41 Comments

Count me in with the fourth recommendation.

Support our troops. Bring them home.

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lots of dereliction of duty going on around at the White House, Congress and the five sided puzzle palace. If we can’t secure our soldiers with ground based laser systems like iron beam or the ones used on Navy ships, then someone in the Chain of command needs to be cashiered and drummed out of the military.

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Jan 29Liked by Stephen Bryen

2nd question. I understand that US military aircraft all have a type of ID for friendly and foe. I would assume our drone has this as well. Authorities are claiming they mistook the Iranian proxy drone for our own. This smells to high heaven. What say you?

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author

Military aircraft have an IFF (Identification Friend of Foe) transponder code. The latest type are called Mode 5 IFF. There are small IFF transponders for drones (https://insideunmannedsystems.com/identify-friend-or-foe-iff-capability-for-small-tactical-attritable-defense-uavs/). But some air defense systems do not have an interrogation capability. If they had an Avenger air defense system at this post, it probably had IFF interrogation capability. Take note: for an IFF system to work it has to be pre-set with a code that the interrogator can understand and validate. I don't know what, if any, air defenses were at the US base, or even if there whether the IFF capability if there was being used. The "explanation" in the WSJ is not convincing about anything.

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Thanks Stephen

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Impeach Biden. Court martial Austin and all the joint chiefs

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It's a start...go back 10-18 years and bring all the retired GOs back for court martial. They should all lose their pensions, their freedoms, and their lucrative board positions...

bsn

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It seems clear that lots of folks in DC need to show a large loss of personnel, to get the US citizens excited enough to fund a Middle Eastern war. Or the big shots are really past any form of competence whatsoever.

My bet is the folks in charge really are wanting to start a new major war in the Middle East, and a few sacrifices of our personnel aren't important to them.

Thanks for the good article 👍

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‘Why did the Army prevent and block the use of Israel's Iron Dome system?’

Could it be because someone in the Army has read ‘The Samson Option’ by Seymour M. Hersh?

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author

No, not related. The reason was that they did not want Iron Dome to be accepted as an army system, which would have the effect of cancelling a US procurement the army wanted to make. This despite the tremendous record of success of Iron Dome. Now the US Marines are adopting key parts of Iron Dome (command system, Tamir interceptor missiles etc) for their new system, but it is a few years away at least. Meanwhile we are holding two Iron Dome systems that could have been sent to Iraq, for example. Instead the Army sent one of them to Guam, where it was not needed, since the threat at Guam is from big Chinese missiles.

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Thank you for taking the time to respond and for explaining what is happening at a practical level. I was thinking more about intelligence security for the Army in this case. Take for example a note in the fly leaf of ‘Samson Option’ which reads,

“How, in the late 1970s, Israel not only stole reconnaissance intelligence from our [USA] most secret of satellites, the KH-11, but used that data to help target the Soviet Union;”

But as you say, it’s not related.

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"How did this come about?"

It came about because too many Americans don't want to remember in the right way that the A in USA doesn't stand for Asia. The Russians, Chinese, Iranians, and others, however, are not nearly so confused about the situation. It's safe to assume, I think, that they envision a year during which they can publish an eviction notice AND enforce it, too.

Every alert observer understands why the USA is embedded in Asia, esp. the ME. It's not just for oil. So if the aforementioned three powers are thinking of their own legitimate interests, they will become aligned with the goal of the disintegration of the "Zionist entity", as many Muslims are fond of calling it. They will therefore be motivated to exacerbate the inherent contradictions of said "entity" until it goes to pieces. After it does so, the motivation of forgetful Americans to rmaintain a military presence in the ME will be greatly diminished. An eviction notice, at least for the ME, if it hasn't already been rendered irrelevant by other developments, can be served and enforced.

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author

I doubt the scenario you have outlined. I think the situation is much more fluid, and I don't think any of them are strong enough if the US puts up a fight.

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Fluid, yes, but I'm not expecting any great change during the next ten years. Let's think ahead to Jan. 2062, however. That will mark the 100th anniversary of an occasion when David Ben-Gurion made abundantly clear the real long term goal of his Zionism.

