SNP Alex Salmond on Daesh
I'm listening to the debates on UK intervention in Syria. Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond's testimony stood out, I couldn't find a transcript, so I took it down myself:
"For ONE of our fast smart bombs we could have a whole squadron of people taking down their websites and stopping the communication of people who are contaminating the mind of young people across western Europe and the rest of the world."
... Interruption of the financial resources without which this evil cult could not function, when I've asked the prime minister about this he tells me it's sitting on a committee. For two years, NOTHING. Little or nothing has been done to interrupt the flow of funds, to identify and stop the financial institutions without which Daesh could not have lifted a finger against us or anyone else."
And finally I will say this: We are being asked to intervene in a bloody civil war of huge complexity, we're being asked to do it without an exit strategy or no reasonable means of saying we're going to make a difference. We should NOT give the prime minister that permission. "
So yeah. Someone who isn't lining his pockets with defense contractor money, you won't find any of those people here in the US.
You can interrupt communication or you can spy on them, but ultimately air strikes are going to be heavy on civilian loss, and create more enemies for the West.
Disruption of communication, not so much. Even better would be to hijack their lines of communication, indicate the fighting is winding down and gradually change the tone of their message. It galls me to suggest this, as I think the internet needs to be a bastion of free speech and ideas, but if it's saving lives and preventing Daesh from recruiting, it should at least be on the table. Financial institutions and finding sources... is there even any controversy there? Shut their accounts down, NOW.
With two defense lobbyists for every congressperson in this country, there isn't much you could do to convince me that any violence perpetrated by the US military or especially government paid contractors is necessary or justified. There are a lot of nonlethal alternatives that should be considered first. Else the US needs to just stay the hell out of it, the MIC played a big part in creating this mess at great expense to us, and asking them to fix it is like asking cancer to cure cancer.
"For ONE of our fast smart bombs we could have a whole squadron of people taking down their websites and stopping the communication of people who are contaminating the mind of young people across western Europe and the rest of the world."
... Interruption of the financial resources without which this evil cult could not function, when I've asked the prime minister about this he tells me it's sitting on a committee. For two years, NOTHING. Little or nothing has been done to interrupt the flow of funds, to identify and stop the financial institutions without which Daesh could not have lifted a finger against us or anyone else."
And finally I will say this: We are being asked to intervene in a bloody civil war of huge complexity, we're being asked to do it without an exit strategy or no reasonable means of saying we're going to make a difference. We should NOT give the prime minister that permission. "
So yeah. Someone who isn't lining his pockets with defense contractor money, you won't find any of those people here in the US.
You can interrupt communication or you can spy on them, but ultimately air strikes are going to be heavy on civilian loss, and create more enemies for the West.
Disruption of communication, not so much. Even better would be to hijack their lines of communication, indicate the fighting is winding down and gradually change the tone of their message. It galls me to suggest this, as I think the internet needs to be a bastion of free speech and ideas, but if it's saving lives and preventing Daesh from recruiting, it should at least be on the table. Financial institutions and finding sources... is there even any controversy there? Shut their accounts down, NOW.
With two defense lobbyists for every congressperson in this country, there isn't much you could do to convince me that any violence perpetrated by the US military or especially government paid contractors is necessary or justified. There are a lot of nonlethal alternatives that should be considered first. Else the US needs to just stay the hell out of it, the MIC played a big part in creating this mess at great expense to us, and asking them to fix it is like asking cancer to cure cancer.