Buck McKeon? Gosh Congressman look in the mirror and see the reason why there were so many acquittals.

By the way, here is a way to control costs and cut taxes. Bet the republicans would have a real issues with his.

The guy is not getting it! The Republicans have two years to prove themselves. Otherwise 2012 is going to make 2010 look like romper room.

“this is supposed to be a progressive website”

Forget the progressive crap even true conservatives would cut the defense budget… Its the extreme right, the military/industrial complex and some of the billionaires of the so-called grass roots campaign (sic) that wants to leave it alone.

Cut the staff levels at DoD! Matter of fact reduce the operating budget at DoD. Better yet get rid of the Department of Defense… PERIOD. Leave those in uniform alone….

Spencer

“At the very minimum, that suggests the policy still isn’t well thought-out”.

Its not about the policy. That is very well thought out. Its about the politics which is not very well thought out at all.

PS: Who controls our foreign policy? Us or Israel?

Eh… consider this…. Attack Iran and lose Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq all at the same time.

1. Forget whatever nuke capability Iran is suppose to have. They are a long way off from any form of a weapon lets not talk about minimizing the warhead to a delivery system. Stop listening to Fox News. We still have diplomatic wiggle room still.
2. MAD is in place….That is still a deterrent.
3. We can not just complain about Iran while Israel is still hiding its nuke capability and blocking IAEA from inspections.
4. Going to war with Iran is S T U P I D! But Graham knows this and is playing up to his base. But the mans mouth needs his foot put into it. The JCS does not support any attack scenario.
5. You all just aint getting the Arab mind set…. We attack or Israel attacks (which is the bigger worry) and its our bothers and cousins against the infidels and that be US dudes and dudets.

Now lets see if we can educate some of you on this with a guy who knows his Arabs…. A Survey of the Situation in the Middle East

Put a sock in it Lindsey…..

“The phony terror group Al Qaeda”

Dude…You are suffering for lack of sunshine!

Here is my Pentagon priority…. 10 to 20% budget cuts…..

eqbal00, Let not get confused over verbiage. Terrorism is the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes. Now saying that there is really no universally excepted legally binding criminal law definition of terrorism. Believe it or not.

Right now the US Military under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878,can be used domestically if a WMD is involved. That my friend is a threat to the Republic. A real WMD, and I know of only one definition of a WMD… a nuclear devise. Eh…the only folk who could even remotely deal with that is the US Military and the NNSA. I will also throw in a bio or chem weapons as well. However the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878,is also a twin edged sword. Yes the US Military can be deployed in a case of domestics terrorism and/or crisis if necessary. Waco is an example. The military was not deployed physically but it did advise law enforcement on certain aspects. But would not get involved in direct action. I believe if it had Waco would have ended differently. In many of the domestic terrorism cases advise and training has been the most the US Military has done. ( National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 55 )

Now domestically is the issue. Foreign wa=ise the US Military is it! Forget the CIA. As far as I am concerned, murder is murder no matter the motive and terrorism needs to be handled legally that way in this Country…as a crime. We have a Constitution, so far, and we are suppose to be a Country that follows the rule of law, I think. Meaning our court and penal system is the way to legally deal with terrorists. Not places like GITMO…The includes foreign ad domestic brands.

Operationally? That is the problem today. Many local law enforcement agencies have there own special weapons teams. But these teams are trained and operated very differently and have varying levels of operational abilities and capabilities and that includes the FBI. They are all over the board and in some cases a day dream. Many have no real live experience. Take for example the North Hollywood (1997) and the Oakland, California (2009) incidents as an example. These we are not well funded, nor well trained nutcases. But look at the damage they did. Look at Waco! Not much has changed.

Counterterrorism is not really a law enforcement area of operations. Primarily due to the expertise necessary both analytically and tactically needed to maintain and operate the unit or force. Lots of money needed…. Most police agencies cannot fund these type of operations and merge them with their patrol divisions. These are really expensive puppies.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (which at this moment in time is our type of MI5) and does a fairly decent job and DHS have counterterrorism responsibilities. While the FBI has much more experience operationally than DHS it still is not quite a MI5 type of operation. Lets not make fun of MI5. That force has more experience in domestic terrorism than anyone on this planet. Does Northern Ireland mean anything to you? The FBI and even the US Military cross trains with some of there units.

I believe that we need a TYPE of MI5 in this country today to deal with these types of events. Which are on the increase today.

My 2 cents….

Lindsey Graham? Rocks have better senses.

eqbal100? Yes we are talking counterterrorism. Tell me one successful CT operation US Law Enforcement has taken on going up against real trained, supplied and funded terrorists? Just one? Including the FBI….

Yes eqba100 special operations just like MI5((Military Intelligence, Section 5).That is really what is needed here in the States a MI5 type of organization. Even GSG9 while part of the police… German “Federal” Police… they are trained and equips to handle only terrorist operations. We have nothing like that except the US Military.

Eh? NYPD First Class CT? You are kidding? My friend, ask any MOS of NYPD that question. Please a well trained group with AKs would send NYPD into a tizzy. The first response would either shoot themselves in the cross fire while running out of ammo in under 30 seconds. The first response units are not allowed to carry automatic weapons nor are they trained with them. The ESU units are understaffed and by the time they got to the scene in force. I just would not even want to think about it the carnage.

Let me put it this way. Kelly is full of himself and David Cohen? Well I know that folk at the agencies operations directorate are not sorry to have seen him go…..

Lastly.. COIN? Wow! Where do I start? COIN will not work with any police force types or heavy military types. If you think COIN worked in Iraq you are sadly mistaken. It sure the hell will not work in Afghanistan the way we are doing it now. This is solely the domain of special forces and SF type of operations.

Oh another thing…

“successful ones, are modeled on international law enforcement operations.”
Really? Which CT Ops are those? The last thing we need or should have is CT fall under law enforcement as it does now here in the United States. That is a joke. Successful CT ops are those modeled after special operations not law enforcement nor heavy army types.

“Surely, the world’s remaining superpower — despite the squandering of immense opportunities, treasure and too much blood over the past nine years — still has the clout and the savvy to make Pakistan and offer it cannot refuse to embrace with the proper sense of urgency.”

“Moreover, we could invite India to assist in this with Muslim Indian troops. It worked in Bangladesh. Why not here?”

Eh… Right… Oh boy lets get Indian Troops involved. That will really screw things up! Try the problem is the Pak-Indian Cold War! You want to get the ball rolling? Settle that cold war and the Taliban will go back to their villages without Pak support….COIN my ass!