Our Undeclared Wars

[old salt]

Trump has nothing to do with it.
We have the CT Congressional delegation to thank for this boondoggle.
They slipped it through in 2016.

[a fan]

You're doing it again. Be patient. Trump will fix the problem. You just have to give him time.

Sheesh.

[LandM]

Our son got through SBU because of a friend. Fortunately he red-shirted and got to play on the magical 2010 team - he was a pole so not allot of pub. Our friend started the hospital, was a volunteer coach under Espy, a D2 AA, taught us about lax and he and his wife opened their home to us. I wear his hat backwards daily so his name is displayed. We have maintained a friendship with his wife and go to his annual scholarship event. His brother did it big time and his name is on the stadium. He posted allot on old LP using an Einstein moniker. Today I received a txt as Patchogue had a seafood fair and there was a booth to the local boy - he has a memorial at PSU.

My personal opinion, if you are going to send young people into bad situations - let them do their jobs and get out. The rules of engagement and being nice and polite do not work. Patience - NOPE. Get in, get out and limit the collateral damage. We have no business being in a country that is meaningless except perhaps their minerals and frankly by now, we should have learned not to be in any country unless threatened. Go to Gettysburg, walk the grounds, we figured it out.
Best

[old salt]

Three Cheers for our Danish allies !!! ...more good work by Amb Jim Jeffrey :

https://thedefensepost.com/2019/09/07/d ... mali-nato/

Citing global instability and its duties as a member of NATO, the Danish government announced that it plans to boost military contributions to a number of missions around the world.
...the Danish military would send support to the Global Coalition against Islamic State in northeast Syria, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, France’s mission in the Sahel, and a U.S. aircraft carrier group in the north Atlantic and Mediterranean, in addition to increasing its contribution to NATO.

Denmark also welcomed a possible deployment to an international maritime effort in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We are looking into the possibility of a Danish naval contribution in an international European-led effort,” Frederiksen said.
Frederiksen said a European-led operation “should not be regarded as an alternative to the American presence, but as a supplement.”

Medical team for northeast Syria
Denmark will send a 14-member medical team to northeast Syria, where the U.S.-led Coalition-backed Syrian Democratic Forces alliance controls a swath of territory captured from ISIS.
The team will include doctors, nurses, therapists and support staff to provide trauma care at a Coalition base, Xinhua news agency reported.

Denmark has previously sent transport and fighter aircraft, special operations forces and troops to advise the Iraqi Security Forces, as part of the Coalition’s mission.
“Our Danish partners will work with the residual U.S. military force in northeast Syria to support stability and security.”
The U.S. and Turkey agreed to establish a security zone along Syria’s northeastern border to manage tensions between Turkey and Kurdish elements of the SDF, and joint patrolling of the buffer zone has recently begun.

A significant number of U.S. Special Operations Forces, alongside some British and French troops, remain in Syria’s northeast, where they trained and advised the SDF in the ground war against ISIS, but the U.S. has frequently called for other nations to deploy personnel after President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of American troops from the country in December.

Special Envoy for Syria James Jeffrey told the U.S. Congress in May that Coalition member nations had been “stepping up” but said in July that no “formal commitments” had been received.

The Danish plan marks the first public commitment to send additional personnel to Syria, although a European diplomatic source told The Defense Post in June that France and the United Kingdom have committed an incremental troop increase, but that they are not intended to serve as a border force.

Helicopters for Operation Barkhane in the Sahel
For the first time, Denmark will also send a “helicopter contribution of up to 70 people and one-to-two staff officers” to France’s Operation Barkhane in sub-Saharan Africa’s troubled Sahel region.
Barkhane has mandate for counter-terrorism operations across the Sahel, and focuses activity in insurgent-hit Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger.

Colonial power France intervened militarily in Mali in 2013, launching Operation Serval after extremists linked to al-Qaeda exploited an uprising by Tuareg rebels to take key cities in the desert north. That mission in 2014 morphed into Operation Barkhane, comprised of some 4,500 French troops supported by helicopters from the U.K. and 50 Estonian troops.

The Danish government announced its plan to send two transport helicopters to the French mission back in February, pending parliamentary approval. Denmark previously provided a transport aircraft to Serval in 2013, but the country has not previously contributed to Barkhane.

The U.K. announced in July it would extend its Chinook helicopter support by at least six months, and Estonias defense ministry is reportedly seeking to nearly double its troop contribution to the France-led mission.

“It is crucial for Danish and European security that we contribute to the stability of the area. The terrorist groups in the Sahel region threaten our common security,” then-foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said in a statement at the time.
“When we make new military contributions in the Sahel region and in Syria to the fight against ISIL, it is about more than immediate firefighting,” Foreign Minister Kofod said Friday.

