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2004-02-19 
Debate emerges over al-Qaeda navy
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Posted by Dan Darling 2004-02-19 12:36:32 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 ". The minute they have a navy in existence, they become vulnerable."

"I gotta tell ya, Moshe, this sure beats computer simulations."
"Damn straight, David. Okay, next contact, call it Pogey-Bait 4, range 12,000 ..."
Posted by Steve White  2004-2-19 12:47:12 AM||   2004-2-19 12:47:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 "Inconceivable!"

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Posted by gromky 2004-2-19 4:54:49 AM||   2004-2-19 4:54:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Gromky, your comment is an enigma. It impossible to comprehend who you are criticizing or how the word "inconceivable" may have been misused. To be believable, your comments must be more explicit.
Posted by GK 2004-2-19 6:31:49 AM||   2004-2-19 6:31:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 I would think that 500#hi-ex/3 or 4 Go-Fast boats,in the right place at the right time.
It would make a significant strike.
Posted by Raptor 2004-2-19 9:16:03 AM||   2004-2-19 9:16:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Sigh...it's a quote from the famous movie Rob Reiner made in 1987,"The Princess Bride". So much for my attempts at cultural references...I was starting to think I was kind of old at 33...
Posted by gromky 2004-2-19 9:20:04 AM||   2004-2-19 9:20:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 ...I was starting to think I was kind of old at 33... You'll get over it. :)
When I was 33, Doctor Zhivago, and a Man For All Seasons were playing in the theaters.
Posted by GK 2004-2-19 9:58:58 AM||   2004-2-19 9:58:58 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 You're still a pup, gromky.
Posted by whitecollar redneck 2004-2-19 10:05:20 AM||   2004-2-19 10:05:20 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 I am just picturing the ALQ navy with Buicks on rafts....Unfortunately they have been somewhat succesful in the past
Posted by dataman1 2004-2-19 10:06:47 AM||   2004-2-19 10:06:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Gromky, I caught the reference as I am a 31 yr old pup myself. That's a great scene.
Posted by Jarhead 2004-2-19 10:13:43 AM||   2004-2-19 10:13:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Rob Reiner is excellent at doing what he knows: movies and TV (Spinal Tap, etc.) - but an idiot in politics
Posted by Frank G  2004-2-19 10:36:07 AM||   2004-2-19 10:36:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Gromky, I caught the reference and I'm a lot older than you.
Posted by Matt 2004-2-19 11:40:38 AM||   2004-2-19 11:40:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 I'm guessing that they don't have an organized navy, but they do have a certain number of pirates in Indonesia and throughout the area who could be called upon to do some wet-work if necessary.
Posted by Rabbi M.  2004-2-19 11:53:19 AM||   2004-2-19 11:53:19 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 Gromky - I have shoes older than you. Nice to see the youngun's are holding their own in Rantburg smartassery though!
Posted by Doc8404 2004-2-19 12:11:01 PM||   2004-2-19 12:11:01 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Pass the Iokane powder.
Posted by domingo 2004-2-19 1:13:36 PM||   2004-2-19 1:13:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 famous movie Rob Reiner made in 1987,"The Princess Bride".

famous -now that is funny.

meathead can take a hike
Posted by Dan 2004-2-19 1:20:46 PM||   2004-2-19 1:20:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 So much for my attempts at cultural references...

Quotes and references, m'lad. Many of the oldsters can't remember their name half the time (myelf included).

My smartass remark aside, an Al-Q 'navy' would be a navy, albeit a most unconventional one. Intel-gathering, mine-laying (remember the Libyan freighter that did this), saboteur support, smuggling, personnel/weapon/cargo transport and insertion, piracy.

It's been done before by other nations and is still done. The PRC doesn't have a large merchant marine just to move cargo.
Posted by Pappy 2004-2-19 3:38:49 PM||   2004-2-19 3:38:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 An Al-Q navy would probably look like the little boat that boomed the USS Cole. And it might have bigger freighters full of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which would make an even bigger boom.
Posted by eLarson 2004-2-19 4:59:29 PM||   2004-2-19 4:59:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 For terrorist actions, all you need to do is have access to rustbucket freighters with the right cargo (explosives, or cash cargos, or terroists in zodiacs, or a stolen anti-ship missle etc) in the right place at the right time.

You guys are making amateur mistakes. Let me steer you in a different direction:

A Navy isnt the ships.

Its command control communications intelligence and infrastructure that makes it effective.

Look at the US Navy in early WW2 - the Japanese quantitatively and (arguably) qualitatively was better in terms of ships.

Our C3I and the support infrastructure amplified the force effectiveness vastly at Midway and other places.

And in these terms, the AlQ could certainly have a Naval capability that needs to be dealt with.
Posted by OldSpook 2004-2-19 10:57:49 PM||   2004-2-19 10:57:49 PM|| Front Page Top

09:54 Anonymous
13:42 Daniel King
23:51 Anonymouse
23:19 Barbara Skolaut
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22:57 OldSpook
22:26 Bomb-a-rama
22:09 whitecollar redneck
22:04 Jarhead
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21:55 Barbara Skolaut
21:50 rkb
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21:34 Alaska Paul
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20:46 wuzzalib
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20:33 Alaska Paul
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