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Tabs,
The story about the PSD “Operative” is a little strange. The State department is not known for their quality hiring practices. That figure is in line w/someone who is mostly in the Green zone, etc. As far as a GO recommending him, GOs come in many different flavors and quality range. More than a few have made the news.
I also take exception to things being far worse than is being reported. From my perspective things are better than are reported. Most of my time has been in Anbar, which is very different than Baghdad. The closest analogy I have is jogging on Al Asad w/a reserve LtCol. when the base was hit by 122s. One landed relatively close by. He wanted to return and report our safety, while I finished my jog to the turn around point, then reported in. To him that was a huge incident worth remembering.
The short version is that I have served in the major theaters, plus Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, North Africa and a few others since Sep. 2001. My perspective is shaped by my experiences. I did/do not stay exclusively in areas frequented by tourists (even those doing the non-tourist adventure thing).
The problem the private military contractors have is logistical support. Without large conventional support they cannot expand to what is needed to survive. It is similar to those who think putting 150K personnel in Afghanistan is the same as into Iraq or that small SOF teams can operate w/o large conventional support. Neither can happen outside of movies or drug induced fantasies.
Shaun,
I must be missing the insurgency that has ended w/o military involvement, while most are military victories. How is the U.S. military getting in the way?
I strongly disagree with your premise that Islamic terrorists are not a threat to the U.S. Just because we haven’t had a large strike doesn’t mean no attacks have taken place nor others haven’t been stopped.
You are kidding that small SOF teams on their own w/o the rest of the military are the solution? This is at best entertainment (TV, movies, etc.) solutions. The SOFs do not operate w/o others. That is fact.
As far as being disliked I think it varies. Just as we in the U.S. have widely different opinions so do others. I have a very strong tendency to disregard someone’s opinion or position who states that a whole category (nationality, race, religion, etc.) has one single monolithic position. The best example is the last few times I have been through Paris (either CDG or ORL) in transit I have had the pleasure of good cigars and unlimited “sample” 25 y/o Cognac or Single Malt in a few duty free shops. This is after the smoking ban and with the Gendarme. The few who did complain to the Gendarme then looked at me and came up to thank me in broken English for helping to fight Muslim terrorists.
Is all these people, along with the Gendarme, is that I was traveling to N. Africa to work with the locals. Everyone was proud that they (the French) were the 1st to stop the Muslim horde and drive them back the 1st time (Charles Martel). Most/all admitted the our President is right but they couldn’t admit because he is not cultured.
What is your factual data point on more terrorists? Quality of new terrorists? Your numbers are very made up. Please add something for those dealing in the real world.
S/F, FOG
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