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Archive for category Opinion
State snatches baby when dad accused of being ‘Oath Keeper’
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News, Opinion on 9/Oct/2010 05:58
Johnathon Irish, fiancé and baby
“A 16-hour-old newborn was snatched from her parents by authorities in Concord, N.H., after social services workers alleged the father is a member of Oath Keepers.
The organization collects affirmations from soldiers and peace officers that they would refuse orders that violate the U.S. Constitution, in light of what they perceive as the advance of socialism in the U.S.
The father, Johnathon Irish, told WND that the affidavit signed by Child Protective Service worker Dana Bicford seeking government custody of newborn Cheyenne said the agency “became aware and confirmed that Mr. Irish associated with a militia known as the ‘Oath Keepers.'”
Irish, in an interview with WND, said officers and other social services workers ordered him to stand with his hands behind his back, frisked him and then took his daughter from him and his fiancé at Concord Hospital where the baby had been born.”
How to Respond to Terrorism Threats and Warnings
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 7/Oct/2010 15:38
How to Respond to Terrorism Threats and Warnings is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By Scott Stewart
In this week’s Geopolitical Weekly, George Friedman wrote that recent warnings by the U.S. government of possible terrorist attacks in Europe illustrate the fact that jihadist terrorism is a threat the world will have to live with for the foreseeable future. Certainly, every effort should be made to disrupt terrorist groups and independent cells, or lone wolves, and to prevent attacks. In practical terms, however, it is impossible to destroy the phenomenon of terrorism. At this very moment, jihadists in various parts of the world are seeking ways to carry out attacks against targets in the United States and Europe and, inevitably, some of these plots will succeed. George also noted that, all too often, governments raise the alert level regarding a potential terrorist attack without giving the public any actionable intelligence, which leaves people without any sense of what to do about the threat.
The world is a dangerous place, and violence and threats of violence have always been a part of the human condition. Hadrian’s Wall was built for a reason, and there is a reason we all have to take our shoes off at the airport today. While there is danger in the world, that does not mean people have to hide under their beds and wait for something tragic to happen. Nor should people count on the government to save them from every potential threat. Even very effective military, counterterrorism, law enforcement and homeland security efforts (and their synthesis — no small challenge itself) cannot succeed in eliminating the threat because the universe of potential actors is simply too large and dispersed. There are, however, common-sense security measures that people should take regardless of the threat level. Read the rest of this entry »
How Obama Thinks
Posted by Brad in Opinion, Threat Watch on 4/Oct/2010 09:31
Forbes Magazine dated September 27, 2010
The President isn’t exactly a socialist. So what’s driving his hostility to private enterprise? Look to his roots.
Recently the London Times reported that the Obama Administration supported the conditional release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber convicted in connection with the deaths of 270 people, mostly Americans. This was an eye-opener because when Scotland released Megrahi from prison and sent him home to Libya in August 2009, the Obama Administration publicly and appropriately complained. The Times, however, obtained a letter the Obama Administration sent to Scotland a week before the event in which it said that releasing Megrahi on “compassionate grounds” was acceptable as long as he was kept in Scotland and would be “far preferable” to sending him back to Libya. Scottish officials interpreted this to mean that U.S. objections to Megrahi’s release were “half-hearted.” They released him to his home country, where he lives today as a free man.
Oliver North From Afghanistan
Via the PatriotPost:
Over the course of this visit, it has become vividly clear to some of us who have been here repeatedly during the past nine years that the prospects for a positive outcome in this war are today better than ever before. That’s not an assessment one can get from hanging around the barricaded embassies in Kabul or the bars and restaurants in the capital that serve as echo chambers for America-hating cynics.
Pakistan and the U.S. Exit From Afghanistan
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 30/Sep/2010 13:25
Pakistan and the U.S. Exit From Afghanistan is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By George Friedman
Bob Woodward has released another book, this one on the debate over Afghanistan strategy in the Obama administration. As all his books do, the book has riveted Washington. It reveals that intense debate occurred over what course to take, that the president sought alternative strategies and that compromises were reached. But while knowing the details of these things is interesting, what would have been shocking is if they hadn’t taken place.
It is interesting to reflect on the institutional inevitability of these disagreements. The military is involved in a war. It is institutionally and emotionally committed to victory in the theater of combat. It will demand all available resources for executing the war under way. For a soldier who has bled in that war, questioning the importance of the war is obscene. A war must be fought relentlessly and with all available means.
But while the military’s top generals and senior civilian leadership are responsible for providing the president with sound, clearheaded advice on all military matters including the highest levels of grand strategy, they are ultimately responsible for the pursuit of military objectives to which the commander-in-chief directs them. Generals must think about how to win the war they are fighting. Presidents must think about whether the war is worth fighting. The president is responsible for America’s global posture. He must consider what an unlimited commitment to a particular conflict might mean in other regions of the world where forces would be unavailable.
