In WWII, movements of troops and equipment were protected with the secrecy
that surrounds Nuclear Missile technology. It would have been a serious
offense in 1942 to do what Shane did here on the group. At least it would
have gotten him detained and questioned for a few days. And we had a
relatively spy-free war here in the US, so it wasn't really as necessary as
it was made out to be. But the leadership of this country knew that we were
a talkative nation, so the screws were put on tightly.
Now, you can buy time on satellites with photographic capability on the open
market. Although it might be a little old by the time it passes through a
few hands on its way to Iraq, they have access to similar intel gathering
capabilities that the US has with its satellites.
So why all this for posting pictures of tanks on the net? Putting that
information here on the group is innocuous, but might not be in the future.
Iraq doesn't have armed forces capable of going head to head with US ground
and air forces. But terrorism is a cheap, low intensity conflict way to go
to get people back for perceived wrongs. The capability of world terrorists
is increasing, and it is very difficult to pre-empt well planned and
concealed strikes against a society like ours. The other part of this is
that terrorists are paying attention to their public image. Where they
didn't before, and struck as true terrorists at soft, usually civilian
targets, now they may be aiming at military targets near civilian
facilities. The goal there is to attack a legitimate military target, and
still inflict as many civilian casualties as possible. That way, they look
a little more justified on the world stage.
My point. Movement of military equipment is not always along empty
stretches of highway. Baltimore has freight lines which run under houses in
the city (real underground railroads). Lovely target. Isolated areas,
military targets, and civilian casualties.
I am not saying that we should discontinue the practice of posting these
things. I am just saying that we should be aware of these things. I don't
want to detain all the Iraqi's living here in the US, and I don't want to
put up signs with laundry lists of how to detect suspicious activity; I am
a military vehicle enthusiast-everything I do is suspicious to my neighbors.
But from my military experience, I can say that the US right now is woefully
unprepared for containing a sustained terrorist campaign.
It would be tragedy way beyond the order of Oklahoma City.
So post 'em, but remember, you never know who's looking.
john@astory.com
http://www.astory.com
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.