Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Asymmetric Retaliation

Yesterday, I wrote that Islamic jihadists are only capable of killing a few of us; so in today's news, they did. The killing of the American ambassador to Libya is not really because of alleged blasphemy to (((:~{> . (There, I drew an emoticon of the bearded one, is that going to provoke a riot too?) These attacks were long planned. So much for providing aid to overthrowing Qaddafi and continuing aid to Egypt even after the Muslim Brotherhood effectively took power.

What's to be done? On the TV, there was much talk on the left of bringing the perpetrators to justice and on the right of destroying al Qaeda. I don't think either course of action really helps. Killing the perpetrators, while noble, only provides martyrs and is a tricky proposition. Look how long it took to get bin Laden and he was the world's most wanted. No one is in the mood in this country for another war with al Qaeda on any front. And frankly, grotesque and heinous as the killing of Ambassador Stevens was, it is not cause for war by itself.

However, we have the means to retaliate in ways that can be effective in stopping the spread of this sickness. In most of the s***holes where these terrorists abide, they are suffered to live because the governments are unwilling to do much about their presence for political reasons that time does not permit me to analyze. The proper response is to cut off the flow of money to the government and the leaders of the government. In most cases, this means taking action to stop their oil exports. This can be done by blockade, sabotage of pipelines, destruction of shipping ports or any number of other means. My favorite would be to put Hugo Chavez in charge of Libya's oil industry, but that would be TOO obvious a ploy. The economic forces are likely to topple the regime or seriously inconvenience those in power. Further, it would have the salutary short term effect of driving up oil prices. The political clamor to increase drilling in this country and to approve the Keystone XL pipeline would result in more jobs. I could see a President Romney unleashing a jobs explosion if he chose such a path. This sort of thinking could work against the Iranians as well. To date, we have been too timid about short term economic shocks. But gasoline is already at $4 per gallon with little effect on the President's re-election chances. It's time to take on these terrorists and their enablers by denying them the wealth they need to stay in power.

6 comments:

  1. (((:~{> cracks me up! how about *-o(((:~{> with the bomb on top?!!? You know I have been screaming about the lack of energy production at home for the very same reasons. In Louisanna, I am paying 3.55 gallon. Despite all the BP spill hype, the oysters taste just fine. Drill, baby drill.
    'Dawg

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  2. Agreed. We can't really get to the relatively anonymous mass of detriment that makes up these terrorist cells, without a high cost to the 'innocents' that they hide around. Go after their enablers...make illegitimate governments that protect, hide and defend these murderers accountable. Warn them, they'll be held accountable if they don't actively support the West in cleaning them up.

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  3. Agreed. We can't really get to the relatively anonymous mass of detriment that makes up these terrorist cells, without a high cost to the 'innocents' that they hide around. Go after their enablers...make illegitimate governments that protect, hide and defend these murderers accountable. Warn them, they'll be held accountable if they don't actively support the West in cleaning them up.

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  4. You guys sound like a redux of the failed drug warriors. I guess you still have not learned the lesson. Just so it is clear for you tiny minds: Terrorism is what criminal fascists facilitate and point to in order to distract you into looking at a phantom enemy that is not them. Criminal Fascists have siezed control of our government and are building a hellish nightmare around us in order to take everything for themselves. The criminal elements of banksters, military, politicians, DHS, and contractors all pay the media to hype terrorism bought and paid for by the banks and intelligence community so that our really talented federal investigators are busy chasing phantoms instead of going after the real criminals. If you believe Terrorism is a major problem that requires Trillion$ spent on pissing people off around the world as a solution you need to have your examined because your mind is defective and has failed to grasp very fundamental aspects of natural law. If you piss people off enough then they will be compelled to destroy you if it does not stop. The enemy is inside the gates and the real patriots in America are not going to wait for people to get their heads out of there ass. This is the beginning of the end for America and we deserve it for all the harm we are spilling into aspect of the world.

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  5. What has the current administration done to curb this problem? I though we were going to kiss and be nice, close Gitmo, and be a kinder nation so they will like us more. I shouldn't be taking your bait.

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  6. Dawg, agree on drilling.
    Steve, Thanks for the support.
    Anonymous (1), My proposal is exactly to keep costs down, not to piss away Trillion$ as you suggest. Denial is easier and less expensive than eradication, hence my proposal.

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