"Your Palms . . . UP!!!"

[NickDG 23]

TSA will now be swabbing the hands of random passengers looking for bomb residue.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/02/17/tsa.hands.swabbing/index.html?hpt=T1

Another bunch of bullshit (just for show) that will be welcomed by the all scaredy cats we've become.

Dear god - please someone start up an no-security airline for people with some balls. They could call it, I don't know, "Real American's Airline!"

NickD

• Quote

[pilotdave 0]

You must have missed the memo from 2001... airline security isn't just for airline passengers anymore. There was a little thing on the news about it back then.

Dave

[billvon 3,107]

>Dear god - please someone start up an no-security airline for people with some balls.

We have one! Tickets are a bit expensive though.

[Tiger6513 0]

We end up paying for all this shit anyway. Testing kits, extra employees, training (if any), time wasted, more nervous freaks out there in line slowing us down. I hate to fly anymore...unless its a 1 way up to altitude.

Travis Roy Foundation. At very least its a tax write off

[shropshire 0]

Yeap +1 ... Way too many tossers working at airports now

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[skyrider 0]

The List at airports and borders for who to check are rediculous, I am on it, (Terrorist list) for having friends in the Hells Angels.(NOT a member, just friends with a few)..MY 15 yearold son is on it, by name...we have never found out why...but we get searched every time we cross the border or travel...

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Quote

We end up paying for all this shit anyway. Testing kits, extra employees, training (if any), time wasted, more nervous freaks out there in line slowing us down.

Beware the Security Industrial Complex.

[NickDG 23]

Freedom trumps security in my book. If I wanted to be almost totally safe I'd move to North Korea. (Of course my big mouth would have me standing up against a wall in short order).

We can't totally prevent terrorism, that's why it works. Besides if the threat was as high as some want you to believe terrorists would be striking the everyday things. Like American supermarkets. That would terrorize every one of us and every single day.

I know 9/11 was a seminal event in people's lives. But the advantageous element of surprise is gone now. A college kid, just recently, was hassled on a plane simply for doing his Arabic language homework.

And sure, the death of 3000 on the ground is nothing to sneeze at, but it hasn't much to do with the dynamics of how it happened. Isn't not over reacting the "price of freedom" we Americans are so quick to brag about. We've always been glad to pay up. What happened to that ideal? Was it all just bullshit? What the hell did everyone die for in all the wars we've fought?

Sure, we're likely to see more neerdowell wannabe shoe & underwear bombers but are those really something new? Prior to 9/11 there have been bombings for insurance fraud, hijackings gone wrong, and many plain garden variety crashes. People fly, people die. It's been that way since Orville Wright killed Lt. Tom Selfridge on a demo flight in 1908. It will always be that way.

Play out the future in your mind. We are going to have to draw a line at some point or else be living in a country that more resembles Israel. With fences, checkpoints, and long queues.

No, I don't want my sister blown up on a bus in New Jersey, but we’ve got to ask ourselves, how much of the "American Way" are we willing to abandon to prevent it?

The American civilian population has been very lucky in that throughout all the major wars we’ve fought, except for some shortages on the home front, they’ve been unscathed. Compare that to the civilian populations of Germany, Japan, North Korea and North Vietnam. But nobody expected that streak of good fortune would last forever. So now the check (for freedom) comes to the table. And it’s worse in a way. This “war on terror” is pretty small in scope compared to other wars we’ve fought. And it seems the American people are already beaten, and not by enemy tanks, ground troops, or armadas of planes. We were beaten by something intangible, fear. What's American about that?

Now I've been quite pleasant through all this, but now I'll blow it by adding this zinger.

I got the memo, Sonny. I got it long before you were born . . .

NickD

[Tiger6513 0]

It's just irritating, makes me never want to fly commercial. I wish there was an easier way but I am not the guy to think of one.

Travis Roy Foundation. At very least its a tax write off

[Tiger6513 0]

Well said Nick,

We (not "me or us here specificaly") as a country trend way to heavily on the media circus around us. The mass media of today has nothing but ratings on their minds. We get spoon fed left wing or right wing views on the same stupid shit, 911 was a terrible incident that will forever be remembered.
This is what I ask of you folks that bring up 911 everytime something bad happens... 9/12, 9/13, 9/14... 2/17/10??? No "major" attacks since and NOT because "security" is better. STOP using 911 as an scapegoat for all the negative events and attacks on America. We have thousands of illegal aliens cross our boarders daily, who is to say the taliban or Al-whogivesafuck Jablahblahban isn't going to sneak over with a nuke or a bio attack.
We can't live in fear, we just need to be smart about our decisions and form our own opinions instead of blindly following the masses. Secure our boarders as best as we can and live out our lives being greatful we are here and not is some war torn poverty stricken 3rd world country.

