Posted on 01/28/2009 10:04:02 AM PST by Jbny
In my new Weekly Standard article, “The Gaza Aftermath,” I wrote: “The Americans and Europeans simply do not have any way of stopping an elaborate smuggling network that runs via the sea from Iran to Sudan and from there overland to Egypt and finally under the ground into the Gaza Strip.” In this case it is depressing to be proven right.
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
False.
We have many ways to stop the smuggling.
We lack the WILL.
One good way to stop smuggling is out at 800 yards.
Drug smuggler’s don’t know anything about 800 yards.
Most issues of international relations have to do with the will to project power, not the ability to accomplish an objective.
For example, I’m quite sure that if you gave me control of one fully loaded B-52, I could bring the Darfur crisis to a halt. Think about that for a moment, and you can formulate your own strategy with said B-52.
“Dear President XXX: My B-52 will bomb one government facility per hour until you and the Janjaweed permanently withdraw from Darfur. For any attack perpetrated in Darfur, I will permanently double the bombings per hour.”
Done. Darfur would be peaceful within the week.
We merely lack the WILL to apply our quite substantial actual power.
Notice, once again, that Iran is at the top of that pecking order. Over and over we see dots connected with the top dot being Iran. If someone would only do something, anything, to distract Iran from their main job of stirring the pot all around the world we could all live a better life.
thank you. it’s so refreshing to hear from people living in the real world.
and yes, i agree 100% with your solution. would it be nice? no. pretty? no. but it would be effective.
Yep.
L
Weapons are good things. Terrorists are bad things.
If, like the U.S. anti-gunners, you make it your mission to disarm people as a means of disabling terrorists, you will fail; just as those who pursue disarming me as a means of stopping armed criminals will fail.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
Stopping weapons smuggling is a futile task, really.
Sure, one could stop huge scale, open, shipping, but smuggling? No way.
It’s futile, at best.
The solution is to either change the rules of the game (e.g., give up) , or destroy those that demand the product (kill them or break their will such that they don’t want the product).
“If, like the U.S. anti-gunners, you make it your mission to disarm people as a means of disabling terrorists, you will fail; just as those who pursue disarming me as a means of stopping armed criminals will fail.”
Indeed, there are imperfect parallels to the war on drugs -— drugs are not the problem — it’s the drug users.
The solutions to the two smuggling issues (gaza weapons vs. US drugs) are dramatically different, however.
Solution: 100 yard strip from Israel proper to the Mediteranean, ground penetrating radar / oil finding equipment (will find tunnels), drills, explosives.
That solves the smuggling problem on the southern border.
Next?
A mechanical solution to one method (with its own problems).
Unless they intend to kill or starve out the gazan arabs with a complete embargo, targeting smuggling is pointless. There are always secret compartments, always methods to get around fixed checkpoints.
They need to break their will, not target weapons.
I agree that the Pales’ will needs breaking.
Also, blanket statements about our inability to stem weapons smuggling leads one to the belief that it is impossible to do so. It is not. It is a matter of will. We could have a complete embargo that would accomplish the limitation of weapons smuggling. We’re just unwilling to do so.
Part of my project today is to point out that commentators sap our general will by proclaiming things “impossible,” when in reality we are just unwilling to suffer some difficulty. We have to preserve our ability to see what we are capable of, and then carefully choose whether to do it. Blanket denail of options is bad for policy makers and the country. We need to keep all sorts of rather stringent methods on the table so we can think clearly and apply them from time to time as a matter of deterrence.
There are VERY few problems that cant be solved by the use of some well placed explosives!!
A workable end to the endless number of Palestinian terror attacks would be to relocate all Palestinians to Bikini Atoll... and resume nuclear testing.
explosives
God & Netanyahu = Israel’s last best hope
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