About This War

These wars are never as simple as the planners see them. Remember, ISIS is armed only because we gave arms to Iraq… which ISIS captured. We have literally armed the enemy!

There’s been a lot of drum beating about Syria and ISIS lately. I have been to this rodeo before. I remember Vietnam and everything that’s followed.

I’ll fast forward for you. We do not win.

These wars are never as simple as the planners see them. Remember, ISIS is armed only because we gave arms to Iraq… which ISIS captured.

We have literally armed the enemy!

So now we’re going to try again?

The worry is attacks in America from ISIS and its followers. These would be concentrated attacks–just a few people inflicting huge damage. But what we’re doing now won’t stop that kind of attack!

It’s a tough situation. Many of the best paid workers in America manufacture military hardware. Our economy is dependent on a constant war footing. The tendency is to use what you’ve got.

Maybe my fear of war is best stated by General/President Eisenhower who saw the problem from both sides.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

I’m not a fan of war.

Enough War

isis

I hear the drum beat. The hawks among us are posturing for war against ISIS. We didn’t know they existed a few months ago. Now they’re the scourge.

I have seen this before. It never ends well.

I have no doubt ISIS is evil and would kill Americans if they could. However, wholesale bombing won’t stop lone wolf attackers. We’ll kill civilians, create ill will and spend a fortune, but any threat that exists today will still exist, even if ISIS is defeated.

In the 21st Century there is some evil we’re just defenseless against. How do you stop the Tsarnaev Brothers at the Boston Marathon or American citizen Faisal Shahzad who unsuccessfully planted a car bomb in Times Square?

You can’t.

Who Is Bellingcat?

These are nondescript images. They could be anywhere, until he looks closely at the background (that’s his red arrow for reference). By the end of the article the training camp has been found.

I do too much reading! Hours every day. The Internet is my personal time sink. Everything is here.

This blog entry started as a Hacker News link with a provocative headline: “Gun Safety, Self Defense, and Road Marches – Finding an ISIS Training Camp.” It led to bellingcat.com, motto: “by and for citizen investigative journalists.”

Bellingcat was funded as a Kickstarter project, raising a little north of $80,000.

I read the article and my jaw dropped. The unnamed author had found some photos online,

showing one of the Islamic State’s training camps in Ninewa Province.

example

These are nondescript images. They could be anywhere, until he looks closely at the background (that’s his red arrow for reference). By the end of the article the training camp has been found. It’s along the Tigris River in Mosul. And all this done using the Internet.

Same for “How to Locate a “Secret” Pro-Russian Training Camp,” which is currently missing some of its supporting images.

The site is full of investigations and discussions based on freely available information. I can’t yet vouch for its efficacy, but taken at face value this is pretty powerful stuff.

Bellingcat.com gets a bookmark. I wonder what they’ll find next.