Posted on 12/20/2005 5:25:53 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Fixed.
There is a huge difference when you use the term Soviet and Russian.
I don't claim to KNOW what I'm talking about, at least not in this case. I'm trying to make reasonable extrapolations from what's presented and what I thought I knew. Which alas tend to magnify any garbage in, garbage out problems. If I'm spouting nonsense I'd like to learn and improve. Unlike you I've never been there. I've thought of several ways I could be wrong. Have I found at least some of my problem(s)?
1. The article says "some of which were buried as recently as two weeks ago." I took that to imply they knew what was recent and assumed that was a none huge quantity (as opposed to the 1000+ non-recent weapons in that dump and the millions more in hundreds of other dumps) so that the checking for prints just there could be done in a couple hours or less. I also guessed that prints wouldn't last long in the heat so that any they found would be recent and thus more useful. Dusting more would make less sense than counting chads throughout Florida.
2. I assumed that knowing who was currently stashing weapons there had nontrivial intelligence value to us or the local Iraqi authorities. That if they knew how to find him they'd want to pick him up at least for questioning. If they caught him independently they'd want to ask him about this. I suppose the bad guys doing such work might be of a low enough level to not be worth any effort to find them.
3. I assumed we not only have the ability to dust for prints in theater, but that we have enough capacity for that to allocate it to something like this. This seems less likely in hindsight, but if they'd found it a useful tactic in the past I presume they would try to increase their capacity.
4. I didn't expect us to have a fingerprint database of everyone there, but we should have one of some folks. As an extreme case we should have Al-Zarqawi's because he'd been in a Jordanian prison. We should have prints for some other known players. At one time or another we had a lot (?100k or more) of prisoners, most of whom we eventually released. Many may not of been worth printing, but as their numbers fell and our suspicions about them rose some of them must have been worth printing. I hope before we send them to Gitmo. If nothing else so you could defend yourself against charges from the NYT (e.g., "I couldn't have abused Omar Smith, my prisoner was Omar Jones.") I'd presume any such print database would be computerized. The smaller our database the less likely to find a match, but then the quicker and cheaper to search it. If they're talking about fingerprint checks at legal points of entry to the US we can run prints at a central site in Iraq. But if who we've entered in the database are all unlikely to have done this weapons handling then its not worth even minimal effort to check them.
Whether it is worth the effort to collect the prints for the anticipated yield or whether it is a waste of resources better used elsewhere I guess I can't say in this case. I'm not saying we should only use a legalistic, FBI approach to fighting the War on Terror. Clinton proved that doesn't work. But we shouldn't overlook the FBI's tools for those cases when they are useful.
First off, you're assuming we have assets there that *probably* don't exist there. You're talking about massive police work.
Second, your assuming that there are data bases there that *probably* don't exist. Don't assume that there are local sheriffs with computerized files let alone hardcopy files.
Third, you're assuming that there is a good probability that these prints would match something in the barely existing data base or hardcopy files. Doubtful. Any prints *probably* belong to some local who is burying the stuff for money and out of fear of refusal. Or some 'insurgent' who is completely unknown. I think there's a better chance of finding Kerry's prints than Al Zarqawri's.
In case you don't realize it, we haven't yet found a way to totally vet the police and military to prevent bad guy penetration. The assumption is that both the police and military ARE penetrated by enemy agents.
My assumption is that your return on investment there would be nil. You *might* get an ID on a couple locals, and then you have to find them, but the time and effort to do that is probably not worth it. When they tell you that they did it at gunpoint and that they don't know who made them do it, what are you going to do?
You don't seem to grasp how primitive much of the place is and what a vast undertaking your task would be.
Depending on spell check?
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