We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
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Now I know we said this before but this really is the last Samizdata article on the subject for a while… unless of course someone sends us an article which is pure genius and covers new ground. Patrick Phillips gets the last word
I thought I might offer my two-cents worth in the controversy concerning our armed forces in Afghanistan. The original post by Mr. de Havilland concerning the utility of the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy aircraft carriers was true as far as it went. But it also read like someone from the Navy frantically trying to justify the Navy/Marine Corps budget and force-structure. There’s nothing really wrong with that (and the USN/USMC certainly requires no justification to me), but the analysis provided was highly selective.
When it became obvious that Afghanistan needed to be targeted for the Taliban’s role in supporting the terrorists, we had precisely three things in our military arsenal that could be quickly mobilized to “reach out and touch” that distant, land-locked country. They were Special Forces (predominately Army), USAF heavy bombers, and the Navy’s carrier aircraft and cruise missiles.
We promptly used the available resources — and to impressively good effect. After only a few weeks of preparation time, the Special Forces were in-country conducting reconnaissance and contacting the locals, the USN had grabbed control of the air and performed cruise missile strikes, and the heavy bombers began working their own special magic on the local landscape. The results have been uniformly (pun intended) unpleasant for the Taliban.
As the conflict in Afghanistan moves into its (hopefully) last stages, the USMC is serving its role of providing an extremely competent, highly transportable combined-arms force that will provide more direct muscle than Special Forces can provide. So Marines have seized control of an airstrip that was previously raided/scouted by Army Rangers.
What point am I trying to make here?
Teamwork. We needed all of the capabilities discussed here.
At various times, every force I’ve mentioned above have been declared superfluous by various “experts”.
Heavy Bombers? Don’t need them — their job can be done with cruise missiles and by smaller fighter-bomber aircraft.
Special Forces and Rangers? They dangerously strip too much high quality manpower out of the Army’s regular units.
Cruise missiles? Expensive, ineffective, destabilizing in terms of arms control.
Marines and aircraft carriers? Well, that’s already been discussed.
So while I appreciate the point that the Mr. de Havilland was making, I do think it needed to be expanded upon.
Patrick Phillips
I agree with .40 S&W is an excellent round, with the caveat that it can be quite punishing to shoot over a long period, and I would contend that you need to shoot your self-defence weapon a lot before you can rely on it. 45 ACP has, like my favourite calibre (455 Webley, I own a Webley Mk VI and a Smith 2nd Model Hand Ejector) has the advantage that it can deliver an authoritative hit with a relatively low velocity load; even a light target load from a Colt can end an argument very effectively and more certainly than a lighter high velocity round. To quote (I think) Colonel Cooper:
There are many ways of making a bullet lose velocity; I know very few of making it lose weight.
I think magazine capacity is a chimaera in self-defense pistols; modern high capacity weapons have been driven either by a military/police agenda or competition requirements; there are going to be very few few self-defence situations in which you need more than five or six rounds. What is, I believe required is a pistol portable enough to be carried all the time, rather than an ersatz SMG.
Natalie and I own (In Belgium, these days I’m afraid,) a little Charter Arms Undercover, and a good friend owns its big brother the bulldog. On the day I bought it for Natalie I carried it for several hours in my trousers pocket before she even realised I had it. Only 5 rounds of 38 special, but practice and intelligent choice of ammo made it very credible self defence weapon, had we ever been in a place it were legal to carry one. Of course, If I were expecting trouble I’d make a different choice, but even with the little Charter I’d be prepared for it…
Mike Solent
Samizdata will give Ed Collins the final word in the on-going knife fight pertaining to the roles of the US Army and USMC. Seconds away, round four!
Sirs,
I regret disputing with a former Marine, as I was once part of that illustrious organization, but the statements of Lt Col. Pastel are simply Marine Corps propaganda. I was a weapons platoon sergeant with the 82nd Airborne, an Army unit, in one of the battalions that invaded that island.
As I seem to recall, there was a Seal team that did indeed drown, by being put out too far offshore. This was about five men, not the fifty cited by Col. Pastel. Nor were there seven thousand Rangers, as he states. Two Ranger battalions made first contact with the Cubans by making a low-altitude junp onto the airfield at Pt. Salinas. One of them, I think 1st Bn, brought only their officers and NCO’s, leaving the ‘kids’ at home in Ft. Lewis, in the same spirit as Leonidas sending home his young from Thermopolaye. At most, there were a few hundred Rangers on the island at any time.
