Posted on 09/23/2014 3:43:15 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Seems far-fetched. We’re going to recruit and vet thousands of possibly unreliable foreigners, arm them to the teeth, shower them with cash, give them some perfunctory training, then send them into battle against the world’s nastiest jihadi degenerates, from ISIS to Al Qaeda to Hezbollah? Why, that’s … exactly what Obama’s planning to do with Syria’s “moderates.” Right? One of O’Reilly’s guests last night called his mercenary plan “morally corrosive” because it would outsource the national security of the United States to foreign actors, which … we’re right now in the process of doing. Who would you rather take your natsec chances with? A multinational mercenary force of experienced Blackwater-types who share no interests with ISIS, or a group of Sunnis from Syria who are more interested in attacking Assad and might be A-OK with the thought of Wahhabis ruling Damascus when push comes to shove?
The UN prohibits the raising of mercenary armies but the U.S. didn’t ratify the treaty that established that rule, so hey. (On the contrary, Article I of the Constitution empowers Congress to issue “letters of marque,” as any Ron Paul fan will happily remind you.) The flaw in O’Reilly’s theory isn’t that it’s “morally corrosive” to send trained soldiers-for-hire to do the heavy lifting against ISIS that our incompetent and cowardly Sunni allies in the region should be doing for themselves. The flaw is that there’s no obvious next step if the mercenaries succeed in routing ISIS from Raqqa and eastern Syria. Who takes over and rules that half of the country if that happens?
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Ya. I know.
Obviously he is very passionate about it. Unfortunately, he talks over his guests even when they make reasonable and rational statements about it.
yeah they are. Just have France ask ‘em to do it.
Bill seems to think an effective 25,000 man army can just be created, supplied and equipped, trained, and led and paid and held together, by who and what?
Who controls them when they go rogue or start raping and pillaging, who owns them, what nation is their base, and on, and on, and on.
If running 25,000 man armies was easy, then Africa would have lots of them to rent out, and at least they would be someone’s national force rather than just 25,000 guys from God know where.
I said something like the French Foreign Legion (made up of a number of nationalities), not the the actual French Foreign Legion.
No they aren’t, and it is a five year enlistment with French citizenship at the end.
Huh?
You aren’t post 27.
It’s in France’s national interest to do this. Release the legion I say...
Go ahead Bill, do it and show us. Maybe Trump would throw some money into the idea
Totally agree Jim - 10 or 20 small yield tactical nukes would let them know we are serious.
Their regime would collapse overnight.
You will have to persuade the French government to commit it’s military if you want them to commit their military.
Let’s send our warriors from The War On Poverty. Let’s let them get some skin in the game.
O’Reilly is not a conservative.
Not a very good idea. Fight a low tech war and you get all that gore on television which turns off the public. Best to let the professionals handle it.
EgggZactly!
Bump
Step right up; Billie
Why should they be "doing it for themselves" when they believe, deeply, in what ISIS represents?
Why should they be "doing it for themselves" when they believe, deeply, in what ISIS represents?
Not a bad idea on the face of it. Its been done before, and very well. The French conquered and subdued much of their empire with the Foreign Legion and local native troops.
European officered Senegalese (just an example) would put the fear of, well, something in the hearts of the Arabs. They certainly scared the Moroccans.
The real problem is direction. If whoever was picking up the tab put the job of both organizing the army and running the war in the hands of a Hubert Lyautey or John Glubb or even David Petraeus and let him get on with the job it would be done well. The real problem is that the real leadership will be in the mishmash of an international coalition with no direction.
A moabist proposal.
Massive Ordinance Air Blast, aka "Mother of all bombs".
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