Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Wag The Dog

In the middle of the pandemic, despite desperate need for assistance, Trump is diverting US resources to do drug interdiction on the high seas. That's literally the high seas because Trump is sending large US Navy ships to stop what are claimed to be massive amounts of drugs from coming in to the country from Venezuela--no other information provided. This is all happening when the commander of a US air craft carrier is pleading for help to download 5000 service people from his ship because if they aren't taken off the ship, all of them will come down with Covid19.

My husband was in the US Navy. He served during the VietNam war. He went to VietNam on an MSO (minesweeper oceangoing) to take part in operation MarketTime. Large navy ships are of very little use in stopping drug trafficking because they cannot be moved quickly enough to have an impact. It's like the Titanic trying to avoid the iceberg to move even a destroyer which is relatively small compared to a carrier. My husband's MSO, comparatively small and maneuverable, had a top speed of 14 knots. They couldn't stop the gunboats in VietNam because they were too slow.

If you believe that this interdiction can be effective, you should probably go out and shop and eat because the Easter bunny is coming for you with a very special Easter basket. Perhaps your dog can wag his tail.

 


1 comment:

  1. Diversion by the impeached president and his acolytes, again. Presumably an attempt to show us his administration is a finely tuned machine, working on our national security.

    More importantly, what is happening to the immigrant children being held?

    ReplyDelete