The Army eventually put five thousand people on the island, but these were brought in after combat operations were concluded and consisted of MP’s, medical personnel, etc.
The Marine battalion (6th MEU, I think) did nothing more than land at Pearl and drive around a bit. The center of action was always the air strip and the medical school at the south end of the island, in which the Marines took no part.
All due respect to the Marine Corps and Col. Pastel, but the Marines had little effect on Grenada.
Yours truly,
Ed Collins
London WALK FOR CAPITALISM: Tomorrow!
Time and Place:
3.00pm-4.00pm Assemble at Speaker’s Corner, just OUTSIDE Hyde Park, London W2.
4.00pm-6.00pm (Approx.) Walk round outside of Park via Bayswater Road, Kensington Church Street, Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner.
6.00pm-7.00pm Return to Speaker’s Corner for Capitalism Award Presentation.
The Walk
On Sunday 2nd. December 2001 the first ever global Walk For Capitalism will take place. Over 100 cities worldwide, including London, have signed up so far, and you are all welcome to take part and lend your support.
The London “Walk” is open to any person who supports free market capitalism and free trade. This includes business people, employers, teachers and students, actors, poets and anyone else who understands the value of human rights.
We need your assistance to help spread the word. So why not join us, and bring a torch/flashlight to light the way?
See The Walk for Capitalism website for more details. For some info on the Walk for Capitalism in your town, also see the earlier Samizdata article.
Daily Life for Al-Qaeda
MEMORANDUM
Monday, October 22, 2001 @ 8:17am
FROM: Bin Laden, Osama
TO: All Cavemates
RE: The Cave
Hi guys.
We’ve all be putting in long hours lately but we’ve really come together as a group and I love that. Big thanks to Omar for putting up the poster that says “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team'” as well as the one that says “Hang in there baby.” That cat is hilarious.
However, while we are fighting a jihad, we can’t forget to take care of the cave. Frankly, I have a few concerns.
First of all, while it’s good to be concerned about cruise missiles, we should be even more concerned about the scorpions in our cave. Hey, you don’t want to be stung and neither do I, so we need to sweep the cave daily. I’ve posted a sign-up sheet at the main cave opening.
Second, it’s not often I make a video address, but when I do I’m trying to scare the most powerful country on earth, okay? That means that while we’re taping,please don’t ride your razor scooters in the background … just while we’re taping. Thanks.
Third point, and this is a touchy one. As you know, by edict, we’re not supposed to shave our beards. But I need everyone to just think hygiene, especially after mealtime. We’re all in this together.
Fourth, food. I bought a box of Cheez-Its recently and clearly wrote “Osama” on the front and put it on the top shelf. Today my Cheez-Its were gone. Consideration, that’s all I’m saying.
Finally, we’ve heard that there may be American soldiers in disguise trying to infiltrate our ranks. I want to set up patrols to look for them. The first patrol will be Omar, Muhammed, Abdul, Akbar and Richard.
Love you lots.
Osama.
On The Fly Bottle, Will Wilkinson continues to put the boot in to arguments against cloning. It is also an issue that quite exercises Glenn Reynolds on Instapundit.
Twelve British and two Dutch plane-spotters languish in the dismal jails of fellow NATO member Greece, whilst what is probably the most corrupt and ineffective ‘justice’ system in the European ‘Union’ investigates them on charges of espionage. We are told by Greek government spokesmen that “the judicial system must take it’s course” as these harmless geeks sleep on concrete floors surrounded by rapists, thieves and murderers.
Yet over the last 25 years, a Greek Marxist terrorist group called November 17 has, during the course of over 150 terrorist incidents, murdered twenty four people, including a British Army brigadier, a senior CIA officer and three other US national. They have regularly attacked the offices of multinational corporations with bombs, arson and shootings.
And how many of these terrorist have been convicted or killed by the Greek Security Services in the last 25 years?
Er… none.
How many have even been arrested in the last 25 years?
None. Not a single one.
So then would it be fair to say that the Greek Security Services are perhaps the most inept in the western world? Well there is certainly some truth to that, but unfortunately the principal reason is that the November 17 terrorists are all closely linked to the Greek socialist PASOK party and have tendrils deep within the security services themselves, according to people as varied as former CIA chief Jim Wolsey and former Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis.
Jim Wolsey was once quoted as saying:
When you don’t catch a single terrorist after twenty five years, that’s not a mistake… that’s a policy.
