"The secret directive, signed in September by Gen. David H. Petraeus, authorizes the sending of American Special Operations troops to both friendly and hostile nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa to gather intelligence and build ties with local forces. Officials said the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate."
Now I don't know about you, but if I were to catch foreign soldiers sneaking about my country gathering intel I'd1. treat them as spies and hang them, or
2. treat them as invaders and their actions as an act of war.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a sergeant so I loves me some war. But if we're sending troops into other nations without their consent shouldn't this be something that comes from the National Command Authority and not from some shoulder-strap MACOM commander? Am I way off base here? Help me out, you ConLaw freaks and Small Wars types; wassup?
Hanging? Acts of War?
ReplyDeleteHow about a party with cookies and cake and ice cream and sending them home with a note to their Parents ( aka prez and pentagon ) not to do it again?
http://tinyurl.com/2dkjehf
bb
Good questions! I'd be very interested to know if any of these operations require a Presidential finding.
ReplyDeleteUh...f%%k me.
ReplyDeleteUm...lessee...we did this once before...oh...geez, and though it was one guy, in a plane, flying high, and all our techies says to the deciders, "nah, they'll never reach that piece of high flying gadgetry because we's 'muricans!"
And whad'ya know?
Up went the thing that would never reach their high flying gadget, and down came the 'murican dream of "our tech is untouchable!"
Yeah, a gold star to the person who remembers that lil incident!
Same same here.
Ooo, we's got Rambos...and how much ya wanna bet those countries have their own version of Jack Bauer?
There are times when I think our Presidents should listen to that nagging little voice in the back of their head screaming, "WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!" and tell the person(s) dropping this idea on them, "Take you, your idea, and GTFO...oh, and if I ever see you again in my office I will personally cap your ass." And then tell the Marine Guards and Secret Service to KOS that person should they ever try to enter the WH again.
Criminy sakes...this is how we as a nation get into so much shit with everyone.
Toall,
ReplyDeleteOne of my main concern is the militarization of police forces here in the Vaterland, oops , i meant the Homeland, and we are doing the same Oconus by training indig forces with our military trainers which used to be verboten.
How did this happen?
Chief,
If these guys get caught we can say they were just hicking the Appalacian trail and got lost.
jim
Good comment on Spencer Ackerman's blog about the whole business of making war on the sly:
ReplyDelete"But look at what’s retained (by Obama from the Bushies' shenangains): military commissions; indefinite detention without charge; the never-to-actually-sunset Patriot Act; the overbroad surveillance authorized under the FISA Amendments Act. These are emergency powers that never expire when emergencies do.
My friend Eli Lake made a powerful case that the Obama administration is using the September 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force, a terse and barely-debated act of Congress short of an act of war, like an Egypt-style emergency law. In short, when this stuff goes on the books, it recasts the relationship between liberty and security — among the most basic compacts of American citizenship — and it’s extremely difficult to overturn."
I would add that all this secret snooping around and using armed soldiers to do it is another nasty habit. One aspect of U.S. democracy was that We the People were supposed to have the ultimate authority to make war - this was the Framers deliberate choice, to circumvent the old European tradition of "cabinet wars", made by and for the profit of the elites around the throne.
My question would be - what does it say about us that We the People seem to have fallen into the habit of ignoring this cabinet-war-like business?
It seems like a Bad Idea to me, but I'm a commie nutcase. Curious to know what the individual-liberty-nuts on the Right would make of it...
Just wait until we find out that all these "covert" military operations are actually undertaken by those not even in uniform... but instead in the employ of some mercenary outfit like Blackwater/Xe, Triple Canopy, etc.
ReplyDeleteRanger, its not just the police forces we should be concerned with. The proliferation of these PSCs by itself is a growing threat to our Republic. While "24" is overly dramatic, nearly impossible TV, the out-of-control merc company theme of a prior season is one to consider seriously. Just who is going to stop a company with its own army, its own weapons, hell, even its own armed predator drones?
Police forces? Yep, they are their own trouble. But compared to some of these mercenaries, they are just wannabes.