A president must take a more dispassionate view than his generals. He must calculate not only whether victory is possible but also the value of the victory relative to the cost. Given the nature of the war in Afghanistan, U.S. President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus — first the U.S. Central Command chief and now the top commander in Afghanistan — had to view it differently. This is unavoidable. This is natural. And only one of the two is ultimately in charge. Read the rest of this entry »
How to Communicate with Home Intruders
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Opinion on 27/Sep/2010 21:43
“You can say ‘stop’ or ‘alto’ or use any other word you think will work, but I’ve found that a large-bore muzzle pointed at someone’s head is pretty much the universal language.”
– Clint Smith, founder of Thunder Ranch
CIA Wants To Kill American Citizen
No matter how you feel about Anwar al-Awlaki, the the Yemeni-based inspiration for some of the recent attacks, you can’t circumvent the Constitution. The man is on a CIA “kill list” which should upset anyone who loves this country and what it stands for. American citizens are guaranteed the right to a trial by a jury of their peers (sixth amendment). So far he has been convicted of nothing and the government claims “state secrets” anytime anyone mentions a trial. Let me just say that the state would not exist if not for the people who created it. If this man is killed then anyone of us could be taken out and then the whole system breaks down.
This man deserves to be sent to the afterlife as soon as possible, but I will be damned if anyone thinks themselves above the law, especially the President, who studied constitutional law.
The Tajikistan Attacks and Islamist Militancy in Central Asia
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 23/Sep/2010 14:02
The Tajikistan Attacks and Islamist Militancy in Central Asia is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By Ben West
Militants in Tajikistan’s Rasht Valley ambushed a military convoy of 75 Tajik troops Sept. 19, killing 25 military personnel according to official reports and 40 according to the militants, who attacked from higher ground with small arms, automatic weapons and grenades. The Tajik troops were part of a nationwide deployment of security forces seeking to recapture 25 individuals linked to the United Tajik Opposition militant groups that had escaped from prison in Dushanbe on Aug. 24. The daring prison break was conducted by members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and saw five security guards killed and the country put on red alert. According to the Tajik government, after the escape, most of the militants fled to the Rasht Valley, an area under the influence of Islamist militants that is hard to reach for Tajikistan’s security forces and thus rarely patrolled by troops.
Sunday’s attack was one of the deadliest clashes between militants and the Tajik government since the Central Asian country’s civil war ended in 1997. The last comparable attack was in 1998, when militants ambushed a battalion of Interior Ministry troops just outside Dushanbe, killing 20 and kidnapping 110. Sunday’s incident was preceded by a Sept. 3 attack on a police station that involved a suicide operative and a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in the northwest Tajik city of Khujand that killed four police officers. Suicide attacks are rare in Tajikistan, and VBIEDs even more so. The Khujand attack also stands out as it occurred outside militant territory. Khujand, Tajikistan’s second-largest city after the capital, is located at the mouth of the Fergana Valley, the largest population center in Central Asia.
This represents a noticeable increase in the number and professionalism of militant operations in Tajikistan. Regardless of whether the September attacks can be directly linked to the Aug. 24 jailbreak in Dushanbe, the sudden re-emergence of attacks in Tajikistan after a decade of quiet in Central Asia deserves our attention. In short, something is percolating in the valleys of Central Asia that has reawakened militant groups more or less dormant for a decade. This unrest will likely continue and possibly grow if Tajik security forces can’t get control of the situation. Read the rest of this entry »
The 9/11 Anniversary and What Didn’t Happen
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 20/Sep/2010 15:10
The 9/11 Anniversary and What Didn’t Happen is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By Scott Stewart
Sept. 11, 2010, the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, was a day of solemn ceremony, remembrance and reflection. It was also a time to consider the U.S. reaction to the attack nine years ago, including the national effort to destroy al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in order to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks. Of course, part of the U.S. reaction to 9/11 was the decision to invade Afghanistan, and the 9/11 anniversary also provided a time to consider how the United States is now trying to end its Afghanistan campaign so that it can concentrate on more pressing matters elsewhere.
The run-up to the anniversary also saw what could have been an attempted terrorist attack in another Western country. On Sept. 10 in Denmark, a potential bombing was averted by the apparent accidental detonation of an improvised explosive device in a bathroom at a Copenhagen hotel. The Danish authorities have not released many details of the incident, but it appears that the suspect may have been intending to target the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which has been targeted in the past because it published cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed in 2005. Groups such as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have tried hard to ensure that the anger over the cartoon issue does not die down, and it apparently has not. It is important to note that even if the perpetrator had not botched it, the plot — at least as we understand it so far — appears to have involved a simple attack plan and would not have resulted in a spectacular act of terrorism.
Yet in spite of the failed attack in Denmark and all the 9/11 retrospection, perhaps the most interesting thing about the 9/11 anniversary in 2010, at least from an analytical perspective, was what did not happen. For the first time, the al Qaeda core leadership did not issue a flurry of slick, media-savvy statements to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. And the single statement they did release was not nearly as polished or pointed as past anniversary messages. This has caused us to pause, reflect and wonder if the al Qaeda leadership is losing its place at the ideological forefront of the jihadist cause. Read the rest of this entry »
Discussion of the merits, pros & cons of AK-47 versus AR-15
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Opinion on 20/Sep/2010 03:06
This is a fairly extensive and objective comparison of the two platforms; pretty helpful.
