we were in Syria but was confused why so many people compare it to Iraq.  She was not sure why.

I spent about 10 minutes explaining the mash up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq…that apparently it was started on lies.

She then asked if not doing something in the face of humanitarian crisis would have been the right thing……I asked her she was talking about non-intervention….she was…..after about 5 minutes of back and forth I asked her where she had got her info for the questions….

This is the report that she had read…….

It’s remarkable just how little the basic contours of the Syria debate have changed, despite more than five years of brutal civil war. The same perceptions and misperceptions about intervention dominate today. In some ways, they are even worse now because of the distorting figure of President Donald Trump. Is it possible to separate one’s feelings about the man from the recognition that he is, whether we like it or not, our commander-in-chief?

Source: A practical guide for avoiding fallacies on Syria | Brookings Institution

After we talked for awhile longer and I told her that Brookings did some good research and papers….but that they have an agenda….like most think tanks….they say they are non-partisan but most consider them a liberal think tank…in so it has been known to change views depending of politics…..that it is a good place to start but not to end.

I decide to forgo the lesson plan for the day and to talk to the class about Syria…in the headlines but few know why…..

Below is a good synopsis…..

As the Syrian conflict enters its seventh year, more than 465,000 Syrians have been killed in the fighting, more than a million injured and over 12 million Syrians – half the country’s prewar population – have been displaced from their homes.

In 2011, what became known as the Arab Spring revolts toppled Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Source: Syria’s civil war explained from the beginning | News | Al Jazeera

After 5 years and an all out assault on a Syrian airbase……what should come next?

Whether one believes they were the long-overdue response to the Syrian regime’s brutality, a one-off event that will not affect the conflict’s trajectory, a risky step that could prompt military escalation or all of the above, the 7 April U.S. missile strikes on Syria’s Shayrat air base in response to the regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons should be seized upon as an opportunity to jumpstart diplomatic efforts. The strikes have heightened tension between Moscow and Washington. Yet, this added volatility and the risks attached to it could and should prompt more serious pursuit by the two countries of their purportedly common interest: de-escalating violence sufficiently to establish a meaningful political track. This can be best achieved by deepening rather than breaking off U.S.-Russian cooperation.

Source: Syria after the U.S. Strike: What Should Come Next | Crisis Group

I have said a couple of times that I am disturbed on how the media has framed this…..they are basically a cheerleader for military action…..and has uplifted Trump from “Dud to Dude”……

It is pretty amazing how quickly the media and suck-up politicians can transform a mendacious, hypocritical, amateurish, ignorant, incoherent, bigoted buffoon who is way, way out of his depth into a man of courage, which is what they did to President Trump this past weekend. All it takes is some saber rattling and launching a few dozen missiles. Granted, the Trump brand is already so tarnished that he didn’t get the bounce or the adulation that the Bushes, pere and fils, got when they began their wars. According to one poll, only 51 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s action, but given that Trump’s favorability rating has hovered around or even south of 40 percent, this is an improvement.

Source: Why Trump Was Able to Sucker the World on Syria | By Neal Gabler | Common Dreams

Trump has drawn his little line in the sand (the problem with those lines is a wind blows up and they disappear) and all the king’s boyz have had their say on Syria….but really what is next?

Since World War II, every war America started without just cause it lost. Vietnam and the second Iraq War are tragic proof of this conclusion. But America also failed when it intervened with military force for similarly flawed reasons. The reasons are obvious. First, America failed to exercise sound strategic thinking and judgment. Second, America lacked sufficient knowledge and understanding of conditions in which force was used.

In other terms, White Houses never answered the fatal “what next?” question. Congresses never demanded answers. And the public was too often disengaged and disinterested to demand accountability.

Source: Does America ever learn? What next in Syria? – UPI.com

All in all a good session in class…..BTW the young lady that started the class down this path will be getting a favorable grade for showing initiative on the Syria situation…..(I need more like her)……

Grab Your Knees And Bend Over

The attack in Syria….the “Big Bang”……the vocal war with North Korea…..the ramping up of troops deployments to areas like Somalia and Yemen…..it appears to this analyst that the war drums are beating a bit louder…..