Travis Roy Foundation. At very least its a tax write off

[fasted3 0]

I'm with you Nick. It seems like anymore it's worth stopping the whole world to save one life. Guess what: That person is gonna die anyway. Whether it's tomorrow or 50 years from now isn't all that important in the big scheme of things. It's what you do in the meantime that's important, I think. Cowrering under a rock isn't a life anyway.

Pssst, you think we might be preaching to the choir here?

But what do I know?

[NickDG 23]

>>I wish there was an easier way but I am not the guy to think of one.
I'm glad you asked. Because I've got the answer.

It's an answer my father's generation learned in Korea, and my generation learned from Vietnam. Even if you don't know much about those conflicts, you already know the answer if you've ever watched a western on TV. You can't kill a man who has three brothers back at the ranch. You have to kill them all or those brothers will come up behind you someday.

On a larger scale limited warfare doesn't work either. You totally annihilate your enemy or don't even bother saddling up. But there's other ways of defeating terrorists. Smarter ways. Surgical assassination, infiltration and subterfuge. Changing the minds of the local populace so they won't stand for terrorists in their midst.

Other than that there is only one surefire way to stop terrorism. We institute a draft and ramp up the Marine Corps to 100,000 men. Then we go back to the old kick ass boot camp ways of training them. Then we put the entire Corps on line and march them through the entire Middle East. And we kill them all. The men, the woman, and the children too. War over! And we get to keep their oil to boot.

Can't quite stomach that idea? Well you already are on a limited basis. When a shell comes down on an innocent Iraqi family that exactly what's happening in their world.

Brains, not bombs, are the only way to defeat terrorism. I said this in SC but it got buried. If we dropped Fender Stratocasters, drum sets, and bales of marijuana on the Middle East, instead of bombs, in a few years they'd be no more of a threat to world peace than Greenwich Village. And they'd probably write some pretty cool tunes.

I went to a University with boatloads of Middle Eastern guys in the early 80s. They were well educated but not worldly in any sense of the word. When I gave them something better to smoke in their hubbly bubbly pipes and started taking them to the local titty bar it blew their minds. I westernized them in no time. All the things they learned about hating the West in childhood they quickly realized they loved. And more than a few of them never went back home.

I'm calling this plan of operation, "Shit or get on the Pot!"

NickD

[skyrider 0]

Quote

Freedom trumps security in my book. If I wanted to be almost totally safe I'd move to North Korea. (Of course my big mouth would have me standing up against a wall in short order).

We can't totally prevent terrorism, that's why it works. Besides if the threat was as high as some want you to believe terrorists would be striking the everyday things. Like American supermarkets. That would terrorize every one of us and every single day.

I know 9/11 was a seminal event in people's lives. But the advantageous element of surprise is gone now. A college kid, just recently, was hassled on a plane simply for doing his Arabic language homework.

And sure, the death of 3000 on the ground is nothing to sneeze at, but it hasn't much to do with the dynamics of how it happened. Isn't not over reacting the "price of freedom" we Americans are so quick to brag about. We've always been glad to pay up. What happened to that ideal? Was it all just bullshit? What the hell did everyone die for in all the wars we've fought?

Sure, we're likely to see more neerdowell wannabe shoe & underwear bombers but are those really something new? Prior to 9/11 there have been bombings for insurance fraud, hijackings gone wrong, and many plain garden variety crashes. People fly, people die. It's been that way since Orville Wright killed Lt. Tom Selfridge on a demo flight in 1908. It will always be that way.

Play out the future in your mind. We are going to have to draw a line at some point or else be living in a country that more resembles Israel. With fences, checkpoints, and long queues.

No, I don't want my sister blown up on a bus in New Jersey, but we’ve got to ask ourselves, how much of the "American Way" are we willing to abandon to prevent it?

The American civilian population has been very lucky in that throughout all the major wars we’ve fought, except for some shortages on the home front, they’ve been unscathed. Compare that to the civilian populations of Germany, Japan, North Korea and North Vietnam. But nobody expected that streak of good fortune would last forever. So now the check (for freedom) comes to the table. And it’s worse in a way. This “war on terror” is pretty small in scope compared to other wars we’ve fought. And it seems the American people are already beaten, and not by enemy tanks, ground troops, or armadas of planes. We were beaten by something intangible, fear. What's American about that?

Now I've been quite pleasant through all this, but now I'll blow it by adding this zinger.

I got the memo, Sonny. I got it long before you were born . . .

NickD

WOW....Most I have ever heard you say that wasn't a bar story... adn I agree with every word, I wish I was that good with using words!

