US Special Forces for #BringBackOurGirls? Why not?
McCain: Send U.S. Special Forces to Rescue Nigerian Girls
Excerpt:
“If they knew where they were, I certainly would send in U.S. troops to rescue them, in a New York minute I would, without permission of the host country,” McCain told The Daily Beast Tuesday. “I wouldn’t be waiting for some kind of permission from some guy named Goodluck Jonathan,” he added, referring to the president of Nigeria.Comments: The "why not?":
- Remember Operation Eagle Claw? 8 dead in the desert! (At least that was our fight). Or Black Hawk Down?
- Violates the principle of engaging only when our nation's interests are truely involved.
- Every special forces engagement not only risks US personnel .. .but civilians
- Nigerian forces
- Or Nigerian home grown vigilantes
Nigerian Militant Makes a Name for Himself Through Terror:
ReplyDeleteWhen he appeared in a video on Monday boasting of having abducted more than 200 schoolgirls, the leader of terror group Boko Haram took the occasion to egg on the U.S. Army and get in a dig at ancient Egypt.
"We don't fear any American troops," shouted Abubakar Shekau, whose Islamist insurgency has terrorized northern Nigeria and recently drawn search-and-rescue advisers from the U.S. and other countries. "Let even the Pharaoh himself be sent down here! We will deal with him squarely!"
McCain talks tough now. Where was he when Khartoum was systematically killing four million people in South Sudan? And the phrase "first, do no harm" comes to mind. Should politicians be required to take the Hippocratic Oath? :^)
ReplyDeletePeggy Noonan's case for: Bring Back the Girls—Quietly
ReplyDeleteJohn McCain has it exactly right. (I don't think I've ever written that sentence.) He told CNN that as soon as the U.S. learned that hundreds of children had been kidnapped and stolen away by a rabid band of terrorists in Nigeria, we should have used "every asset that we have—satellite, drones, any capabilities that we had to go after them." He told the Daily Beast: "I certainly would send in U.S. troops to rescue them, in a New York minute I would, without permission of the host country." He added, as only Sen. McCain would: "I wouldn't be waiting for some kind of permission from some guy named Goodluck Jonathan. " That's Nigeria's hapless president.
Mr. McCain said that if he were president he would have moved already, and that is not to be doubted.
There is nothing wrong with taking action—when possible—that is contained, discrete, swift, targeted, humanitarian and, not least, can be carried through successfully. And then shutting up about it. That might remind the world—and ourselves—who we are. And it might have very helpful effects down the road. "If we do that, the Americans may come." Leave the monsters guessing.
So, my dream: We go in, rescue the kids, get out, go home, and say nothing. Our troops would be happy with that: They like their jobs and like doing good, but the showbiz aspects that sometimes follow their actions only lead to distraction and discord. The White House would have to dummy up too, which would be hard for them. Staffers always want to make a president look good, and Obama staffers seem to think their primary purpose is to aggrandize the president. But there would be no network special with a breathless Brian Williams giving us the tick-tock on how it all went down and how the president kept his cool when all about him others were losing theirs.
What happened would, of course, get around. The world would know in time. But we would say nothing, like dignified people who use their might not for praise or power, but to achieve a measure of decency in the world.
You can't do this kind of thing every time there is a need. But—if it's not too late, if it hasn't been made impossible by the passage of time—you could do it this time.