Survival – Essential Concepts
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Gear, Opinion on 18/Sep/2010 15:27
Your mind is your most important tool. Gear, supplies? Some good suggestions. Good discussion of Fluidity: always be moving, don’t be stagnant. Building in redundancies – have a backup plan.
Home Defense Weapon – Mossberg 590A1
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Mossberg, Opinion on 18/Sep/2010 15:08
Home Defense weapon advice from an ex-U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) enlisted soldier, gleaned from his first-hand experience in the field; then further modified to a civilian-friendly level.
His channel:
AK vs. AR – Lone Star Lowdown
Posted by Gary in Long Guns, Opinion, Training, Warrior Tools on 16/Sep/2010 16:09
This has nothing to do with Alaska and Arkansas.
From: Tactical Wire
Voices From the Field: More Bang for the Buckby Paul Markel
The boom in black rifle (AR) sales naturally led to a boom in the sale of .223 Remington or 5.56x45mm ammunition. This was no big surprise to anyone as that is the most popular chambering for that rifle. What you had was thousands of new AR owners now added to the .223 gene pool. The days of paying three dollars for a box of Winchester white box .223 are gone and not likely to return.
XS Sights Marketing VP Dave Biggers sights in S&W M&P15 in 5.45mm.
There is little doubt that feeding these self-loading, centerfire rifles has become a pricey endeavor. They are enjoyable to shoot, hence we do a lot of it. Your budget might allow for 100 rounds shooting sessions or 500 round extended weekends. Regardless, it’s always good to get more bang for your buck.
It was with this in mind that I first acquired a S&W M&P15 carbine chambered in 5.45×39 Russian. The price of the Russian equivalent to our 5.56mm runs about half. Simply put, you can buy 1000 rounds of 5.45×39 for what you’d pay for 500 in .223 Remington. That’s training or practice ammo mind you, match grade and controlled expansion .223 Rem runs much high at about a buck a shot.
Elections and Obama’s Foreign Policy Choices
Elections and Obama’s Foreign Policy Choices is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By George Friedman
We are now nine weeks away from the midterm elections in the United States. Much can happen in nine weeks, but if the current polls are to be believed, U.S. President Barack Obama is about to suffer a substantial political reversal. While we normally do not concern ourselves with domestic political affairs in the United States, when the only global power is undergoing substantial political uncertainty, that inevitably affects its behavior and therefore the dynamics of the international system. Thus, we have to address it, at least from the standpoint of U.S. foreign policy. While these things may not matter much in the long run, they certainly are significant in the short run.
To begin thinking about this, we must bear three things in mind. First, while Obama won a major victory in the Electoral College, he did not come anywhere near a landslide in the popular vote. About 48 percent of the voters selected someone else. In spite of the Democrats’ strength in Congress and the inevitable bump in popularity Obama received after he was elected, his personal political strength was not overwhelming. Over the past year, poll numbers indicating support for his presidency have deteriorated to the low 40 percent range, numbers from which it is difficult, but not impossible, to govern.
Second, he entered the presidency off balance. His early focus in the campaign was to argue that the war in Iraq was the wrong war to fight but that the war in Afghanistan was the right one. This positioned him as a powerful critic of George W. Bush without positioning him as an anti-war candidate. Politically shrewd, he came into office with an improving Iraq situation, a deteriorating Afghanistan situation and a commitment to fighting the latter war. But Obama did not expect the global financial crisis. When it hit full blast in September 2008, he had no campaign strategy to deal with it and was saved by the fact that John McCain was as much at a loss as he was. The Obama presidency has therefore been that of a moderately popular president struggling between campaign promises and strategic realities as well as a massive economic crisis to which he crafted solutions that were a mixture of the New Deal and what the Bush administration had already done. It was a tough time to be president. Read the rest of this entry »
Gauging the Threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 9/Sep/2010 17:40
Gauging the Threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By Scott Stewart and Nate Hughes
Over the past decade there has been an ongoing debate over the threat posed by electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to modern civilization. This debate has been the most heated perhaps in the United States, where the commission appointed by Congress to assess the threat to the United States warned of the dangers posed by EMP in reports released in 2004 and 2008. The commission also called for a national commitment to address the EMP threat by hardening the national infrastructure.
There is little doubt that efforts by the United States to harden infrastructure against EMP — and its ability to manage critical infrastructure manually in the event of an EMP attack — have been eroded in recent decades as the Cold War ended and the threat of nuclear conflict with Russia lessened. This is also true of the U.S. military, which has spent little time contemplating such scenarios in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union. The cost of remedying the situation, especially retrofitting older systems rather than simply regulating that new systems be better hardened, is immense. And as with any issue involving massive amounts of money, the debate over guarding against EMP has become quite politicized in recent years.
We have long avoided writing on this topic for precisely that reason. However, as the debate over the EMP threat has continued, a great deal of discussion about the threat has appeared in the media. Many STRATFOR readers have asked for our take on the threat, and we thought it might be helpful to dispassionately discuss the tactical elements involved in such an attack and the various actors that could conduct one. The following is our assessment of the likelihood of an EMP attack against the United States. Read the rest of this entry »