Invasion of Iraq

This portion of the text was all about the invasion of Iraq and the reasons for invading. On the night of the invasion Special Ops teams were assigned to capture a 9 Iraqi crude oil export facilities. 5 of these facilities were oil terminals that were responsible for $25 billion in oil revenue per year for each facility.(138) The theory is that these high revenue oil terminals would be essential for the post war recovery and needed to be overtaken intact. "The future revenues and the cost of replacement aside, the military planners were well aware of the immense environmental disaster the sabotage of these installations could bring to the area."(144) Yes there is a big possibility that the military planners did actually believe that by saving the oil terminals they could more easily rebuild the government. However, there is always the motivation to control the export of oil in Iraq because it would benefit the US. There have been rumors that the United States only went into Iraq to control the large portion of oil coming from the middle east. The facts of the mission also point to this possibility. The SEALs, the most dynamic and elite squad in the military, were assigned not to take over terrorist hideouts or even possible WMD sights, but they were assigned to protect what America wants to protect and that was the oil. The idea that America invaded Iraq in order to stop possible production of WMD's was proven insignificant from the fact that SEAL teams were already searching Iraq thoroughly for WMD's and have yet to find them. "Long before the SEALs attacked the oil targets, Special Forces were out in the vast Iraqi western desert to ensure that no Scud missile launchers were there to threaten Israel."(146) As a nation, America had the power and ability to sneak into Iraq and search for weapons of mass destruction before the actual invasion. So why was it necessary to invade Iraq if they could just have easily searched for these weapons of mass destruction without a full scale invasion? Along with this fact that their morals for going into Iraq proved to be insufficient, the invasion was also only supported by Americans. In Afghanistan there were dozens of countries supporting each other in trying to take down al-Qaeda, but now when America wants to also invade Iraq no other nations want to join in. That seems extremely fishy to me. Why were all these countries not wanting to invade Iraq? They probably knew that there was no weapons of mass destruction. There were no other supporting countries in this political choice to invade, "this was an American plan with American Command and control, and the major forces in play would be American."(145) The fact that only America is willing to invade Iraq creates a spark to wonder why we are actually invading Iraq. There is a very big possibility that all the other countries know that Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction, even America probably knew. However, from the invasion plans of securing the high revenue oil targets, it is clear that the main focus was not on weapons of mass destruction but was on the control of the oil export. This makes total sense considering America is one of the highest importers of oil in the world. Weapons of mass destruction my ass.

Down Range Pt. 3

This section of the book described an actual SEAL mission just a month into the Afghan war. This is such a treat because so rarely does the public get to know about what the SEALs and the SOF forces are doing overseas. Their protection and safety is directly affected by their secrecy. From this mission I have learned so much information on how the Navy SEALs and Special Ops operate. There are three major attributes that make a successful counter terrorist team, teamwork, intel, and speed. Speed is only relevant for the beginning of the mission between the time they get the tip that there is an enemy somewhere until the time they get onto the insertion vehicles. The Task Force K-bar was comprised of Special Ops Forces from Germany, France, and Great Britain, and conventional elements from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as Marines and SEALs. This was the name of the SOF group that would take the missions in central and southern Afghanistan. Di spite the large variety of forces the SEALs were always the first to respond to the call and therefore took most of the missions. The Special Ops teams needed to be quick because, "Special operations taskings are often driven by perishable intelligence, which means victory belongs to the swift."(96) The target of interest will not stay still forever. The intelligence that they gather can change within minutes. One minute a high value target would be in a building the next he is across town. Therefore, the key to success is speed and the SEALs were the best at it. They would often plan their missions on the run to the helipad and finish them in the chopper. This saved so much time and was the reason why they were so successful in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the SEALs are nothing without proper intel.
All of their missions are based on intelligence gathered from all different types of sources. they received intel from, local sources, CIA, radio intercepts, cell phone conversations, images from satellites, Predator drones, P-3 manned aircraft, and the most common which is human intelligence from captured soldiers and detainees.(94) Not all missions were successful because of their intelligence. There were a lot of "dry holes" which are operations that are unsuccessful because of the intelligence or the enemy knew that they were coming. However, this mission that they described was not a dry hole; they hit the jackpot and needed support from the entire Task Force K-bar. Zhawar Kili Valley was a possible important al-Qaeda stronghold just next to the Pakistani border. This would allow the escape of terrorists in and out of Afghanistan. there was intelligence that there was activity at this sight so the SEALs went in along with the standard team of SEALs, interpreter, Air Force Combat controllers, and EOD's. The Air Force Combat Controllers were two soldiers who were specialized in making smart bombs even more precise. The EOD's were just engineers who specialized in demolition. The AFCC's were so important during this mission because whenever a hostile force was seen they could give the coordinates to overflying fighters that would bomb the heck out of the insurgents within 400 yards of friendly forces. The actual teamwork involved is amazing and in detail it is very lengthy. First predator drone and other reconnaissance aircraft had the compound under constant surveillance while the SEAls were on the ground. A Predator had spotted about twenty armed men heading toward the cluster of huts where the SEALs spent the night. A P-3 manned surveillance aircraft was sent in to do more specific surveillance and called in an AC-130 Spectre gunship. Then the P-3 called in the position of both the friendlies and the hostile forces so that they do not accidental kill the SEALs. The gunship fires 105mm cannon shells, that are 10 times as powerful as a grenade, at the hostile forces from eighteen thousand feet. The enemy forces had no idea what hit them and had no idea that they were being watched by the Air Force above them. Overall this teamwork between the Air Force, Navy, and Marines is priceless because without one the rest struggles. The marines were able to use snipers and infantry to cover the SEALs as they search the caves of the Zhawar Kili Valey. Without one another the mission would fail. This chapter really showed me the importance of speed, intelligence, and teamwork.

