First item: Gaza "aid". What they now call "humanitarian aid" to Gaza is what we used to call "giving aid and comfort to the enemy". Back then, you could be shot for engaging in it. There should be no doubt that any "humanitarian aid" going into Gaza is going directly to Hamas fighters, not any supposed civilians.
"Warfighters", or what passes for them these days, are a joke. You can't fight a "nice" war. The way they play at fighting wars these days is what we used to call "peace time". If you're gonna fight a war, do it like you mean it. Take those kid-skin gloves off, and get your hands all bloody. Take lives, lots of them, and don't stop until they stop doing whatever it is that pissed you off in the first place - whether they stop because they're tired of dying, or stop because there are none left to do the dumb shit that riled you up to begin with. Whichever it is doesn't matter. What matters is that they stop.
There is a way to eliminate piracy. You do it by eliminating pirates. You engage them and kill them. A dead pirate can't go a-pirating much after he dies. If any wuss out and surrender, you hang those as an example of what happens to pirates. You follow the stragglers home to their bases, and destroy the bases and safe havens, and everything in them. All the pirates there, all the pirates wives there, all the pirates children there, all the pirates goats and sheep there, all of the pirates dogs and cats there, and all of the fleas on the dogs and cats. You leave no living thing in that smoking crater that used to be a pirate base.
You all should be damned glad that I don't run the world. I'd put a stop to this pissantery quick, fast, and in a hurry. First, I would destroy every coastal facility in Yemen. It's not a big place. Cargo port or fishing village, it makes no difference. I'd leave every single occupied coastal facility in a heap of smoking ruins. Then I would crater the shit out of every single road and camel trail leading into or out of Yemen. Then I would announce that any airplane flying towards or away from Yemen that didn't have a full load of bombs or empty bomb rails after a deliver would be forfeit and shot down in flames. Nothing into Yemen, nothing out of Yemen. Yemenis could live on dogs and cactii - it wouldn't be too much of a hardship for them, since they wouldn't be living long anyhow.
Then I'd get serious about destroying every living thing in Yemen. It shouldn't take more than a month or so, because Yemen ain't a big place, and it ain't like there are any humans there - just Houthis.
Then the rest of the world would be put on notice - do some more piracy, y'all, and see what it gets you.
Seriously - the quicker you start fighting a war like you mean it, the quicker you can get back to fishing instead of fighting. If you try to fight it nice, you lose. The bad guys just laugh at you and don't stop whatever it is they';re dong, and you get a reputation among them as a push-over.
If you want dumb shit to stop, make it damned clear that it's GOING TO stop, or no one will be left alive to keep doing it.
Making a statement like "we don't want to fight a war with Yemen, we just want to redecorate tiny bits of their desert" sends a signal to Houthis that what they are doing is ok, just fine, and they should keep doing it.
Same for Gaza - trying to feed them while also trying to fight them sends mixed signals.
Confusion and hilarity ensue.
I'm starting to think that all these pissant little places have taken "The Mouse that Roared" to heart, and Americans have forgotten all about that book.
.
"Warfighters", or what passes for them these days, are a joke. You can't fight a "nice" war. The way they play at fighting wars these days is what we used to call "peace time". If you're gonna fight a war, do it like you mean it. Take those kid-skin gloves off, and get your hands all bloody. Take lives, lots of them, and don't stop until they stop doing whatever it is that pissed you off in the first place - whether they stop because they're tired of dying, or stop because there are none left to do the dumb shit that riled you up to begin with. Whichever it is doesn't matter. What matters is that they stop.
There is a way to eliminate piracy. You do it by eliminating pirates. You engage them and kill them. A dead pirate can't go a-pirating much after he dies. If any wuss out and surrender, you hang those as an example of what happens to pirates. You follow the stragglers home to their bases, and destroy the bases and safe havens, and everything in them. All the pirates there, all the pirates wives there, all the pirates children there, all the pirates goats and sheep there, all of the pirates dogs and cats there, and all of the fleas on the dogs and cats. You leave no living thing in that smoking crater that used to be a pirate base.
You all should be damned glad that I don't run the world. I'd put a stop to this pissantery quick, fast, and in a hurry. First, I would destroy every coastal facility in Yemen. It's not a big place. Cargo port or fishing village, it makes no difference. I'd leave every single occupied coastal facility in a heap of smoking ruins. Then I would crater the shit out of every single road and camel trail leading into or out of Yemen. Then I would announce that any airplane flying towards or away from Yemen that didn't have a full load of bombs or empty bomb rails after a deliver would be forfeit and shot down in flames. Nothing into Yemen, nothing out of Yemen. Yemenis could live on dogs and cactii - it wouldn't be too much of a hardship for them, since they wouldn't be living long anyhow.
Then I'd get serious about destroying every living thing in Yemen. It shouldn't take more than a month or so, because Yemen ain't a big place, and it ain't like there are any humans there - just Houthis.
Then the rest of the world would be put on notice - do some more piracy, y'all, and see what it gets you.
Seriously - the quicker you start fighting a war like you mean it, the quicker you can get back to fishing instead of fighting. If you try to fight it nice, you lose. The bad guys just laugh at you and don't stop whatever it is they';re dong, and you get a reputation among them as a push-over.
If you want dumb shit to stop, make it damned clear that it's GOING TO stop, or no one will be left alive to keep doing it.
Making a statement like "we don't want to fight a war with Yemen, we just want to redecorate tiny bits of their desert" sends a signal to Houthis that what they are doing is ok, just fine, and they should keep doing it.
Same for Gaza - trying to feed them while also trying to fight them sends mixed signals.
Confusion and hilarity ensue.
I'm starting to think that all these pissant little places have taken "The Mouse that Roared" to heart, and Americans have forgotten all about that book.
.