Posted on 10/22/2003 4:17:49 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
Edited on 04/13/2004 1:41:17 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The questions I posed to combatant commanders this week were: Are we winning or losing the Global War on Terror? Is DoD changing fast enough to deal with the new 21st century security environment? Can a big institution change fast enough? Is the USG changing fast enough?
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
I will however toss out a few ideas here.
America needs to make use of American expatriates who have been overseas for many years and have already blended in with local cultures.
The other night another American and myself were joking about how ridiculous it is to see some bumbling CIA or FBI guy over here trying to do whatever job he does and who has absolutely no clue as to what is going on - Yet he thinks he does. He does not speak the language and if he does speak a few words it sounds funny - they almost never understand local sayings or idioms and basically they stick out like a sore thumb.
It is kinda funny when you can get a call and have someone say - "Hey one of your countrymen is coming out to see me tomorrow at 9am." and then here all the details of the meeting later.
And so you get a few guys travelling from Washington asking about nukes that moved into the area from Vladivostok. They dont seem to understand that the locals wont trust them at all because despite what anyone says they dont believe that there are no nukes in Sembawang.
Our own CIA cannot infiltrate the extremist groups - it takes a hippy from Marin county who learns the local language and customs and then is able to walk right up to Osama Bin Laden. Is no one else ashamed of this?
The American government spends a lot of times recruiting the locals to feed them information but so many times these locals actually report to another master and it seems the Americans are too stupid to actually realize this.
Another problem is that there are no salesmen for America. The only thing the locals hear about America is what is bad about America.
The only Americans who fly into town never have anything good to say about their own country. Madeline Albright, socialists and the occasional Hollywood freak.
Oh but it gets ever worse, imagine how bad it is when some of the American embassy staff like to rant to the locals about how much they hate George Bush and how America now is such a horrible country.
How stupid is it to have US State Department employees stationed in a Muslim country who they themselves buy into every evil conspirasy story about America. Of course the locals lap it all up and believe it as well, after all, if a US State department employee says it, then it must be true.
This is just a small sampling, a very small sampling of problems that I see on a daily basis.
Tomorrow I will talk about the madrassahs.
No more mister nice guy
No more...mister cle..ee..eean!!!!
| A GREAT and glorious thing it is To learn, for seven years or so, The Lord knows what of that and this, Ere reckoned fit to face the foe— The flying bullet down the Pass, That whistles clear: “All flesh is grass.” Three hundred pounds per annum spent A scrimmage in a Border Station— No proposition Euclid wrote, One sword-knot stolen from the camp With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem, |
And so today, - about Sembawang, Vladivostok and Dr. Ed's Aura Machine -
Yes I was refering to Sembawang, Singapore - but that is not what the US government agents were asking about. I will get to that in a few minutes... first a bit of background...
You can decide for yourself if the Singapore misslies exist but the general concensus of the countries in the region is that they do. Two mid range missiles equipped with nuclear warheads in Sembawang.
When Singapore was asked directly in Parliment, the response was evasive and crypic. First, it was said that the public did not have a 'need to know' and then later a denial - or is it? Singapore says it doesn't store US nuclear weapons
You can also read that as - Singapore does not deny "having" them - they deny "storing" them for another country.
You will also notice that all details of the agreement signed in 1990 between the United States and Singapore are classified.
Tinfoil hat stuff? Perhaps, but needless to say, this makes the neighbors nervous.
Anyway, around 1994 I happen to meet Doctor Ed. My meeting with him is really strange. The security guard in the condo where I live tells me one night that "my friend" just arrived home a few minutes before me. Of course I have no friend staying there - the security guard is refering to the other "white man" and assumes since we are both caucasian that we must be friends. Typical here sometimes. LOL
And so later we do in fact bump into each other. Doctor Ed a Russian medical doctor sitting all along in his condo with a computer, a fax machine and a 3 cases of vodka. Doctor Ed almost never leaves the condo and is obviously going stir crazy waiting for his boss to arrive from Russia.
I pity the guy and we become friends, Im introduced to the joys of Russian bachelor cooking (potato and cabbage soup) served with a bottle of vodka which Dr. Ed drinks like water.
Anyway, things dont seem right... Doctor Ed never leaves the condo to go out anywhere besides the nearby market. he has no practice, no patients just a bunch of technical books in the condo. I try to invite him out sometimes and he always refuses.
A few weeks later over a second bottle of vodka on a Friday night I learn that Doctor Ed is not actually a medical doctor per se, but he constructs a special machine that uses some sort of x-ray reading to detect the aura of a person and how the cosmonauts used this technology that Russia is now sharing (aka the buzz word "technology transfer"). - that explains all the technical books in the apartment - he says he misses his wife and complains that he is running short on cash while waiting for his boss to arrive. I lend Dr. Ed some money which he promises to pay back when the boss arrives.
His boss and investor is a rich man in the fishing industry who is financing the construction of these machines.
A few weeks later Dr. Ed tells me that the boss is coming in on the Aeroflot flight from Moscow.
The next day Dr. Ed knocks on my door smiling, hands me US300 with a promise that I wont mention he borrowed it. Im invited over for a drink.
The boss is there with two body guards a sexy red head and "the banker" all drinking vodka. I have never seen Dr. Ed so happy - Im introduced as Dr. Ed's neighbor and the boss is very kind and speaks a little English with me. He tells me that he is in the fishing industry and is a suppier to McDonald's in the USA of the fish to make fish fillets. This obviously is meant to explain the briefcase full of US dollars and the body guards.
The next day the boss has a meeting with the boat captain who is arriving from Vladivostok - and some local "investors" -
A few days later I meet up with them again and notice the two boxes in Dr. Ed's condo with a radiation warning sign on it. Dr. Ed tells me that is for the aura machine.
Fast forward >>>>> The year 2002
Two US government agents appear in town inquiring about missing nuclear material from Vladivostok.
Part 2 coming soon
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