Pentagon paid over $500 million to make fake terrorist videos

600 million is only a lot of money to us poor folk.

It's about 4 big budget Hollywood movies...Or, to the DoD, one of those POS littoral warfare warships.

 

They listed what they gave Yemen;

4 x UH-1H Huey II helicopters, 20-25 million each, =80-100 million.
1 x CN-235 cargo plane, 34 million
2 x Cessna 208, the militarized version runs 14.7 million each =29.4 million
4 x Raven Drones, the system costs 250,000 (the various equipment needed to employ the airframes) and 35,000 per drone; =250,000+140,000 =390,000.
160 Humvee's; the US has been transitioning away from them for years, so they were probably surplus, but for calculating aid to Yemen they probably used the replacement cost; 220,000 is the "new" cost for an up armored version and most were purchased or upgraded to that configuration so let's say, =35,200,000.

It adds up quickly. Where the Obama administration screwed the pooch is they decided to build an elite counter-terrorism force with in the Yemeni military. According to the trainers they were becoming a capable force. Then the US failed to support the government they were aiding for fear of angering the Muslim Brotherhood during the Arab Spring protests. The troops remained loyal to their leader and took their weapons with them, when the government changed. Waffling back and forth over who you support only makes both sides hesitant to fully trust you, they have to hedge their bets.

250 sets of body armor, 200 Glocks, 200 M4's and 300 sets of NVG's (also listed in the article) is consistent with what you'd need to equip an indigenous Special Operations company sized element.

Edit: Oh yeah, almost forgot; Tamino it wasn't Jihadists they armed, they were counter-Jihadists. The Jihadists are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and by all accounts, the most likely location for the "missing" aid is with those loyal to the former president, who is not a Jihadist.

 

Jihadists and anti-Jihadists are just labels used to justify wrongdoings of the administration that just worsens problems by sending weapons instead of humanitarian aid. The US administration is exausting the fire with petrol - deliberately. They ain't stupid, just doing their job the best they can.

 

But if we exclude these three extra words from the text, denny is absolutely right. Therefore, you can still be 100% with denny, just omit the the unnecessary part.

 

Unfortunately, the "unnecessary part" is somewhat greater than three words.

Denny's post with the "unnecessary part" omitted would be this.

In which case, yes, I could 100% agree with that.

 

Wow! How did you do that?

 

I'm now faintly ashamed at how much that made me laugh...

 

No Jihadis is not just a word it is the primary motivation for what they do. They feel that they have a religious imperative to wage Jihad against unbelievers and those they deem to follow heretical beliefs (asin Shiite vs Sunni schism).

 

With our "Religious Armies" that take their chaplains (et al) into battle to fight:
Rebels
Guerillas
Terrorists
Sandinista's
Insurgents
and the now Very Popular.....Jihadist.
We are the biggest terrorist state on the globe.
BTW.....Jesus Christ was a Jihadist.
This forum has many of the typical "Americans" that never learned anything from CoIntelPro. Like i said, they are still fixated on a meaningless thing called Watergate. An event that only proved the two factions of the right-wing would fight each other for control of the Federal purse strings of power. Watergate, other than setting precedents for Pardoning members of the elite class, while they systematically fight proxy wars against the bulk of society, was a smoke screen. The real news, per usual, went almost Completely Unreported by mass media.
Donald Trump, Abe Lincoln, Hillary Clinton etc etc are all recipients of Affirmative Action in its most severe form. While those people are given free reign to commit almost any crime they choose, we persecute other members of Society, like The Black Panthers, for feeding hungry children, and setting up daycare facilities so parents could get a job and go to work.
The usa has actively and repeatedly shut down many programs like that, for the last 5 decades.
We live in a Police State, but are fortunate we are nor brutalized in the manner we treat other members of The World that oppose our dominance.
God Bless

 

Denny, I was thinking about this subject today in a rather similar way."Jihad" is just an excuse for what is really going on down there in these poor countries devastated by the modern crusade. It is not a Jihad but a Crusade - ruling class is fighting to preserve their overseas possessions. Just investigate history of the Middle east and you will find out that there is no Jihad but a crusade that lasts for centuries.

 

Dude, it's a blow hole. Just blow.

 

Sometimes you just have to let go. Or let it go. Or let it rip.