Down Range Post 2(Chapter 3)

As it has been a while since I last posted on this book I read my last post and would like to update some ideas and conclusions that I came to that were not necessarily correct. At first the Navy SEALS were portrayed as a bunch of no holds Rambo warriors that would shoot to kill and ask questions later. However, this was completely wrong. They like to see themselves as global police officers of war. When given the chance to recon a potential hostile building or paint it for the air force to bomb the SEALs would chose to recon because that’s what they do. After several long days of surveillance on the house of the doctor of bin Laden a car pulls up and flashes its lights and what appear to be armed men get out of the car. The SEALs relay this information and are given the choice to destroy the building with a smart bomb or search the house first. The SEALs did not want to just take the easy way out and bomb the heck out of the building killing everyone. "We didnt feel right about it. We knew there were people inside, but only a few vehicles came and went. We could ill them all with a few JDAMs, but who were we killing?"(84) The SEALs are not cold hearted killers that want to take kill every terrorist insight. It turned out in this situation that the building was just full of old people and kids. Thanks to the strategy of the SEALs not a shot was fired and no civilian was hurt. However, the idea that the SEALs can drop out of the sky unannounced and create havoc is what they want the terrorists to think. Just 5 weeks after September 11th 100 Special Forces personnel were air dropped into a compound thought to be frequently used by a Taliban leader Muhammad Omar. There they took over the compound and discovered several large weapon caches ad valuable documents. However, the most important aspect is that “it told the Taliban and those under their protection that anytime, anywhere, American airborne infantry can drop from the sky. It sent the message that American SOF forces can go where they want and when they want.”(71) This sense of power is what made the SEALs so well known to be able to go in do their job and get out before anyone even knew that they were there. It changes the states of minds of the enemy; they feel unsafe anywhere. Secrecy is key to the SEALs, “it is best for the enemy to wonder what happened to an al-Qaeda fighter or insurgent leader. Why did he disappear? Was he killed or did he abandon the cause? Or did he defect?”(87) This sense of sneakyness and ability to be where they want when they want is what defines the SEALs and their tactics.

"If you have sex, you will get pregnant, and die"