"In Jerusalem, the United Nations (a truly United Nations) will build a Shrine of the Prophets to serve the federated union of all continents; this will be the seat of the Supreme Court of Mankind, to settle all controversies among the federated continents, as prophesied by Isaiah."

Thirty-eight years is like an eon in the politcal thinking of most Americans, but it's plenty of time for radical changes to play out. Think for instance about the demographic changes in the USA since 1986. Or the probable disappearance of secular Ashkenazim from Palestine by 2062 as they are outbred by everyone else.

In the meantime, theocrats of the "entity" (LOL) find theirselves in the awkward position of perpetuating a state founded not by pious theocrats who took orders from the moshiach but by atheists and socialists who decided to be their own moshiach. The theocrats also have some explaining to do to their Asian neighbors about the theocrats' motivations and plans. Again, Isaiah provides evidence, as do Deuteronomy, Exodus, and other texts. Thirty-eight years is also more than enough time to flip the ruling class of India, a portion of which may already be wise to the implications of Ex. 19:5-6. So the entity is doomed, like the indigenous people of western Europe. It will crack up because of internal contradictions, be overrun by outraged fellow Asians, or some combination of the two.

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I've never read this point of view before. But it made me ask myself a question, "What built Europe?"

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Would you have said the same thing about the Peoples Army of Vietnam or the Taliban?

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So it was another soft mutiny against Trump?

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I thought that Trump ordered us out of our illegal occupation of Syria while he was still President?

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author

He took some troops out, but not all.

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He did but apparently the Pentagon disobeyed his order.

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Bullshit, the Orange zionazi has stated numerous times on camera that "we kept the oil" in Syria!

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My guess is that are too many bases spreaded everywhere. Going after Iran is as usesless as going after Lucas Skywalker, the issue here is the lack of adaptation to the modern warfare environment and most probably a lack of strategic thinking and forecasting. Instead of putting american lives at risk one should consider a consolidation of actual bases, redefining priorities and adapting actions to possibilities. actual US air defense is not economically and industrially feasible.

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This article is ill-informed. C-RAM or the Counter-Rocket Artillery and Mortar System is Post 2010 advanced automated base protection system specifically designed to protect against drones and other small close-in aerial threats. NASAMS were developed in the 90s and only improved recently. Are similar but unit cost are more expensive and no more effective than a C-RAM at base protection. Nor are we giving NASAMS to Ukraine instead of the US Army. This is an outright lie. The US has plenty of NASAM and other systems. Also important to point out the system is developed in a joint agreement between Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace (KDA) and Raytheon. We have small outposts of soldiers in foreign locations with limited supply routes as a legacy of the counter-ISIS campaign. We can either escalate and put in more troops and weapon systems (More soldiers are likely to suffer casualties.) or we can evaluate our strategic priorities in the region. But making it an Ukraine vs US Army troops is a lie, and a blatant one at that. It is about regional priorities, manpower and a complex regional geopolitical environment.

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author

I have been following the C-Ram business for some years and, like its naval counterpart Phalanx, it is far from adequate. The fact is we are throwing almost all our stuff into Ukraine so please don;t tell me that is a blatant lie,. You are welcome to disagree, but not that way.

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Bryen you and I both damn well know that the US has plenty of equipment to provide to its forces in the field. The overwhelming Majority of NASAMs are provided by European Allies or Purchased. You make everything about Ukraine vs. something else. But why? You have no proof. You simply don't' support Ukraine in its fight against Russia for whatever reason. You can say Hey the US should give small bases NASAM systems and provide additional troops to support the RADARS and other components but you don't say that. You say the US chose Ukraine over US soldiers. And that is a lie.

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author

Dear Mr. Brantley

You have your point of view, to which, I suppose you are entitled. But we don't have much in our arsenals and anway we have sent very little to our bases in Iraq and Syria. We have however not hesitated to dump excessive amounts of hardware into Ukraine. Anyway we don't "give" to "small bases" (al-Assad is huge but does not have so many US troops), we supply to small bases. I think the Army, DOD and the administration have recklessly disregarded the actual needs of our forces stationed in these places. I asked a question about why we are shortchanging our troops by supplying stuff to Ukraine and not to our soldiers. That is not a lie, and your point makes no sense.