[NickDG 23]

Gypsy, I've always seen you as the strong silent John Wayne type, while I'm more the Lenny Bruce (without the heroin) type. And I'll tell you what, brother, this country desperately needs more of both of us . . .

Thanks for the kind words.

NickD

[warpedskydiver 0]

Here is my readers digest sized version


COIN Strategy: Why the Surge will not Work in Afghanistan

Currently the United States and its allies are embroiled in the GWOT (Global War On Terror). GWOT has been theorized by many to possibly take forty years to conclude. In order to successfully bring this war to successful and less costly conclusion various strategies must be studied and employed without delay.
Counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy does not require massive use of force as is currently done. The military must use all efforts to differentiate insurgents from non combatant population. Overwhelming use of force is counter-productive when it results in unintentional casualties to non-combatants and becomes a factor in driving ordinary people to join the insurgent forces. “The only thing that overwhelming force accomplishes is support for the insurgents” (Rowe).

“There are lessons to be learned the surge strategy in Iraq” (Barone). The surge worked in Iraq but only after the initial success of special operations targeting insurgent leadership and uniting tribes against those insurgents who were committing attacks against them in order to foment hatred for the allied forces. What has been occurring is that once allied forces pacified an area, the insurgents would begin to use vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED). The insurgents threatened community leaders and families alike that if they did not fight against the allied troops they would then suffer the consequences resulting in the deaths of their families.

The enemy easily blends themselves into the local populace therefore making it hard to distinguish them from the innocent civilians. When conventional forces are used there is an inherent danger of collateral damage and when innocent civilians are killed by artillery, bombing or massive use of firepower that works against our goals of getting the populace to support a strong central Afghani government. Every time we bomb a target or mass troops for a large scale assault we create hundreds of new fighters which our forces will face at another time.
If we use high troop levels and permanent bases the Afghani’s will see this as another invasion of their sovereign territory which they must fight at all costs. This is the way they have always perceived foreign invaders whether they are there to help or to conquer.
Senior officers within our nation’s military as well as our political leaders have no experience in fighting irregular warfare against an enemy such as we face in Afghanistan. They resist all recommendations they are given on how to fight this war on a low level intensity strategy. This is the problem that needs to be overcome within the US Military and create an atmosphere where the true experts within the SOCOM community are allowed to do their jobs with the big military providing support instead of the other way around.
Afghanistan is a vast area with many peoples and cultures. The Taliban relies upon playing one tribe against the other in order to create support and safe haven from which to launch their operations. The special operations community is far more able to stop this capability by cooperating with the locals, providing aid and training to the Afghan Army therefore winning the hearts and minds of the various tribal groups. Once this is accomplished special forces can cooperate with local forces in order to gain intelligence and then root out the insurgents from their hiding places.
Special operation forces can and will successfully use tactics such as hit and run, targeted assignations of enemy leaders, developing human intelligence sources (HumInt) and leaving the enemy nothing to hit back at except for shadows and ghosts.
Nothing deters an enemy more than knowing they are never safe no matter where they are, because unseen forces are watching and waiting to strike without warning.
Snipers destroying a human target from distances of over one mile away with weapons as large as a .50BMG cartridge leave the enemy with complete and utter bewilderment and fear.
We need a scalpel to employ COIN (Counter Insurgency) Strategy, not a chain saw, which is exactly what the surge strategy President Obama and his advisors are employing. This is a failed policy before it even begins. Shortly we will have over sixty thousand American and Allied troops in the theater, this war could be fought with as little as six thousand special operations operators with tactical air cover and avoid collateral damage and pushing the Afghani’s firmly into the enemy’s camp.
Matthew B. Rowe, Executive Director of WinTheGWOT.org and former Special Forces operator with eleven years of experience fighting insurgencies and terrorism correctly states what is needed and how it can be accomplished. I disagree vehemently with Barone because the tactics and troop levels used in the surge in Iraq will not help and in fact will hurt our efforts in the GWOT.
Counterinsurgency of the type we are fighting in Afghanistan is much like the war in Vietnam which was unsuccessful due to the overwhelming use of force vs. special operations tactics.


Works Cited
Rowe, Matthew B. “Unconventional Warfare is the Exit Strategy.” Winning the Global War on Terror August 2006. WinTheGWOT.org.
Barone, Michael. "Human Events; 1/7/2008, Vol. 64 Issue 1." Human Events 2008: p18-18, 1/3p. ISSN:0018-7194
Blood, Peter R. Afghanistan: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress. Washinton, D.C.: Library of Congress, 2001.

[DSE 5]

Terrorists win. Sheeple accept most of what the TSA does in the name of "security."

Seems it's significantly easier to be struck by lightning in the USA than to suffer from a terrorist on an aircraft.