Here’s a tart item from XX Committee‘s John Schindler on our military bureaucracy’s largely unsuccessful attempt to come to grips with the Islamic State. It’s not encouraging. There may also be another problem Mr. Schindler doesn’t mention.
Recently I attended a talk by a former Navy intelligence analyst on the doctrinal underpinnings of Sunni jihad. This man had spent years presenting information and analysis at the highest levels of our military community. His talk, which was about an hour long, was clear and thorough. It contained, however, little that even a serious and inquisitive amateur, such as your humble correspondent, wouldn’t already know about the jihadi worldview and its foundation in the Koran, the Hadith, Sharia law, and in the history of Islam and its relations with the West. Apparently, though, it was all breaking news at SOCOM, CENTCOM and elsewhere, every time he delivered it.
After the talk, I spent a moment exchanging pleasantries with the speaker, whose prognosis for our continuing struggle against Islam was not rosy. When I asked him what our most worrisome liability was, he looked at me, and then at another attendee, in his mid-20s, standing next to me. He said that when he had started out in defense intelligence, about three decades ago, the people that he spoke to at DOD — the advisers, officers, and strategic analysts — all looked like me: grey-haired, skeptical, and world-weary. But now, he said, after years of purges and resignations of more experienced hands, they all looked like the young man standing next to me: young, energetic, and confident in their knowledge and judgment. This, he said, is what now keeps him awake at night.
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It’s almost like the DOD intelligence agencies have been purged of veteran experienced people. Sounds a bit USSRish.
Here is a superb paper on what it was to be a Mujahedeen during the Soviet Russian incursion. Lot more in this than the limits of airpower. Its about the limits of tyrants and tyranny.
It hard to destroy men who have nothing to lose and everything to gain, their religious beliefs not withstanding.
THE LIMITS OF SOVIET AIRPOWER: THE BEAR VERSUS THE MUJAHIDEEN IN AFGHANISTAN, 1979-1989
by Edward B. Westermann
http://www.allworldwars.com/The-Bear-vs-Mujahideen-in-Afghanistan-by-Edward-Westermann.html
It occurred to me as I was reading John’s 2014 post the problems erected out of DC with the creation and implementation of DHS might be viewed by those with the power/tools to fix the fundamentals as absolutely intractable. Thus not worth the time of their august attention.
And its not as if all this “stuff” hasn’t been pointed out before (in all likelihood this link is residing in the archives here but I know now two Congress Critters are reading here … or at least members of their staff).
Now admittedly this WOTR post was purposed originally to address another part of the problem (recall the fence-jumpers and the soon to be “retired” letter carrier/pilot the Secret Service were working on?)
But. Because the primary cog on the gearwheel isn’t either the boys and girls out in the field or those who are in possession of the … such as our “humble correspondent” already put it. So without further
http://warontherocks.com/2014/09/congress-can-fix-dhs-but-needs-to-fix-itself-first/
Might be an *appropriate time* to revisit another of John’s posts;
http://20committee.com/2014/05/03/ground-truth-about-benghazi/
(Keep in mind a certain server’s existence was yet to be known.)
JK, even with the discovery of “a certain server”, I’m afraid Biden not entering the race will give Hillary the green light to lie to the point of multiple perjuries and worst of all, her party and their collaborators in the MSM will go all out to help her and their cover up. If so, it is going to get hot. All out war hot.
What was it Whitewall Tolkien put coming out of Gollum’s mouth?
“P’raps …”
Protect “the precious”.
Malcolm, kinda pressed for time so I figured just to drop this onto here without having to log onto my email. Compliments the earlier WOTR link:
http://warontherocks.com/2015/10/benghazi-questions-unasked-and-opportunities-missed/
(As always, … or mostly … WOTR stuff has comments)