[iwar] [fc:Policy.Planning.in.the.Fog.of.War]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-27 11:09:11


Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3529-1004206140-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com>
Delivered-To: fc@all.net
Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Sat, 27 Oct 2001 11:10:08 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 27945 invoked by uid 510); 27 Oct 2001 18:08:22 -0000
Received: from n9.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.59) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 27 Oct 2001 18:08:22 -0000
X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3529-1004206140-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com
Received: from [10.1.4.55] by n9.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 27 Oct 2001 18:09:00 -0000
X-Sender: fc@red.all.net
X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com
Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 27 Oct 2001 18:08:59 -0000
Received: (qmail 5960 invoked from network); 27 Oct 2001 18:08:59 -0000
Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by l9.egroups.com with QMQP; 27 Oct 2001 18:08:59 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta1 with SMTP; 27 Oct 2001 18:08:59 -0000
Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id f9RI9Cf16335 for iwar@onelist.com; Sat, 27 Oct 2001 11:09:12 -0700
Message-Id: <200110271809.f9RI9Cf16335@red.all.net>
To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List)
Organization: I'm not allowed to say
X-Mailer: don't even ask
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3]
From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 11:09:11 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Policy.Planning.in.the.Fog.of.War]
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 17:00 2001-10-27

Pentagon asks US population for ideas 

The Pentagon has launched a competition for the American public to
contribute with ideas on how to catch Osama Bin Laden and how to operate
in Afghanistan. 

The document called for new ideas on "how to destroy difficult targets,
conduct operations in remote areas and avoid the development of weapons
of mass destruction". 

It would appear that if the Pentagon has no new ideas, and its staff are
highly paid to produce intelligence, there does not exist a magic wand
or miracle which will produce the desired effect in the short term. 

Special Forces can scale mountains better than untrained troops, but a
child with an AK-47 assault rifle at a distance of 50 meters can cut
down a platoon with the greatest of ease.  Operating in remote terrain
is always difficult, as the British and Soviet armed forces discovered
to their cost at different times in history.  The regime in Kabul may be
different today but the terrain is the same.  It will be remembered that
the name of the impenetrable mountains in Afghanistan, Hindu Kush, means
"death of Hindus". 

Difficult targets hiding in underground caverns where b bombs cannot
reach, heavily armed and with three years of supplies, are always going
to be.difficult first to find and second, to destroy. 

The easy answer to the Pentagon's search is one word: Intelligence. 
Where were the intelligence services when they were most needed, namely
in the run-up to September 11th, especially since some of the hijackers
were on a list of "suspect persons?" By cooperation between the world's
intelligence services, and not division among them, as seems to have
been the case among the various agencies within the USA before September
11th, intelligence can circulate. 

Covert search-and-destroy operations within Afghanistan and the rest of
the world harbouring terrorists would appear to produce a much more
effective result than bombing busloads of civilians in Kandahar or
dropping cluster bombs in Herat.  Extending the campaign into Ramadan
will lose the USA any sympathy it gained in the aftermath of September
11th, when for the first time this country was perceived by many others
as a victim and not an aggressor, if indeed this sympathy has not waned
already. 


This to attack the issue immediately at hand.  Basic notions of
intelligence of another kind will lead one to suspect that an approach
which envisages the root causes would prevent phenomena like Bin Laden
from appearing.  This approach would be along the lines of not
committing acts of international terrorism, not sponsoring fascist and
oppressive regimes across the globe, not supporting the fascist state of
Israel, a country which overtly chooses not to respect UN resolutions
ordering it to leave the Palestinian lands it occupied in 1947, while
its "soldiers" kick pregnant women in the street and shoot children in
the eye with rubber bullets. 

Financial operations which aim to help countries and not to transform
them into monetary automatons, which exist like a perpetual-motion
engine, forcing them to change their social and economic policies to
support the pay-back of loans, creating a total economic and political
dependence, would also produce less resentment and more respect.  These
are simple notions of basic intelligence, a question of brain over
brawn, grey matter over ignorance, which has unfortunately produced what
the Pentagon, now Quadragon, is currently seeking to destroy. 

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY 
PRAVDA.Ru 
LISBON PORTUGAL 

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Pinpoint the right security solution for your company- Learn how to add 128- bit encryption and to authenticate your web site with VeriSign's FREE guide!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/yQix2C/33_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:57 PST