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On Sunday, September 16, 2001, 11:17:02 AM, the_omega_man@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>>Let's use some reasoning. If the Seals, Spetznaz, Special Forces,
>>etc were not effective, they would have been disbanded, would they
>>not? Somehow, they are still considered useful.
thc> So you support their use on the basis of... what?
As I said - they are still considered useful.
thc> The successes that we don't know about?
Yes. In this business, most of what they do is NOT known to the
public. We're NOT going to see their successes plastered on the front
page of some newspaper. There are groups whose *existence* is very
secret - and you expect to know what they do? Good luck!
thc> Their success preventing the disasters in Iran (hostage taking),
thc> Lebanon (Marine barracks), or eastern Africa (bombed embassies)?
The proper measure is how many things they prevented - and we're
unlikely to know that. This kind of war is NOT one in which we can
totally defeat the adversary and expect no further events. We will NOT
stop every act. It is, indeed, a different kind of war. We should
strive to minimize what the opposition does. That's the best we can do
until the political solution happens.
thc> Now that they have covert ops as an option I guess they'll be
thc> running the IRA right out of business...
No - like us, they will try to minimize the damage, and I expect they
will have some success in doing that.
thc> Israel has perhaps the "best" covert operations organization that
thc> has ever existed. They also have daily bombings in their
thc> streets.
And how many would have occurred without their operations? All we do
know is that they have taken out a number of terrorists in the attacks
that were easily visible. Not bad, I'd say. At the very least, they
are making it more difficult for the terrorists. They seem to be
working on it with some success.
You need to adjust your thinking to this new kind of war, and apply a
better measure of success. And - hard as it may be for you - you will
have to have faith in what they do under tight security. :-) I have
faith that they can be effective - do you?
Sometimes one has to form an opinion on something that cannot be
proven. Faith may be useful after all. :-)
ztrader
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