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Clark Griswold

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Posts posted by Clark Griswold

    Iraq in state of emergency - Mosul overrun by militants; government flees;

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    As LBJ said: "He may be a son of a bitch but he's our son of a bitch"

    Assad was not exactly our guy but we could do business with him:

    John and Teresa enjoying dinner with the Assads in 2009.

    john-kerry-with-assad.jpg

    Keeping a lid on Islamic Fascism is job 1 and somewhere down the list is encouraging democracy / human rights in the Middle East. I don't want those people to have to live under dictatorships but what is bubbling under the surface is worse.
    • Upvote 2

    Iraq in state of emergency - Mosul overrun by militants; government flees;

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Clark Griswold

    Left frets over Iraq mission creep

    Sweet Jesus, these people are scared of their own shadows. There's only been a couple of kinetic strikes and humanitarian aid drops to desperate people dying on a mountain top and already the trite line of "mission creep" is hauled out.

    Need to add this to my COA:

    6. Revocation of citizenship and permanent expulsion for any citizen or legal resident found to have participated in hostile military action with terrorist organizations in Syria / Iraq / Afghanistan etc... or to have aided any person engaged in such activities. Made an explicit priority with aggressive coordinated international police & intelligence action.

    Western-born jihadists rally to ISIS's fight in Iraq and Syria

    The West faces a choice: fight its enemies or slowly commit suicide by inaction and implicit surrender of its culture.

    Iraq in state of emergency - Mosul overrun by militants; government flees;

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    In what universe is this a possibility? You'd be laughed out of the room for suggesting this in a serious policy discussion.

    Yeah, it is a bridge quite far but the Free Syrian Army & associated anti-regime groups fighting Al-Assad have either joined the IS or are no longer operational or viable. The West could adopt a neutral stance, let the Russians & Iranians continue their diplomatic relations and support, We help the Iraqis & Kurds defeat the IS and at the conclusion of hostilities very quietly accept Al-Assad's government.

    Iraq in state of emergency - Mosul overrun by militants; government flees;

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Here comes the pain. Will it make a difference on the ground?

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/07/iraq-air-drops/

    Probably. Like Libya, once the Iraqi Army & Kurdish Peshmerga have CAS, AI, & ISR the tide can turn. Just a hope but a good ass-whoopin' from the US & Allies on the IS from the air would probably give them a shot in the arm.

    Possible COA:

    1. Isolate the IS with saturated ISR and AI over Western Iraq to cut off their resupply. All of Western Irag is a no-fly or no-drive zone.

    2. Lean hard on the Saudis and Qataris to cut the funding to them. No money equals no capabilities.

    3. Provide CAS, AI & ISR to give the Iraqi Army & Kurds the confidence to take the fight to them. Cut off any comms via social media, cellular, LMRs; use our EA assets to make it hard as hell for them to coordinate ops.

    4. Support Al-Asad in Syria. Like it or not, he is an enemy of IS and my enemy's enemy is my friend. Recognize his government as the legitimate gov. of Syria, sucks but he is infinitely better than IS.

    5. Look the other way when our allies do things we would find distasteful. Not a Machiavellian but this is not a situation to worry about whether or not they (allied Arab states) follow to the letter the Geneva Convention.

    Border crisis

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Clark Griswold

    They're all just poor people looking for work, right? These are just in this past week, but you won't hear about them from the federal government or the national news, as they don't fit the narrative of "...the border is more secure than ever". So people outside these areas generally won't hear the truth of the war going on in our own backyard......well, not their backyards.

    But hey......great idea to just let them all in unchecked, like some want to do. We obviously won't get any undersirables or criminals here, will we?

    Mariel boatlift, anyone? Mexico is taking that page out of Castro's playbook brilliantly.

    http://www.krgv.com/news/2-charged-in-off-duty-agent-s-death/

    http://www.krgv.com/news/2-accused-of-assaulting-border-patrol-agent/

    Yep - I am sure some are not bad except for breaking our immigration laws and illegally crossing our border but when you see multiple reports like these:

    Exclusive: Border Patrol Warns MS-13 Using Nogales Processing Center as Recruitment Hub

    Violent gang taking advantage of immigration crisis, using border as recruiting hub

    something has got to change.

    Keeping up the mantra:

    Fences & barriers where necessary, Guardsmen patrolling with more CBP agents, ICE agents investigating illegal employment and reforming immigration policy and procedures.

    Mexican Military incursion(s) into the United States

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Buy some preds, put some guys on rotations in a trailer, and have a helicopter "QRF" on alert to respond to whatever the predators find. You'd only need a handful of staging bases in TX/AZ/NM/CA. Doesn't even need to be a military operation- just a "collect and deport" role.