C-130J transport for MINUSMA in Mali
Denmark will also send transport aircraft along with approximately 65 personnel as well as a staff contribution of up to 10 to MINUSMA, the United Nations stabilization mission in Mali.

Launched in 2013, MINUSMA is considered one the most dangerous U.N. peacekeeping missions, and attacks against blue helmets in the center and north of the country are common. More than 200 people deployed to MINUSMA have died, including 18 this year. Around 14,500 personnel are deployed to the mission, according U.N. figures for July.

Denmark has supported MINUSMA since 2014, including by sending special operations troops in 2016, and a C-130J transport aircraft, most recently in 2017. A Danish Major General was MINUSMA Force Commander from March 2015 to December 2016.

The latest aircraft deployment is part of a plan agreed with Belgium, Norway and Portugal to rotate transport aircraft coverage, and Denmark is to cover the period from November 2019 to May 2020 with a C-130J, according to the defense ministry. The four countries along with Sweden also run and guard a camp.

Danish deployment to NATO
Denmark will also and send a total of around 700 personnel to NATO missions, including a combat battalion, a “larger warship” and four fighter aircraft “to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defense profile,” Bramsen said,

The four F-16 jets along with around 60 personnel will deploy later this year to an air base in in Siauliai, Lithuania, as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing operation. Denmark has contributed jets to the mission six times, most recently from January to April 2018.

Around 200 personnel are expected to deploy later this year or in early 2020 to a British-led battlegroup as part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence in Estonia, the Ministry of Defence said in February.

The enhanced Forward Presence consists of four multinational battalions, one each in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

The 12 month-deployment to the Tapa army base in Estonia will also see Danish staff officers deployed to the 1st Estonian Brigade and the British-led multinational battalion there. Staff officers will also deploy to the enhanced Forward Presence Command at the British headquarters in the capital Talinn.

In addition to contributing naval vessels to Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 in 2019, Denmark took command of Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1, providing command staff, a flagship and mine clearing assets. In February the Ministry of Defence said it would contribute naval vessels to SNMG 1 and SNMCMG1 in 2020.

Denmark will also send a frigate to accompany a U.S. Navy carrier group on an upcoming deployment to the Mediterranean and north Atlantic for three months.

“This is done to strengthen maritime security, but also to build even stronger operational and close cooperation in the U.S.,” Bramsen said, according to Xinhua.

[foreverlax]

Despite Vow to End ‘Endless Wars,

Under President Trump, there are now more troops in the Middle East than when he took office,

[Brooklyn]

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=821&start=160#p60123



https://www.corbettreport.com/ (a right wing website) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... =emb_title

The Douma Hoax: Anatomy of a False Flag - how the news media blitz about this ''attack'' was a false flag.


And to think how many right wingers wanted to start another war over this hoax!

[MDlaxfan76]

Our son got through SBU because of a friend. Fortunately he red-shirted and got to play on the magical 2010 team - he was a pole so not allot of pub. Our friend started the hospital, was a volunteer coach under Espy, a D2 AA, taught us about lax and he and his wife opened their home to us. I wear his hat backwards daily so his name is displayed. We have maintained a friendship with his wife and go to his annual scholarship event. His brother did it big time and his name is on the stadium. He posted allot on old LP using an Einstein moniker. Today I received a txt as Patchogue had a seafood fair and there was a booth to the local boy - he has a memorial at PSU.

My personal opinion, if you are going to send young people into bad situations - let them do their jobs and get out. The rules of engagement and being nice and polite do not work. Patience - NOPE. Get in, get out and limit the collateral damage. We have no business being in a country that is meaningless except perhaps their minerals and frankly by now, we should have learned not to be in any country unless threatened. Go to Gettysburg, walk the grounds, we figured it out.
Best

Gettysburg and "we figured it out" ?...!'m not following...

[old salt]

Despite Vow to End ‘Endless Wars,

Under President Trump, there are now more troops in the Middle East than when he took office,

How many are engaged in combat ops ? What do you think "war" is ?
How do those totals compare to our numbers deployed in the EU or Japan/S Korea ?
Thanks for making we waste a monthly NYT free read (not worth clearing my cache -- dumping all my passwords & auto sign ins from my browser).

[foreverlax]

Despite Vow to End ‘Endless Wars,

Under President Trump, there are now more troops in the Middle East than when he took office,

How many are engaged in combat ops ? What do you think "war" is ?
How do those totals compare to our numbers deployed in the EU or Japan/S Korea ?
Thanks for making we waste a monthly NYT free read (not worth clearing my cache -- dumping all my passwords & auto sign ins from my browser).