The media seems to be on the side of more involvement around the world…..armed involvement……

The American public is bracing for war now that President Donald Trump has seemingly stumbled upon “the keys to the family gun cabinet,” as one observer put it, after a week of rash and aggressive military action.

The unprecedented use of a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), known as the ‘mother of all bombs,’ on Thursday was just the latest in a series of attacks by the U.S. in recent days, prompting demands for a Congressional debate on the use of military force.

Source: Americans Bracing for More War Under Trigger-Happy Trump | Common Dreams

Americans should be very worried at the tone in DC…the chest thumping and the screams for revenge are getting louder and the louder it gets the more likely more force will be used…..

Time for my fellow citizens to start paying attention and time for a antiwar movement to appear and demand that this crap end……time for a movement to end these wars of opportunity and exploitation…..time to bring our overworked troops home for a rest…..

Below is a “Libertarian” look at the situation…..a look that I firmly agree with on most points…..

War-whoops and loud applause from foreign policy establishments and their media supporters have greeted President Trump’s missile strike in Syria, the dropping of the world’s largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan and the dispatch of a naval task force in the direction of North Korea.

This spurt in belligerence over the last week has as much to do with domestic American politics as any fundamental new development in the rest of the world. Trump needed to defuse the accusation that he was too close to President Putin and too tolerant of a Russian ally like Bashar al-Assad. The resort to military action was largely in keeping with the old Pentagon saying that “defence policy ends at the water’s edge”, meaning that it is politics inside, not outside the US, which is the real decision-maker.

Source: America should start exploring how to end all the wars it’s started – The Unz Review

Time for the American public to wake the Hell up and smell the explosive residue…..it will only get worse the more silent the public remains…

According To Law…..Was It Legal?

Since the attack there has been international outcry saying that the attack was a violation of international law…I am writing about that issue here today….

The first “Press” is from the site of a regular visitor to IST….Green Road Journal…….

According to the Syrian News Agency SANA, the US led Coalition has carried out targeted airstrikes against a chemical weapons depot in Hatla, east of Deir Ezzor. The depot is held by ISIS-Daesh terrorists:
The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces said that the aircrafts of the so-called “US-led International Alliance” on Wednesday between the hour 17:30 and 17:50 carried out an airstrike against a position of ISIS terrorists that includes a large number of foreign mercenaries in the village of Hatla to the east of Deir Ezzor, causing a white cloud that became yellow as a result of the explosion of a huge store that includes a large amount of toxic materials.

Source: Trump’s Missile Attack On Syria; Mass Media Ignores Truth, Morality, Legality And Verifiable Facts, Most Had Orgasmic Reaction To Shooting Off Hard Upright Missiles In Tubes; War Drums Beating, Military Industrial Complex Celebrating | A Green Road Journal

Next is from a major site…Politico….they defend the attack as a legal response….

“No child of God should ever suffer such horror,” argued President Donald Trump during his statement justifying last Thursday’s U.S. missile strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s military. Since then, his decision has faced withering scrutiny, particularly on legal grounds. Critics, from Russia to some members of Congress, have argued the military action was an illegal violation of Syria’s sovereignty. “Whatever it is,” tweeted Harvard Law School Professor Jack Goldsmith in response to a question about what the legal justification for the strike was, “it exceeds all prior precedents under domestic and international law.” Use of chem weapons is horrific,” tweeted ACLU national security lawyer Hina Shamsi, “but Trump’s military action violates Constitution & U.N. charter. No legit domestic or international law basis.”

Source: Why Trump’s Attack on Syria Is Legal – POLITICO Magazine

I have given as many posts as possible on this action….I want my reader to be as well informed as anyone……they will decide the validity of this attack.

I still am wondering why NO one and I mean NO ONE is asking the question about the number of missiles fired and the damage done to the airfield….this “attack” does not pass the smell test…..neither the action or the reaction can pass the test.

Mine Is Bigger Than Yours

I know…I know…I said that I would not write about the damn MOAB any more unless there was something substantial…well I believe I found something….

There has been lots written about that damn bomb dropped in Eastern Afghanistan….the MOAB.

But there was another story that was in the news but no one bothered to bring attention to it because too many were taking a victory lap about the use of MOAB…….but what could be that important?

How about FOAB….Father Of All Bombs…..a Russian invention.

To be honest it may be a myth….a little chest thumping by the Russians.

