Saturday, November 02, 2013

But we're at war aren't we?

I haven't been posting much of anything in a long time. The reason is that as far as I am able to tell, I am not conservative enough for the nation.

OK, let's get started with Drone Strikes. To be fair, the technology, and the techniques were worked out under George W. Bush. They were started there, and should have been eliminated there, and certainly not carried over. The reasons are patently obvious, it being difficult to carry out a "targeted" assassination with a missile when the operator is firing from half way around the world.

The technology and technique should never have carried over, but they were, and they were embraced. This way the Democratic Party gang gets to be tough on Defense, which is always an Achilles heel with the Democrats, and they don't risk American Service Members to kill those who are on the death list from the government Death Panel. I call it a death panel since it identifies people we as a nation would apparently much prefer to be dead.

One such individual was a Taliban leader living in Pakistan. His name was Hakimullah Mehsud and he was zapped by a Predator carrying missiles. As far as I can guess, it looks like the NSA tagged him through intercepts, and we had a good idea where to find him, he was coming out of hiding, and we fired the missile and then it was high fives all the way around, a Taliban Leader is dead in Pakistan.

One problem, the reason he was coming out of hiding was to start peace negotiations with the Pakistani Government. Peace negotiations that almost certainly took years to arrange, and to get the requisite trust and willingness to talk stoked up through careful and patient diplomatic means.

Those Peace Negotiations, they're dead now, no chance, no hope of starting them up again according to the Pakistani Government. So our dear allies whom we count on providing us intelligence about the Taliban and other radicalized organizations, are pretty upset. Years of work destroyed by one missile fired by some guy in a booth half way around the world.

How angry is Pakistan? Well, from the news story we see this.

"This is not just the killing of one person, it's the death of all peace efforts," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said.

Pakistan summoned the US ambassador to protest over Friday's drone strike that killed Mehsud.

It came a day before a Pakistani delegation had been due to fly to North Waziristan to meet Mehsud.

Sounds like they're pretty angry. There are some who said this gets rid of a more radical element and allows more moderate elements to step forward and start a true peace initiative.

Sure, those more moderate elements will call in, and arrange a meeting with the Pakistani Government, step outside of their house, and get a missile through the ear because now we got them too. Eventually, the even more "moderate" elements don't answer their phones and refuse to speak to anyone outside of their little group, and to hell with the peace ideal. Anyone who agrees to talk gets a missile for their trouble.

That's the problem with this kind of psudo warfare. You scour the airwaves and internet for any sign of one of your tens of thousands of targets, and as soon as you have a hit, you launch a missile to get the bastard before he goes back into obscurity. You aren't working with the local governments who may be trying to find a less offensive solution, something more longterm than a missile in anyone who shouts Death to America. We aren't changing any minds, we aren't making a long term solution, we are just killing anyone we think may be a problem in the future.

That isn't a conservative solution in my book. That is a self perpetuating continuation of the war that is unwinnable. It is the byproduct of the PATRIOT ACT which I have long detested. We have the intelligence we spent billions of dollars getting, so let's fire a few thousand dollars worth of missile from million dollar drone and get the bastard.

This doesn't even qualify as short sighted, it's just more stupidity that is all too evident from both political parties.

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