    Follow up post. Link to the wiki on the CBP Office of Air and Marine. CBP already has quite the ISR and Rotary wing support capability, what is needed is the NG mission to be the mortar between the bricks.

    Mexican Military incursion(s) into the United States

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Clark Griswold

    Manning the border with physical resources is a waste of time/money. Buy some preds, put some guys on rotations in a trailer, and have a helicopter "QRF" on alert to respond to whatever the predators find. You'd only need a handful of staging bases in TX/AZ/NM/CA. Doesn't even need to be a military operation- just a "collect and deport" role.

    Hell, gather enough intel, and you might actual catch the coyotes and ring leaders and slow the pipelines. Stop putting Boomhower and Kletus behind the wheel of a GMC, expecting border security.

    Can't agree with you here partner, if you don't have a physical security system to stop unfettered crossing at any point an illegal immigrant chooses along a 2000 mile border, no amount of ISR or QRFs will ever be enough.

    There is some intel to be collected but the situation is really not complicated, massive amounts of people gather into small and medium sized groups and begin to sneak across the border, usually they make it to residential areas or sparse/difficult terrain and then blend in or break out when LE or CBP catches them and some get away. A triple layer fence, patrol roads, surveillance and lighting systems at the border and along the highways coming from the border for a few miles are necessary if we are actually interested in stopping people who we have no idea are coming into our country without our permission.

    Sometimes they even gather into large aggressive groups and pretty much have nothing but mayhem on the brain too...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIqUkIWWCLI

    This is not really a law enforcement issue anymore but a national security and sovereignty issue now but Democrats want new voters and Republicans want cheap labor so America gets a DP job.

    Mexican Military incursion(s) into the United States

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Clark Griswold

    Presidents Reagan and Bush were wrong. It is a surrender of sovereignty and explicit decay in the rule of law. No matter how well intentioned (supposedly) politicians and pundits say they are when speaking of the ultimate good intentions of most illegal immigrants (big supposition on their part) they are merely spouting sophistry on the road to being just another country where the rule of law is replaced by the rule of men, mobs or trends.

    • Upvote 1

    With Russia's $650 billion rearmament plan, the bear sharpens its teeth

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Clark Griswold

    1. How is providing EA/SEAD/DEAD not direct involvement?

    2. Our foresight after providing military intervention is slim to none, and I have little faith in our current leadership (not just BO) to successfully navigate those waters.

    Out of curiosity, what do you do in the military?

    1 - by direct involvement I think we mean boots on the ground or NATO iron in the air. if we give them financial aid and they purchase what they need, SAAB, Dassault Systems, Elbit Systems etc could supply without directly involving the US.

    2 - we've got some successes under our belt: US aid to the Mujahideen to eject the Soviets from Afghanistan minus the blowback from no follow thru plan following the Soviet exit, the success of Plan Columbia in thwarting the cartels from turning that country into a failed narco state, and reaching into the past look at Europe & Korea post hostilities - they took some time but they came around

    I'm a pilot in the ANG but have a about 10 years AD time and have been fortunate to have flown several airplanes. I am interested in geopolitics / history - if I was not doing what I am doing now I think FAO would be a pretty good gig

    With Russia's $650 billion rearmament plan, the bear sharpens its teeth

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Clark Griswold

    I won't pretend to be smart on the geopolitics over there, but I see nothing good coming from intervening. What is your reasoning for doing so?

    Because it gives the West an alternative to direct involvement to prevent / reverse Russian gains & efforts in causing the break up of Ukraine. There is a risk of escalation but the risk of a Russian victory ala a successful pro-Russian separatist victory in eastern Ukraine is worse. Giving them systems and training to effectively counter the aid the Russians are giving these yokels is a good move. We have been on the sidelines in terms of supporting movements that are carrying the water for us in parts of the world based on worrying too much about escalation, our enemies like Russia, Iran, China, etc... don't have such concerns and as such we have to help out our friends or possible friends even if it might ratchet things up.

    It's old school but the Domino Theory was right, you have to stop the spread of your enemy before his momentum carries the day. First it was Crimea, next it will be eastern Ukraine, then it will be reoccupation of the Baltics... like it or not we live in interesting times requiring the application of smart force from all the Instruments of Power: Military, Economic, Diplomatic, Informational, etc... our enemies haven't gotten the memo from Kerry that "You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text," Kerry told the CBS program "Face the Nation."

    It amazes me how naive this administration is to believe that you can have a debate with authoritarian regimes, dictators and fanatical theocratic terrorist movements about human rights, peace negotiations, and rule of law based classic liberal values. These people respect force and decisive action, they interpret anything else as dithering weakness, no wonder democracy is getting it's ass kicked lately...

