I have thought about this on and off for months.
I am interested in national politics for sure, but I also like to study up on military stuff, having grown up in the vicinity of three military bases (McClellan and Mather AFB, and the Sacramento Army Depot), and being exposed to the Marine Corp Gazette on a monthly basis in childhood by my dad, a Korean War Marine Officer, who later became a police detective.
As the eldest child, I was the one expected to carry on the family traditions until my brothers were born, but as we grew up dad realized they weren't going to follow his lead in college and professional life, so I was under a lot of pressure to " show your brothers what hard work can do"...I graduated high school early (in spite of my introduction to alcohol and recreational drugs) graduated junior college early (in spite of alcohol and recreational drugs) and went on to university...Oh, and got booted out because I had gone from a sweet girl to hippie slut in my dad's opinion. But I discussed this all already in another blog...
So after college, I needed a job, and ended up working for DoD as a grade school teacher in
So anyways, I am not totally out of the loop on military stuff (honey is a VietNam vet, was a NCO and got a battlefield commission- he says like the movies, someone gets killed, somebody gets promoted...) So we get a lot of Army stuff in the mail, and after 9/11 he renewed his membership in some things like the Officer Reserve Association (?) and American Legion..who both have publications we get. These peak my interest sometimes, like when I read some of the thinking in the Army today from some newsletter he gets.
And then there is some of the stuff I hear on the radio, from various (mostly conservative) talk shows.. So I was thinking about this today again after this morning's entry...what if like a bad episode of 24, nasty people smuggled a nuclear weapon into the
| Weapon | Type | Weight | Damage |
| Tactical Nuclear Device, Portable | Nuclear | 3 kg Detonator, 22 kg Device | Crater 100 m, Fireball 500 m, Total Destruction 470 m, Heavy Destruction 680 m, |
Tactical Nuclear Device, Portable
A standard nuclear weapon, suitable for use by Special Forces or atomic demolition munitions personnel, packaged in a standard nylon backpack.
22 KG is not very heavy…OK, so lets suppose this happens, I mean people are writing books about this all the time lately..
Would the local police and FEMA be able to deal with it?? Seriously, thousands of potential casualties, and probably anarchy, as one of my films says “…there will be panic, chaos in the streets. There will be looting and killing…”
I mean in my mind it would make Katrina look like a picnic…so therefore I believe that this must be part of the mission of the Northern Command, which explains the composition of their Reaction Force, who is heavily tilted to combat troops and a specialized medical brigade..
Now combine these ideas with Biden’s ominous “…Because it's not going to be apparent initially; it's not going to be apparent that we're right.”
Right about what Joe? Imposing martial law? Suspending the Bill of Rights?
I am like you, scared and wanting to have some idea what’s happening..we’re in this together, aren’t we?
Most of the men in my family are Veterans of Foreign Wars. Include my wife, and my Mother in this group. I spent four years in the Infantry ( and hated every minute ) None have been career soldiers, we did our time and went home. And that is the key to success as a Nation; take the war to the enemy, and then go home.
ReplyDeleteFor over a century, the US has fought, won and stood down from wars successfully several times. The most significant challenge to this strategy was the attack on 9-11-01. Just as we did after 12-7-41, we took the war to the enemy ( Afghanistan and Iraq ). We have had much success in Iraq, and the enemy has been feeding their young to the Green Machine 'over-there' in Afghanistan for more than a few years. It has been primarily a war of attrition.
It's time to stand down in Iraq, and that means we will be challenged here at home again, sooner more likely than later.
The most likely setting for that challenge will be our southern border, with Mexico. Today a very big Russian ship passed through the Panama Canal. That hasn't happened since WWII.
Your fears are not unfounded. What is the 'Clear and Present Danger' that would justify recent legal and military maneuvers? I've spent several weeks 'tagging' feeds from legitimate sources concerning the Posse Comitatus Act, and the legitimacy of deploying troops on US soil that shine some light on the issue.
For me, the fear is not in the fact that there is a threat looming, but in not knowing which direction it is coming from. I say it's from the south....
I can't accept this defense tactic unless it's meant ot augment the National Guards and then it better be very transparent and for emergency use only in terrorism. The manner of veiled secrecy concerns in which it's being publically disclosed concerns me greatly. It will shock and create more anxiety even if well intended because of this tactic.
ReplyDeleteRight about what? We won't know until after it's all over. Part of the nature of government. As an example, I have an old publication from a newspaper about the Battle of Britain in 1940. The story of the battle is told, there is plenty of detail. However, there is absolutely no mention of radar, which history now tells us was crucial to the battle, and the Allied victory.
ReplyDeleteFast forward to the present. I don't know the context of Joe Biden's comment, but I am thinking it refers to these kinds of decisions, that certain information is kept from the public at large by government in the interests of the nation. The Manhattan project comes to mind.
The most recent, I would think, is this one:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/iraq.uranium/index.html
Bush has taken all kinds of abuse in the past five years, but instead of coming out and trying to score a point with such information, he kept the interests of the country on top, and at least this little success was pulled off.
I expect the Obama administration will be shouldered with similar burdens. Biden has been on the senate foreign relations committee for a zillion years, so I am sure he is already keeping many things under lids.
As for looting, there was a blackout in NYC some years ago, and no looting. Many years ago in a similar blackout incident, there was plenty of opportunistic looting. I liked hearing about that. Contrast it with the looting of the library in Baghdad after Saddam fell (not to pick on the Iraqis, it's just the most recent example I know).
Interesting post, and I find your comment interesting too, monodogamous.