Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor
I'm thinking the folks going cross-border aren't involved in "by, with, through", and this authorization is the only way they get to play, hence the push by senior service officials (with strong ties to SOF organizations) to get the authorization in the first place.
Kinda like the "need" to create a definition for irregular warfare separate and distinct from unconventional warfare.  |
Amen brother...amen.
I truly believe that some people "just have to die" but NOT at the expense of losing the war. We just had an open source brief from General "hell of a lot of fun to shoot them" Mattis. He indicated that early on (initial stages of OEF) he went to the Pakistani military to ask for a base, fuel, port, security, and more from the Pakistani government.
The Pakistanis sat him down for 2 1/2 hours and lectured him on all the times the US had let down Pakistan ranging from the Gary Powers / U2 shootdown, till the cows came home. At the conclusion, Mattis acknowledged US shortcomings, reminded them he was not a policy maker, and they moved on and provided the US with MORE than it had requested. On top of it--according to Mattis--the Pakistani government / military knew virtually of all critical events 2 weeks prior to execution and furthermore safeguarded not only our people, their lives, but our national secrets.
I do believe we owe that nation a debt of gratitude. I know there are certain elements inside the government that are probably actively working against us--so is our own State Department--we wouldn't think of a kinetic solution for them--why do we do it to our friends?