After looking at the two websites it is clear that the Pro Life website really tries to give the facts of abortion and tries to scare people into giving them the truth. Surprosingly I did not see almost any religious preachings on the home page. The only thing that was linked to the argument that the fetus should never be killed is that they had a short fact that after 22 days from conseption the fetus' heart starts to beat. On the other hand the Pro Choice website was very informational on the laws and restrictions these laws give the women. For example, they had a link to an article on how there is a new law that will not support women that are under federal health care like in the army or any other federal job to get an abortion. It also talks about the health behind abortions and the concerns. In my opinion this website was much better because it showed how the new laws are really restricting the methods that women can recieve abortions. In my opinion, the women should have the right to chose. Even though it seems like murder it truely is not. First off the baby would not have even existed if it were not for the woman to concieve it so they should have the right to reverse what they have done. However, if the girl is 17 and under they must have a parent consent of just one of the parents. There can be trouble getting both if they are devorced so I believe one is okay. However, letting a 16 year old girl get an abortion by herself seems to be very wrong. Also, there should be no time restrictions for the consent. If they sign the form then they sign the form they shouldnt need the time to stall and have them think it over. I believe the father does not have to be notified because once again that could just start up more problems. For most of these cases of abortion its just an accident that the woman gets pregnant and she feels terrible that she has to kill the baby. Also it is the woman who will have to go through the pregnancy not the man. She will be the one going through 9 months of hell if she doesnt get an abortion not the man. The first law that shows up for Illinois is the abortion ban. It states that there is an unconstitutional and unenforcable law that bans abortions in Illinois. That to me seems stupid. First off if something is unenforcable and unconstitutional then how can it be a law. If a state law goes against the law of the land then it is unjust. To me abortion is the same as using the day after pill which is the same as using birth control which is the same as using a condom. The argument for pro life is that these babies desearve to live since they are alive at conception. But then how far can you take that? Arent they saying that every time a girl has a period or a boy masterbates they are killing a baby then. No that is just a cycle of reproduction. The reason why women have the period cycle is so that they will always have an egg ready and when they are not ready the egg just dies. Let me repeat that WHEN THEY ARE NOT READY THE EGG JUST DIES. That is the same as an abortion when the woman are not ready then the baby dies.

Conclusion

This article is great because it brings all of the death penalty together. It shows how the proportion of blacks that are tried for execution that get killed are much much higher than the proportion of whites that are tried and executed. It also shows how expensive execution is. In California alone it costs tax payers 114 million dollars a year more than if the inmates were to be granted life in prison without parole. It also shows that the southern states use the death penalty much more than the rest of the nation. There have been over 1000 killings in the southern region and the second highest is the Midwest with only 144. Therefore, using this data I have come to the conclusion that the death penalty should not be used as a punishment for capital crimes. Originally I thought that it would help keep the cost of keeping the inmates in jail down, but then I learned that in order to execute the defendant you would need to go through more trials which is much more expensive. Then there is the cost of the execution itself. I also thought that with all of these appeals that the chance of a person being killed that was innocent was very minimal. However, I did not think about how bad the representation that was given by the state could be. The attorneys are so bad that some do not even mention the defendants name in the court case. I do not think that these people deserve a second chance to go live on the street or have parole, but I do believe that we should not kill them so that if evidence comes up that proves their innocence then they could be released. As long as the justice system is as unjust as it is today, there is no way that the death penalty should be in use for it kills people that do not deserve to be killed just because they cannot afford proper representation.

North v. South

Not surprisingly the southern most states have the most executions like Florida, Texas, and Alabama. Texas also has the most Latino's killed than all the states combined. They have killed a total of 74 Latino inmates. This can only be attributed to the possibility that there are more Latino's in Texas than other places. However, the maximum number of Latino's killed in other states is two. These low numbers are also shared with Asians, Native Americans, and women. This helps disprove the fact that we only execute minorities. There are almost no executions of these three ethnicitys. On the other hand the blacks and whites are executed a lot more and share the majority of the executions. In Texas there are no more whites and blacks than other states like California or New York. So why are there so many more executions there? It is fair that we can come to the conclusion that Texas, Florida, and other southern states are using the death penalty much more willingly. Once again looking at the methods of execution the southern states are the only states that support electrocution. The majority of the other states seem to agree that the only possible humane way to kill someone is by lethal injection. In my opinion the prisoner should choose the way they die. Overall, this has shown that the southern states are much more pro death penalty than the northern states.

Death by firing squad.

I believe that there is no true humane way to kill someone. Even the lethal injection that is the most humane because it involves the least amount of pain is very inhumane because of the idea that you are killing someone. However, the worst methods by far are death by firing squad and hanging. This is because frequently the inmate is not killed instantly and they miscalculate the shot or miscalculate the fall. In the case of hanging the height of the drop is extremely crucial because if it is too high the head will be decapitated. On the other hand, if it is too low the neck will not break and the inmate will suffer for 45 minutes with terrible symptoms like eyes popping out, deification, swelling of the face and tongue. With the firing squad it is very immoral to make guards shoot a person and watch them kill the inmate. It is very hard on both the shooters and the inmate because if they miss then they will hear the screams and cries from the inmate bleeding to death. The lethal injection seems like the only way to kill someone humanely. However, it almost feels too humane that their lives do not mean anything and it just feels wrong to strap them down to a bed knowing that the IV you are putting in them will end up having a lethal poison flow through it. There is just no way to kill someone humanely. Therefore, if the death penalty is still in existence then the prisoner must be able to pick his death.