It is good to know that we have such wonderful allies within NATO. I guess if those foolish plane-spotters had not been tying up so much police time, November 17 would all be behind bars by now.
Or not.
The hapless Greek people are very ill served by their vile political establishment. Next time the half-wits in Whitehall start muttering about Britain signing up for Europe wide extradition warrants, ponder exactly what sort of judicial systems await in nations of our oh so wonderful ‘allies’.
A few last words from George Harrison…this seemed appropriate
Song: Taxman
Duration: 2.37
Track No.: 1
Composer: Harrison
Vocals: George Harrison
Year: 1966
I thought this was an interesting article in Government Executive Magaine (being a typical libertarian governmentophobe, this not my usual reading I must confess). It is essentially a US Army lamentation and paean to the USMC:
The fact that the Marine Corps was needed to extend into what most Army officers consider their service’s territory had some of them wondering where Army leaders were when the mission planning decisions were being made. “If this doesn’t raise questions about Army relevance then I don’t know what would,” said one infantry captain who says he is beginning to think he might feel more at home in the Marine Corps than in the Army.
and
“You’ve got to give the Marine Corps credit for trying to make themselves useful,” said Thomas Donnelly, deputy executive director of the Project for a New American Century and a former staffer on the House Armed Services Committee. “At least they’re making some attempt to respond to what the country needs to have done. The Army just seems to be spending most of its intellectual effort trying to find ways to stay out of it.”
Ah, I love the smell of inter-service rivalry in the morning. It smells of…victory.
With thanks to Graham V. for pointing the Samizdata at Government Executive Magaine.
My respects to Mr. Bainter, but he is overlooking the fact that air superiority includes knocking out air defense sites. This is not something bombers excel at: the shorter range fighters and attack planes are used for SEAD (suppression enemy air defense) missions.
It usually takes a combination of assets to win. For some operations, such as Grenada, all the necessary assets were contained within the Marines, but the other services insisted on playing too. So, we had 50 SEALS drown in rough seas and 7,000 Rangers shooting at each other across their horseshoe-shaped front lines while a Marine battalion took the island.
In Afganistan, as in Kuwait/Iraq, it is taking combined assets from all the services to manage the war effort effectively. I think that Mr. de Havilland’s point was that if the Navy/Marine Corps mix had been different, the Navy/Marine Corps team probably wouldn’t have been able to participate.
And it is seldom obvious to outsiders, but someone is always trying to reduce or do away with the Marine Corps. This has been true ever since WW II.
Chris Pastel
LTCOL USMCR (RET)
J. Baxter writes:
I am a conservative moving quickly into the libertarian camp. Libertarians are the last bastion of defense for the Constitution, I do believe, and watching the hysterical, knee-jerk reactions of both government and the social movers and shakers these last weeks since 11 September is alarming. The reactions of government beyond the military mode should leave little doubt in the rational mind that we long ago crossed over into socialism and so far away from the Constitution and the First Amendment, that little argument to the contrary remains.
That being said, the First Amendment as written…
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
…should not be merely the whip by which the “religious right” are the ones flogged, but also in order, every time: Congress for screwing around with the free exercise of religion, or the freedom of speech (add and read that “internet”), and of the press (as they parrot the governmental line they should be severely chastised); the peaceable assembly of citizens who are just damn sick and tired of not being counted anymore unless redistricting or a new tax hike is in the works; and yet again the government for using every means possible to shut down the response of the citizenry, if even by demagoguery and the use of the press to further governmental schemes.
There exists an all out assault on the First Amendment, and even those who would defend it to the death deal with the assault piecemeal, rather than exposing the whole battle plan of whatever opposition. The first two amendments, and the 10th, are the targets, and as long as most Americans can live with their take-home pay and ignore the deductions, talk their faith only at church and not criticize any governmental official at any level (try it at the most local level and see the reaction), most Americans are as happy as clams.
Of course the American ire was aroused on 11 September. Home invasion causes such a reaction. But now I watch us being lulled back to sleep by the same governmental agencies responsible for this whole flipping mess anyway.
The blame is being shifted; every American is now a suspect (try getting on a plane these days), and it is little wonder that the prophet par excellence of our time is no one other than Charlie Daniels, who had the temerity to put to music the words:
I ain’t asking nobody for nothing,
if I can’t git it on my own
If you don’t like the way I’m living,
you just leave this long-haired country boy alone
Amen, Charlie… hope your recovery is going well.
By J. Baxter
When bad men combine, the good must associate else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle
– Edmund Burke
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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