The specifics of the mythical Father of All Bombs have never been confirmed beyond Russian military claims, but it is purported to have a blast equivalent to a whopping 44 tons of TNT. This would give it a blast radius roughly twice that of the American MOAB, at about 300 meters. Like all other “thermobaric” bombs, it uses the atmosphere to power its fuel reaction, rather than incorporating an oxidizer into the fuel mixture in the weapon itself. This means that as the explosion progresses, it burns through the air to power its own chemical reaction, creating a super-heated, ultrasonic shock wave that literally vaporizes most anything other than rock.

Russia typically describes the FOAB as a nuke without the fallout — a chance to harness the destructive potential of a nuclear weapon without the messy radioactive contamination that follows.

But what is the difference?

MOAB

Radius Damage:

  • Up to 1000 yards: Obliterates everything.
  • Up to 1 mile: Knocks people, tents, light buildings, cars and jeeps over within 1-mile radius.
  • Up to 1.7 miles: Shockwave kills people, causes severe damage to properties, equipment, blows trucks, tank off road.
  • Up to 2 miles: Causes deafness.
  • Up to 5 miles: Shakes ground, break windows.
  • Up to 30 miles: 10,000 foot high mushroom crowd.

Here are some features of MOAB:

  • Each MOAB costs around US $16 million.
  • So far the United States has 20 such weapons and the military has spent almost $314 million on the production of the explosive.
  • The original goal of building the MOAB was to act as a non-nuclear deterrent against former Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein.
  • At the time of its development, MOAB was considered as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed.
  • After MOAB was tested, Russia on the other side tested its “Father of All Bombs”, which is claimed to be four times as powerful as the MOAB.

FOAB….(not much info available)

Here are some features of FOAB:

  • “Father of All Bombs” (FOAB) is a Russian-designed, bomber-delivered thermobaric weapon.
  • Some reports suggest that the bomb specially designed by Russian military is four times more powerful than MOAB.
  • Hence FOAB is considered as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the world.
  • Also, United States defence analysts had several time raised questions on the veracity of Russia’s claims.
  • On September 11, 2007, FOAB was successfully tested in the late evening.

Yes this may be a myth a flexing of their propaganda muscle……and this has been avoided by the MSM….so I decided to do what the MSM refused to do….make the comparison.

What World War I Unleashed In America

One hundred years ago the US was preparing to send its forces to Europe to join in the fighting to save the world….from what most are not sure….but save it nonetheless….Dough boys are on their way.

I have been saying for a long time that World War One was the event that shaped the world we live in today….it all began on the fields of Belgium and France in 1914.

A new PBS documentary recalls the bloody battles, the social turbulence and the nation-changing legacy of the terrible conflict.

One hundred years ago, two events three days apart set the 20th century’s trajectory. On April 9, 1917, in Zurich, Vladimir Lenin boarded a train. Germany expedited its passage en route to St. Petersburg — known as Leningrad from 1924 to 1991 — expecting him to exacerbate Russia’s convulsions, causing Russia’s withdrawal from World War I, allowing Germany to shift forces to the Western Front. Lenin boarded the train three days after the United States, responding to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare and other provocations, declared war. Soon 2 million Americans would be in Europe. They, and the promise of many more, compelled Germany to accept an armistice at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

Source: What World War I unleashed in America

Then there are all sorts of stories told about WW1….some are true and some are myths….and let us look at some of the myths from that war.

One hundred years ago, on April 6, 1917, Congress voted to declare war on imperial Germany. The First World War was the pivot of the 20th century: It took the lives of 17 million people and resulted in the collapse of three major empires (the German, the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian). In the aftermath, totalitarian regimes both right and left came to power, leading to a second, far bloodier global conflict. Alas, for most Americans, the “Great War” holds little interest, particularly compared with the Civil War, World War II and Vietnam — all conflicts remembered as titanic moral struggles that transformed the nation. This neglect has given rise to some serious misconceptions about the war in which more than 116,000 Americans died.

Source: Five myths about World War I – The Washington Post

This war was important in so many ways and yet we try to block it out as best we can……why?

We must never forget or ignore the wars that our soldiers were asked to fight.  This country already does a disservice to the vets let us not compound the disrespect.

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!