quote:

Originally posted by Praxistiad:
RE: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,149641,00.html

"Counterterrorism tool?"
No one should be complaining about politicians taking contr. from thugs: remember, bribery's just another tool! Besides, spec. ops. types aren't what they were 40 yr ago: today, they're just more video game wonks & bloggers; more nutless & gutless. I wouldn't trust 'em to go grocery shopping.

Whoever came up with the idea to misuse the word "tool" should be publicly executed. Very slowly.

quote:

Originally posted by AGBrina:
The money would go farther and last longer, if most of it were spent building and defending a water and electric power grid for the locals. That gives them something tangible to fight for and offers immediate improvement to their lives. You want to attract more people and fighters to your cause? Give them water and electricity. Just about everything else follows.

quote:

Originally posted by eztext:
This sounds just to good to be true-open ended spending without appropriate oversight. This "tool" works as a matter of immediacy but doesn't account for long term. The same munitions and weapons can be used against our enemy one day and then turned on us the next. Alliances in the middle east change too quickly. It is merely a matter of survival. I don't think giving a Soldier this ability is good battlefield strategy or national policy. It would appear that we need to embed "spooks" into our special ops ranks. This way, the funding is approved and secondly it leaves covert ops in the hands of the folks that are supposed to being managing it in the first place. OR, send a special ops guru to CIA financial management training. He gets to do his job but also leaves an audit trail for the GAO to investigate. Again, it's a win/win situation.

quote:

Originally posted by Praxistiad:
RE: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,149641,00.html

"Counterterrorism tool?"
No one should be complaining about politicians taking contr. from thugs: remember, bribery's just another tool! Besides, spec. ops. types aren't what they were 40 yr ago: today, they're just more video game wonks & bloggers; more nutless & gutless. I wouldn't trust 'em to go grocery shopping.

Whoever came up with the idea to misuse the word "tool" should be publicly executed. Very slowly.

quote:

Originally posted by Duster6:
Ah the good ole 60's are making a come back. Hey Sarge where is my gold Rolex?

I was thinking the same thing,Air America, Arming the tribesmen etc etc

quote:

Originally posted by SLDO:
For the uninitiated, this is nothing new. Money, the cold hard cash kind, has always been used in intel operations, either offensive or defensive, and in counter terrorism. Other incentives have also been used; booze, broads, guys (equal opportunity for both men and women), cigarettes (in very poor countries), drugs, weapons and the list goes on.

We also have taken weapons form one area and have transported them to other areas to help the poor indigenous freedom fighters in their cause. Case in point, the fight by the Mujahideen rebels against the Soviets in Afghanistan. We shipped thousands of AK-47s from one part of the world to them, plus a whole plethora of weapons, both small and large, and an occasional surface to air anti aircraft missile. Of course, there is the occasional blowback when the locals turn the weapons against us. But hey, the arms industry needs our support!

This just seems to be more open. Kind of like the free enterprise thing extended by the government. Ain’t it great! Have a good day!~~!

quote:

Originally posted by oldmole:

quote:

Originally posted by SLDO:
For the uninitiated, this is nothing new. Money, the cold hard cash kind, has always been used in intel operations, either offensive or defensive, and in counter terrorism. Other incentives have also been used; booze, broads, guys (equal opportunity for both men and women), cigarettes (in very poor countries), drugs, weapons and the list goes on.

We also have taken weapons form one area and have transported them to other areas to help the poor indigenous freedom fighters in their cause. Case in point, the fight by the Mujahideen rebels against the Soviets in Afghanistan. We shipped thousands of AK-47s from one part of the world to them, plus a whole plethora of weapons, both small and large, and an occasional surface to air anti aircraft missile. Of course, there is the occasional blowback when the locals turn the weapons against us. But hey, the arms industry needs our support!

This just seems to be more open. Kind of like the free enterprise thing extended by the government. Ain’t it great! Have a good day!~~!

Oh, I don't think you have to go that far out of the news for that ... take a close look at what we did in Anbar. Hand wads of cash to the Sheiks to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq, and POOF! AQI dwindles to nothing in Anbar. The possibility that the Sheiks were AQI in Anbar seems to have been overlooked, and it certainly didn't keep them from emptying the province of any stray Shia who were still around.