Posted on 03/15/2017 8:27:50 PM PDT by pissant
Secretary of Defense James Mattis has asserted that climate change is real, and a threat to American interests abroad and the Pentagon’s assets everywhere, a position that appears at odds with the views of the president who appointed him and many in the administration in which he serves.
In unpublished written testimony provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee after his confirmation hearing in January, Mattis said it was incumbent on the U.S. military to consider how changes like open-water routes in the thawing Arctic and drought in global trouble spots can pose challenges for troops and defense planners. He also stressed this is a real-time issue, not some distant what-if.
“Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today,” Mattis said in written answers to questions posed after the public hearing by Democratic members of the committee. “It is appropriate for the Combatant Commands to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning.”
(Excerpt) Read more at propublica.org ...
Some FReepers up thread are reacting emotionally without considering what Sec Mathis actually said. He is correct - the climate is always changing and we have clear evidence for the threats he mentions.
Like you, I did not read or see him make a connection to human causation, which is important.
You're full of it...or are you drinking tonight? You're the one who posted to me and said that "other" warming, besides man made warming, is a hoax.
Go back and read the damn thread again...if you are capable of it.
Nor, I see, do you even know the answer about the song and who sung it....just as I suspected.
All of this crap, in the late 20th century, began as A NEW ICE AGE, then is was the hysterical GLOBAL WARMING, and when that all went off the rails, it became the new and not so nifty "CLIMATE CHANGE" !
Man made or "other" refers to the above; you poor thing. Bless your heart.
You, OTOH....well, you sound as though you are doing or have done something/s that would cause such an obvious abject lack of comprehension.
“Not that impressed with Mad Dog.”
Oh my dear Freepers, who is Mad dog’s number one threat? Think hard now. Any military action he might take would be howled upon by who?
DEMOCRATS
Now, how do you make Democrats protect you? Make them love you? Think hard now....
People do not understand tactics.
No. 7. you’re right. This is not about AGW (global warming) per se. It is about how “climate” effects a combat arena, something I saw first hand in Vietnam and Cambodia( as a journalist).
You need special equipment, medicines, and tactics in a jungle environment, a swamp environment, a Mangrove sector, mountainous regions (with box canyons) (re AShau Valley, Ia Drang Valley, etc), versus the elephant grass in much of I Corp.
You also need to know how to operate in a marine/estuary environment as did our Brown Water navy (Swiftboats, monitors, etc).
In Desert Storm and OIF (in which my son fought), the climate/environment (thousands of years old), was a major enemy (re sand in the equipment/vehicles, preventing air support, blinding ground troops, as the Iraqi fedeyeen found out as they were killed by the thousands thanks to night vision googles, lack of water, lack of clean water, diseases, insects, etc).
Since Al Qaeda and ISIS and even the Taliban operate in these types of environments, with similar climates except for the Afghanistan mountains, we need to know how to operate there and have adapted magnificently to it.
And there isn’t a damned thing you can do to change the thousands of years old climate/environment. Cutting car exhaust emissions is like pissing into a hurricane - it doesn’t make any difference.
Are Artic ice, yes, it is a major concern as the Russian Navy expands into areas nearer to Canada and the US that they couldn’t access before. And we can’t stop the ice from melting, moving in different directions, or even growing. We can ADAPT to it by using new tactics and technology, of which we are very good.
Jungles will be jungles, deserts will be deserts, and you aren’t going to change them. You can only adapt to them, but being aware of natural and abnormal changes is always a part of the preparation equation. If not, then you’re a fool and incompetent.
I don’t think that Gen. Mattis is either. I think he understands that things change and he wants to be prepared to deal with that.
You're free to explain what you meant in your post.
But when you say that I'm refuting my own post, that makes you clueless.
LOL. Yes honey bunch?
I almost NEVER drink an alcoholic beverage, nor have I ever done any illicit substance.
Sure. Then document me "refuting" my own post.
+1
“Liberal Hoax”, yes, the whole article.
Going to have to get used to it until the swamp drains.
That is indeed an issue.
General Mathis logic: :"No lead-based ammowill be issued to my Marines. The enemy might get lead poisoning."
Rush said today that a lot of generals are libs.
Naaa... he’ll instruct Navy and Air Force fighter pilots are forbidden to use after-burners.
WTF???? Trump needs to take this idiot to the woodshed and tell him to stick to issues he us presumably competent at.
His stupidity could get people killed out there.
Trump will eventually straighten him out or replace him.
Between this and wanting an Obama hack to assist him I think it’s obvious Mattis needs to go.
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