A subtle difference, but important.

Well…just thought I’d add to the topic that this problem isn’t exclusive to Yemen or even the ME. Our “friends” do this too.

Fateh Kamel, for example, was convicted of terrorism by the French courts and released for “good behavior” after only four years. He moved back to Canada, and now the Canadian judiciary just ruled that he (and, I must assume, other convicted terrorists who have served their sentences, however short) cannot be denied a passport to travel.

I am (by far) not the smartest guy in the room when it comes to the actual levers being pulled by the people behind the Counter Insurgency (COIN) curtain, but I’d like to think that we’re tracking these guys the best we can.

The PDF that I linked to above and some of the other unclassified things I have read seem to point in that general direction. This isn’t a new idea either, as I intimated above with the comment about the DEA using folks they’ve found at a low level to feed them intel on bigger fish still in the pond. I am sure cultivating a public perception that we’re too dumb to follow them (terrorists/insurgents) around once they’re released from custody is important to not compromising the existing ops already in place.

However, I am also certain there is a finite point at which these sorts of tactics will not work as the other side has some people that are hip to our attempts to exploit their lower level people.

Stephen Hawking once responded to Albert Einstein’s assertion that “God does not play dice” with “God not only plays dice but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.” What I’m saying is that there are larger forces at work here that we can theorize about, but cannot quite see. Furthermore, (and to continue with this physics geekery) to directly observe their movements and then pull them into the light of day would skew the results of that observation (thus making Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle work equally well on the macro level).

I sleep well at night because things go ‘bump’ in the night. And I hope I’m right too, I really do.

If that is true, really, why take any captives at all? Just follow them while they’re fresh and still “in the club”. I’d imagine pursuing a newly captured terrorist would be much more informative than pursuing one who has been out of the loop and in prison for years.

Anyway, hope you’re right, but……

But as we think of this present situation, do we know the facts? The problem with Saudi Arabia is the Royal Family owns 52% of everything. Do you remember when Saudi Arabia had the “telethon” to support the homicide bombers’ families? These were the ones who died in the process. This “telethon” could not have happened without the approval/support of the Royal Family.

There was a time, when it was said, “When politicians die, they don’t bury them, they just screw ‘em into the ground.”

Lex, go ahead, color me cynical.

Grumpy

Color me a simpleton.

Salt. Decimation. Pax Romana/Americana. Simple.