Great New Book

I am currently reading a great book call "Grunts" by John C. McManus. Here is a Paragraph from the chapter on Marine Combined Action Platoons (CAP) in Vietnam. For a little background on this program Marines and Corpsman were sent at first to local villages around the Marine base at Phu Bai. These Marines were sent to augment the PF (think village militia) at these villages. The Marines would eat, live, patrol, go on ambushes, and protect the villagers from the Viet Cong. Does any of this sound familiar? This is Counter Insurgency warfare something the Marine Corps has been doing for a very long time. I am going to add somethings to this paragraph so that it will be relevant to today's conflicts.

"The average Vietnamese (Afghani) peasant was caught in the middle of a vicious struggle that raged among the PFs, ARVN (South Vietnamese Military), the NVA (North Vietnamese Army, the V.C. (Taliban) and the American. This meant that most of the people simply wanted the security to be left alone and live their lives in peace. 'Its not that so many people in Vietnam are Viet Cont,' one CAP leader explained as the combined action program was just starting to grow. ' Its that most of them will swing with... whoever's got the strength. Because they don't have anything to lose by going over to the Viet Cong (Taliban) are in their village; or going back to the government when the government comes in the village. But now you've got a ville that's go khaki (a CAP) in it its got medical attention there, its got people that care and people that show some friendliness and some interest. So the villager like any other human being begins to develop loyalties(McManus, 2010)."

No do not get me wrong the Marines were not there roasting marshmallows they were killing VC and NVA alongside their PFs. They were defending their new homes and the homes of the villagers. Currently we are in the COIN fight of our lives and now that we are re-learning the book turns out there was already one written. Yes the new COIN operations are loosely based on what the Marine Corps has done in the past we still though have a penchant for large scale search and destroy missions they failed in the 60s I just hope we will get it right this time.

Terrorism in Germany

I have have written several times small gunfire attacks such as the one in Germany can be more successful than the big explosions. It seems that the Wahabi influence is spreading to Kosovo which is an area that while Muslim is not known for making their women wear the hijab and enforcing the usual hard core Muslim laws. However the influence of Saudi petro dollars, mosque building, and missionary work is starting to pay off for potential terrorist cells.

What I can see happening is that a group of young men started going to the mosque and learning how America is evil etc. Then someone says they need to take up arms against the infidel and they went for the soft target ie off duty airmen.

Great Vid on the Muslim Brotherhood

My favorite Quote is that the Western Political left the that support the Muslim Brotherhood are "political idiots"

Gen West

If you have not read Gen. West you really should he is fast becoming in my mind the Marine Historian of the long war. This artile concerns Marines in Sangin, Afghanistan. All five of my readers should know I write about Marines in Helman very often. Gen. West is currently embedded in the Marines in Sangin

Land Wars in Asia

I have a thought that seems to make a lot of sense so bear with me here. During the first Gulf War we went in did our thing and got the heck out no resistance sprang up against us (except bin Laden who threw a fit). During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan we went in to oust the Taliban and al-Qaeda during this time we had world wide support. 2003 we invade and topple Saddam Hussein and while we did not have the support no one was really going to miss this guy except the French and the Russians who were doing business with him. It was only after we stayed in Afghanistan and Iraq to nation build did resistance movements hit us full force.

Defense Sec. Gates has said that any Sec. Def. that proposes to a President to send a sizable US force into the Middle East or Africa "should have their head examined.' Heck we even learn that from The Princess Bride.

I have been mulling over an alternative to this and it is cold blooded and not the least bit humanitarian. It is a fact of life that we will have to intervene in this area again at some point. Whether it be in Iran or back to Afghanistan if the Taliban or a version of them takes the country back over. The next time we go in do what we went in to do and leave that means leaving the enemy dead on the ground and their infrastructure destroyed. The people of the Middle East while being able to tolerate Westerners for a short period of time have no desire to have a mini Marshall plan done on their country if foreigners will have to be there for an extended period of time. To them this smacks of occupation and that they will not tolerate. The Iraqis thought they could take over as soon as the Hussien regime was toppled well we should have let them and from here on out when we have to intervene we follow the same steps we did during and after Desert Storm. Get in get out and leave the rebuilding to someone else.

Writing on the Wall

A couple a weeks ago I posted this about the revolution in Egypt. Well as any number of people who knew what the Muslim Brotherhood was about and the Islamic awaking going on in Egypt could have see what would happen. Attacks on the by the military and police on the Copts has begun. It has gone from tearing down a wall in front of a Monastery that the monks built to protect themselves because the army and police refused to. To a full assault on the monastery.

Reports from the St Bishoy Monastery show that the Egyptian military launched a significant attack against unarmed Monks. Also the soldiers shouting "God is Great and Victory" means there was a religious motive to the attack. That is some victory over defenseless monks.

"When we tried to address them, the army fired live bullets, wounding Father Feltaows in the leg and Father Barnabas in the abdomen, said Monk Ava Bishoy. Six Coptic workers in the monastery were also injured, some with serious injuries to the chest. Father Hemanot Ava Bishoy said the army fired live ammunition and RPGs continuously for 30 minutes, which hit part of the ancient fence inside the monastery. The army was shocked to see the monks standing there praying 'Lord have mercy' without running away. This is what really upset them, AINA reported he said. "As the soldiers were demolishing the gate and the fence they were chanting, 'Allahu Akbar' and 'Victory, Victory(1)."

There has been no action or statement by any Western power or the U.N.

Maybe the U.S. is re-thinking the billions of dollars spent arming and training the Egyptian military. It is no wonder the Copts either back Mubarak or were neutral during the revolt as they could read the writing on the wall as well. I hope these people decide to leave before they lose more than a monastery.

Source

Reference: http://www.christiannewstoday.com/Christian_News_Report_4873.html#