Ah boo hoo.

[Brooklyn]

Why the Media Is Ignoring the Afghanistan Papers
The documents are a bombshell. So why do so few news outlets care?


https://newrepublic.com/amp/article/155 ... tan-papers


his week, The Washington Post published the Afghanistan Papers, an extensive review of thousands of pages of internal government documents relating to the war in Afghanistan. Like the Pentagon Papers, which showcased the lies underpinning the Vietnam War, the Post’s investigation shows that U.S. officials, across three presidential administrations, intentionally and systematically misled the American public for 18 years and counting. As Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1974, told CNN earlier this week, the Pentagon and Afghanistan Papers revealed the same dynamic: “The presidents and the generals had a pretty realistic view of what they were up against, which they did not want to admit to the American people.”

The documents are an indictment not only of one aspect of American foreign policy, but also of the U.S.’s entire policymaking apparatus. They reveal a bipartisan consensus to lie about what was actually happening in Afghanistan: chronic waste and chronic corruption, one ill-conceived development scheme after another, resulting in a near-unmitigated failure to bring peace and prosperity to the country. Both parties had reason to engage in the cover-up. For the Bush administration, Afghanistan was a key component in the war on terror. For the Obama administration, Afghanistan was the “good war” that stood in contrast to the nightmare in Iraq.

The Afghanistan Papers are, in other words, a bombshell. Yet the report has received scant attention from the broader press. Neither NBC nor ABC covered the investigation in their nightly broadcasts this week. In other outlets, it has been buried beneath breathless reporting on the latest developments in the impeachment saga, Joe Biden’s purported pledge to serve only one term, and world leaders’ pathological envy of a 16-year-old girl.


more ....






Yup. Both parties had a role in all of this. But none dare call it treason.

[Kismet]

Details of the al-shabab attack on U.S. base in Kenya that killed one Army soldier and two contractors

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/worl ... orism.html

Similar issues to what occurred in Niger back in 2017 in terms of defense, lack of immediate response and overall security.

[jhu72]

Details of the al-shabab attack on U.S. base in Kenya that killed one Army soldier and two contractors

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/worl ... orism.html

Similar issues to what occurred in Niger back in 2017 in terms of defense, lack of immediate response and overall security.

Clearly Hillary's fault. Lock her up.

[a fan]

Details of the al-shabab attack on U.S. base in Kenya that killed one Army soldier and two contractors

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/worl ... orism.html

Similar issues to what occurred in Niger back in 2017 in terms of defense, lack of immediate response and overall security.

I'm sure TrumpFans will demand a Four year investigation any day now, right?

Of course not. "This is different", right?

[Typical Lax Dad]

Details of the al-shabab attack on U.S. base in Kenya that killed one Army soldier and two contractors

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/worl ... orism.html

Similar issues to what occurred in Niger back in 2017 in terms of defense, lack of immediate response and overall security.

I'm sure TrumpFans will demand a Four year investigation any day now, right?

Of course not. "This is different", right?

No... they will make fun of Rachel Maddow and mischaracterize her "speculation".......

[a fan]

Are you SURE this isn't Hillary's fault? I mean, COMPLETELY sure,TLD?

[Brooklyn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOaCy5QEGUU

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq ... ace-reform




Thousands continue to protest the Iraqi government puppet regime imposed by traitor Bush. So far, very little coverage has been given on network tv. Have to wonder why (?) ....

[kramerica.inc]

Out of curiosity Brookie, who should be in charge of Iraq?
What's your ME solution?

[Kismet]

Has the world been turned upside down yet

You know things are funky when it appears that the Saudis may be using Israeli software to hack phones

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/read ... rabia.html

"From a suspicious text message I received, technology researchers concluded that hackers working for Saudi Arabia had targeted my phone with powerful Israeli software."

Technology makes for strange bedfellows.

[youthathletics]

Out of curiosity Brookie, who should be in charge of Iraq?
What's your ME solution?

Likely answer.....Hugs, kisses, pallets of cash, and free everything.

[Kismet]

Then there's this today from Afghanistan (where we are supposed to be leaving shortly)...a reminder these were th epeople DOPUS was considering inviting to Camp David.

Courtney Kube
@ckubeNBC
"USFOR-A spokesman, Colonel Sonny Leggett says “A combined U.S. and Afghan force conducting an operation in Nangarhar Province was engaged by direct fire on Feb. 8.” US military officials are working through details but confirm there are casualties."

Update 6:00PM EST
Courtney Kube
@ckubeNBC
7m
Multiple US troops were killed and wounded in an attack in eastern Afghanistan today, according to US military officials.

Kube is NBC News Pentagon correspondent