Comment on the Belmont Club: "Mid course"

The "large number of civilian casualties" are dependent on how you define a civilian and how you assign responsibility to forces that illegally operate behind civilian cover. If the Taliban show up at a house then it is a target and if there are 20 of them present it isn't a wedding party.

The VoA says that the employment of mercenaries is illegal? The issuance of Letters of Marque and Reprisal are in the Constitution. The amendment withdrawing that has escaped my notice. If the VoA staff think that some International Convention signed by a Civil Servant or line added to an appropriation bill can be "Deemed" the equivalent of an Amendment then they need an education.

We should have one clear goal, Victory. That is not the same as the silly word "prevailing" or establishing the groundwork for an ongoing process. It means identifying the enemy and killing them until everyone agrees not to challenge our authority or foment violence in the area. If the tools to do so are being denied to him then the Commander should ask to get the troops out or resign.

It looks to me that Obama is seeking a Grand Bargain where he bullies all our allies and forces into untenable positions so he can sell out everyone to everyone. Karzai could not be blamed if he loads up two suitcases and decamps with the code to a numbered bank account.

If McChrystal is asserting control over the SF operations to protect the troops and ensure more effective operations then this is much noise over very little with the press and grievance mongers just looking for a free meal.

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Walt,
(who versed a Leftist's dream)

When the rough men of the SOF are not on the prowl then people far nastier will come to kick in the door. If America becomes a "normal nation" like most of the world then days spent watching the girls over a latté in Greenwich Village and trusting a doorman in a fancy coat to guard your mother on Park Avenue will be over. Those who are in the really wealthy elites live in gated communities that are guarded like the White House and travel with hired guns. Those who rubbish America, like those who rubbished tolerant old Imperial Britain, have no idea how the bubble is maintained. They have though sought to come into that bubble and enjoy the freedom, to just sit and enjoy that coffee or walk down a Manhattan or Vail street that it offered them.