    Border crisis

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    They don't need further resources. They need a boss that actually enforces existing laws.

    Agree on needing an executive interested in enforcing the border and laws but have to part company on needing more resources.

    CBP is undermanned and under resourced and especially ICE. A physical border security system is also necessary in strategic areas, basically the adjoining urban areas with the highways for the first 10 miles or so coming from the POE into the US being fenced to restrict bailouts of car loads of illegals when the CBP or HP stops a carry vehicle.

    Once the illegals actually make it on to US soil it is so easy to just starburst out and blend into the residential or agricultural areas that are right on or near the border making apprehension after arrival tough and never 100%, some of the group will get away.

    In another thread I used a highly accurate bar napkin calculation to guess that it would take 0.4% of the DoD budget to fund a sizeable NG mission to assist CBP.

    That is affordable and appropriate, we keep 28,500 guys in South Korea to defend the 15th largest economy in the world, we can afford 10,000 guys on our borders.

    Border crisis

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Clark Griswold

    No what I'm saying is if you've ever gone over the speed limit on purpose you know why illegals come across illegally. Because the law was a hindrance and not a help to their goals.

    Posted from the NEW Baseops.net App!

    So there is no level of degrees in law-breaking? Illegally crossing into a foreign country is the equivalent to a minor civil involvement? Illegal immigration is a major civil offense but it should be a major criminal offense. Just my two cents.

    This may be getting to a boiling point, human freedom and humanitarian assistance are important but what the advocates of the recent surge of illegal aliens from Central America and other areas are calling for is chaos, capitulation, resignation and acceptance that other people who are not citizens of this country, who have no legal or political rights in the US are imposing themselves on us and will by their choice remain here indefinitely. That is an invasion not by arms but by using our laws and best qualities of kindness and charity against us. Some would say we did this to others when European settlers first arrived here so why do we have the right to stop them? There is no good answer to that other than that was several hundred years ago, we have evolved into a modern orderly nation, we have the right and ability to control our borders and immigration. We will not be a nation but just a geographic description at that point we can't or won't control them.

    Going back from the philosophical to the practical, we have the National Incident Management System (NIMS) designed specifically for these kinds of problems and if several hundred women and children crossing and surrendering immediately every day in one particular sector of the SWB is not a national incident requiring a coordinated WOG approach I don't know what is then. NIMS and the National Response Framework are part of the National Strategy for Homeland Security and we are not using the plans and procedures that supposedly we are going to use if SHTF.

    I would have confidence that this is not a disaster destined for epic proportions and long term national consequences if something substantial was being done. That the situation was being handled if you saw any of the basics for this type of incident being stood up:

    • The Incident Command System being stood up for C2
    • The Multiagency Coordination System working to get LE, Mil, Legal and NGOs together in a coherent plan.
    • The Public Information System formally up and running giving a daily briefing on the state of the incident and the response to it.

    None of this is being done, the debate about illegal immigration, how much border security is necessary or what is the LONG term status of these people are other issues compared to the ACTUAL primary problem: our Federal Government is doing almost nothing to handle the problem or to stop the problem. Water is pouring into the boat but they don't want to plug the hole in the boat and bail out the water, nah just keep bailing some of the water out not even as much water as is coming in.

    The Federal Government and specifically the Executive Branch could cool down the rhetoric and tempers if they surged and put together a strong response. They roasted President Bush for a tepid first response to Katrina, the media are giving a free pass to President Obama and actually poisoning the national debate about this latest illegal immigration crisis.

    Border crisis

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Clark Griswold

    Are you saying you've never sped? If so, you just placed yourself in the same boat as illegal immigrants.

    Posted from the NEW Baseops.net App!

    Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, I've never broken the law intentionally or unintentionally. Ever. I'm perfect in every way. Thanks for using your insightful prowess to brutally and completely prove that if you have ever violated any law or regulation in he US that you have no legal or moral right to expect that the laws of the US concerning illegal immigration should be enforced.

    • Upvote 1

    Border crisis

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    If that was a viable option for most immigrants, don't you think they'd go that route?

    It's not. It's expensive, it's laborious, it's beauracratic, and the wait is unrealistic. So they do what they must because the legal option isn't really an option.

    It may be a pain but so it driving the speed limit, paying your taxes and pretty much anything else customer service related with the government but it is what we've got. Without it (the law, due process, general order and civility) we're nothing more than another loosely governed country that is not ruled by law but whatever group is the loudest or most violent.

    • Upvote 1
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