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To say that we are throwing all our stuff to Ukraine is also a blatant lie. One that is so easily debunked as to remove all credibility. From January 24, 2022 and October 31, 2023 (Just about 20 months worth of AID) the US sent approximately $46.3 Billion in Weapons and equipment (in that same time the US spent $1.54 trillion on the DoD) or approximately 3%. So either all the sources reporting on the amounts we are giving to Ukraine are wrong. Or your numbers are wildly off. https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts. CFR reports that the US directly provided 12 NASAM systems to Ukraine. (FYI)

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author

Please, You are wrong.

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To give you a fair shake, I spent some time reading some of the information on cfr.org. What I found is that the Council on Foreign Relations is filled to the brim with former Obama appointees and sympathizers with a few quasi-conservatives thrown in to give the appearance of "balance". Obviously, they are eager to see more money thrown at a conflict where the "big guy" has stuck his neck out too far to bring it back in without a loss of face. This administration has yet to put a win in the foreign policy game and has had nothing but mistakes, foibles and missteps from Afghanistan to Iran to Ukraine. Furthermore, I found very little information on cfr.org as to the true state of the conflict in Ukraine. I subscribed to the Asia Times back in 2022 just to find out what was really happening over in Ukraine (I'd become suspicious of the Pravda-type headlines and propaganda-like articles from US sources.) There, I stumbled upon Mr. Bryen's writings and, to date, he has been more accurate and consistent as to the true state of the Ukrainian conflict. Unless, you have other credible sources, Mr. Bryen wins today's match.

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CFR has the benefit of being among the top 3, lets say, for being the all-time heavyweight of think tanks. It's plugged in as well as it is possible to be plugged in - but ofc has a political "angle". When it comes to spending CFR will simply source reporting of this type from DoD statements (in the case of unplanned spending as in Ukraine), or the CRS and CBO. One can just get those sources directly and avoid questions of bias. All three produce materials that are anyway more readable than think tank fare. My 2cents. Don't have a dog in this particular argument.

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Good analysis.

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Thanks for the link. It was very helpful

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The basis on which the United States supposes entitlement to the privilege of nesting its military in bases around the Near East is rotting away. What decayed right does it continue to take for granted that it can intrude and impose the coerciveness of its presence on other countries' soil? The concept of the US military is no source of pride and superiority in the eyes of many nationals. These military bases invoke an ever-growing sense of shame.

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We may use some of our toys and they may have an effect, but anyone who believes we are going to outlast the locals probably believes the Vietnamese are going to give up any year now.

Come home America and pursue a neutralist foreign policy and ethos.

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Actually, by now we all know the missile barage was aimed at Yankeestan's illegal military base in al-Tanf, Syria.

Enough, Yankee go home!

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Is war with Iran inevitable? Would this lead to a multi front war against other nations?

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author

An attack on Iran does not necessarily mean a bigger war as that would be up to the Iranians and their proxies. However, from what I can see, the administration will not take any action directly against Iran.

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The reality is if it comes to our National Security we Democrats and GOP are in complete denial as far as our National Security is concerned. The Freedom Caucus capping the Defense budget. Ronald Reagan is turning in his grave.

Even our big bases are unprotected. Forget about Guam in a conflict.

China has tens of thousands of offensive ballistic missiles. Iran has thousands. Where are our thousands of Pershing 3 or offensive SM-3 missiles?

We need to scale up missile defense including space based missile defense to protect the homeland.

We need to add 2000 tactical nuclear missiles to break Russias grip on dominance escalation.

Presently our defense industries despite 100 million dollar CEO salaries are unable to deliver.

We will have to create a National rocket motor and munition production entity to scale up production.

Lastly cluster munitions are highly effective. NATO needs to stop listening to Biden and resume production of these munitions.

Plus our allies need to pursue their own nuclear deterrence as our nuclear umbrella has undergone senile shrinkage

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