 

I've served in the US military with Sikhs, Muslims, Jews, Atheists, Protestants, Catholics, Agnostics, Buddhists, et al. There is no single guiding religious theology in the US or most other western military's I've served alongside.
Chaplains in the US military come in all varieties, Priests, Rabbi's, Imams, Pastors, etc. They are not there to provide theological motivation to inspire the troops to fight or insure that they are thinking correctly like political commissars in the Soviet armies and other communist armies, or NS Führungsoffizier's in the WWII Wehrmacht. They are there to serve the religious needs of the troops. In the US military unlike civilian Chaplains they are specially trained "to serve any spiritual need, regardless of religious affiliation." So you could see a Rabbi giving Last Rites to a mortally wounded Catholic, or an Imam performing the ritual of the Eucharist, and not just promulgating the religion they are affiliated with. This includes serving atheists, agnostics and not just those practicing a institutionalized religion. So your characterization is not accurate and is markedly untrue.
You will also notice that US and most western militaries bend over backwards, going out of their way to respect indigenous religious customs and avoid offending the populace.

Rebels and Insurgents: are the same thing: a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially : a rebel not recognized as a belligerent.
This definition doesn't just fit groups we've fought, but also groups we have supported. Most recently the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan against the Taliban Government. The anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya during their 2011 civil war (I don't personally think we should have intervened but it was on behalf of the rebels/insurgents). Syria we supported anti-Assad forces again rebels/insurgents (a huge mistake in my opinion because the Obama administration did not pay attention to the motivations of all the groups, just that they were fighting to overthrow Assad. Some of these groups had Jihadist ideologies and after they received support and training turned on the moderate groups and then affiliated with ISIS).
Guerillas: a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces. Again the US government does and has supported many guerilla groups, they are not just a name for enemies. Sometimes those we have supported ended up on the right side of history, others times on the wrong side. It's not always apparent going in. Most times it's because when they're guerillas their cause seems to be rooted in valid issues, or they're the lesser of two evils. If they are successful and become the government, the leaders don't always turn out to be what they originally appeared to be. Power does corrupt, and sometimes they end up worse than what they replaced.
Terrorists/Jihadist: In the current era Jihadists are just a sub-group of terrorist, Jihadist describing the motivation of that terrorist sub-group. Jihad literally means war against unbelievers. In the current wars it doesn't just include non-Muslims, it includes Islamic factions considered to be heretical by another faction. From a worldwide perspective Sunni's are most often involved in exporting terror outside of the region. In Iraq the vast majority of civilian casualties were not caused by western forces but by Shia/Sunni infighting. Iran provided enormous covert support to Shiite groups that attacked the minority Sunni population that had been in power under Saddam. Al-Queda is a predominately Sunni group and a the vast majority in Iraq were not indigenous Iraqi's, but foreign Jihadist's (Syrians, Yemei's, Saudi's, Pakistani's, et al.). When Shiites started revenge killings of Sunni's, Sunni's responded in turn against Shiites. Iran's support allowed the Shiites to grow stronger, eventually the indigenous, moderate Sunni's were forced to ally with radical Al-Queda or be wiped out. Eventually, Al-Queda's excesses and strict enforcement of Sharia Law drove a wedge between the moderates and hardliners, the indigenous population and the foreign fighters. The surge allowed us to restore some level of security for the population and no longer needing Al-Queda to insure survival, and protect themselves from the Shiites, the Sunni's turned on Al-Queda (mostly composed of non-Iraqi foreign fighters that had come to Iraq to fight infidels) in the "great awakening" and violence dropped precipitously. When we withdrew virtually all combat troops in 2008, the Obama administration also disengaged with the nescient Iraqi government. The military that was beginning to develop competency was allowed to atrophy and leadership positions were filled based upon political connections and not military ability.
The biggest difference between us and them is that we attempt to target military assets, enemy fighters, bomb making facilities, command and control facilities, with the primary focus on destroying the enemy's ability to fight. Terrorists primarily target non-military targets, virtually all unarmed civilians.

 

But of course I've understood that subtle expressiveness. That was the moment when you've lost apetite to go on reading further.
I can understand your reaction: culture of USA and other countries originating from the British Empire are everything but Nazi. Perhaps for a shade too cocky, but not Nazi. However, there are some deficiencies of human mind that prevent us from diging deeper - it is easier to swallow widely accepted "truth" than coping with difficulties of addopting different, unpleasant "lies" as the truth. Mainstream media is so successful because they offer easy-to-swallow half truths and lies wrapped in pleasant stories. Those who want to know more must be prepared to swallow bitter morsels.

 

Thanks dude. It looks spectacular, but it must be: that blowing in the wind costs $500M tax-payers money. Awesome.

 

Taxpayers money is meant to be blown. Rather see it spent on what the Pentagon blew it on than seeing it pissed away on welfare and food stamps.