"Interdiction," or Aggression?

The New American ^ | January 24, 2005 | Unknown

[w6ai5q37b]

In his 2002 book Bush at War — which was compiled with ample help from the White House, Pentagon, and CIA — Bob Woodward describes a ceremony conducted by U.S. Special Forces and intelligence personnel near Gardez, Afghanistan, on February 5, 2002. About 25 men gathered around a tombstone marking a buried piece of the World Trade Center. During the ceremony, one of those present declared: "We will export death and violence to the four corners of the earth in defense of our great nation."



Obviously, there are occasions when defending our nation will require the focused delivery of lethal violence against our enemies. Just as obviously, 9/11 was one of those times. But death that is "exported" to distant regions sometimes returns in the form of "blowback" — lethal terrorist attacks capitalizing on growing resentment over America's interventionist foreign policy, often carried out by onetime allies or assets of the U.S. government. One such asset was Osama bin Laden, who was supported by the CIA, but who later became a key component of the international terror network.

Lt. Commander Brad Kieserman, operations legal chief at U.S. Coast Guard headquarters, offered a variation on the idea of defending our nation by exporting death. Speaking to the December 19 Denver Post, Kieserman defended the Coast Guard's recently enacted policy of deploying cutters off Latin America and arresting foreign nationals trying to leave their own countries. Over the past four years, the Coast Guard has blocked at least 37 Ecuadorian boats, detained more than 4,575 suspected illegal immigrants, and scuttled a dozen emptied boats designated "unseaworthy."

"The president has authority to secure the borders of the United States," Kieserman explained, not only in Ecuador but "anywhere in the world." Coast Guard vessels will "go to the source of transnational crime and interdict it before it gets to the United States."

It seems reasonable to believe that a president determined to secure our borders would not be eager to grant amnesty to illegal aliens, as President Bush has been shown to desire. Furthermore, the understandable resentment bred by the policy carried out by the Coast Guard is fomenting anti-Americanism in Ecuador — and with it the possibility of blowback. Carmen Gutierrez, a teacher at an elite Ecuadorian school, recently returned after three years in the U.S. "And when she put up a U.S. flag in her classroom, she said, Ecuadorian students 'were mad, really mad,'" reports the Post. "They demanded an explanation: 'Why did you put that on the window? Take it off!'"

[w6ai5q37b]

Lt. Commander Brad Kieserman...defended the Coast Guard's recently enacted policy of deploying cutters off Latin America and arresting foreign nationals trying to leave their own countries.

A good example of why the rest of the world hates US.

[snowman1]

Good idea keep it up

[snowman1]

Good idea keep it up

[Zhangliqun]

But they don't hate their OWN countries for making life so miserable for them that they want to go to the U.S.?

Curious...

[Woodworker]

A certain segment of the world's population always hates the successful nation. In a few more years China will be dominant in the waters around Southeast Asia (to control China's energy supplies). Once that happens, China will catch some of the hatred now reserved for America.

[austinmark]

"We will export death and violence to the four corners of the earth in defense of our great nation."

Yes, it sounds brutal, But it IS a necessary evil in todays world. What happened 5, 10, 20+ years ago makes little difference now in regards to How we must fight this war. The enemy has been "biting at us" for well over a decade now. But since 9/11, their tactics have changed- in Force, Perverted Ideology, death & destruction. So now our tactics must change. We now have been forced from a defense mentality, to a aggressive offense. WE did not ask for this change. Why the world hates us, as you say, is a series of measured foreign policy decisions, not the War On Terror, which WE are winning.

[GOP_1900AD]

What's with all the undermining pacifist crap getting posted on here all of the sudden?

[swilhelm73]

The simple lesson is don't f*** with the United States.



The military exists to kill people and break things. And when you murder 3,000 Americans as a sacrifice to Allah you should expect that our brave men in the military will be paying you a visit.

The more leftist scum cloud this, the more likely we are to be attacked again. The Islamists learned they had nothing to fear from the US in the 90s. Its been a tough fight teaching them that this was a historical anomaly, but one that we will succeed in.

[TigersEye]

Carmen Gutierrez, a teacher at an elite Ecuadorian school, recently returned after three years in the U.S. "And when she put up a U.S. flag in her classroom, she said, Ecuadorian students 'were mad, really mad,'" reports the Post. "They demanded an explanation: 'Why did you put that on the window? Take it off!'"

This article is actually a good example of arrested development being given a public platform. Why wouldn't Ecuadoran students protest the display of the U.S. flag in Ecuador? If she waltzed into a U.S. classroom and displayed the Ecuadoran flag for no apparent educational reason I'd expect those students to be mad too.

Frankly I don't believe this story.

[Stentor]

A good example of why the rest of the world hates US.

They don't fear US enough.

[185JHP]

A fixable problem...