"French Intel: 100 jihadis enter Syria from Turkey each week" Topic

See here….

link

Amicalement
Armand

Probably worth what you paid to read it.

You can add to that the fighters coming in from Iraq, Lebannon and Jordan.

Hmmm ….. isn't this a good thing?! Don't we want them all to get nice and concentrated in a smaller space, conveniently right under our guns so to speak, where we have our assets concentrated and can bomb them into their "Paradise"? Isn't that better than having them spread out and dispersed, hiding amongst our civilian populations across the world, hard to detect, plotting and scheming in the dark corners?

I thought we should only be worried when they start trying to LEAVE Syria, or Libya, or their "Caliphate", to infiltrate us and attack us in our homelands?!

Let em gather and concentrate under our bombs I say.

Problem is you can never never win by killing people (the body count idea). Because they will have brothers and sisters ready to take up where they left off.

Some of course are semi-official working for Assad, Iran, Turkey and of course the USA.

I doubt any jihadis are working for the US. Maybe the FSA and those types … But they are not on a jihad to convert the West to islam etc., …

Problem is you can never never win by killing people (the body count idea). Because they will have brothers and sisters ready to take up where they left off.

In the short run the soldier on the ground does not have too many options. And most of the fighting now is done by locals like the Western trained Kurds, Iraqis, etc., … They want Daesh and AQ out of their lands. And the West is supporting those efforts with training, log, intel, CAS, etc., …

You are not going to convince the Kurds and other locals that they shouldn't kill Daesh and AQ who is trying to kill them. And take their land, enslave and kill their people.

But more back OT … The Turks are becoming more islamic and less secular. They may have more in common with jihadis than the Western "infidels" … And rumors of the Turks buying Daesh oil, etc., is rampant … So we may be lucky that only 100 jihadis cross the Turk border into Syria … And as noted .., on the positive that does make them targets.

Problem is that whenever you let terrorist jihadis enter Syria, they get training as well as accustomed to violence and rape.

Then they scatter and go home.

Then they scatter and go home.

Not if they get killed first …

Legion, you're a vet.

Ever hear of any cases where there has been 100% casualty rate in a war (and I mean war, not battle or skirmish)? Doesn't happen. Some always survive and get away.

Best way to win a war is to not let your enemy reinforce or resupply.

Terrement – When I moved to the US, I had to check a box promising that I was not a terrorist or an agent of the Third Reich.

Some aren't the sharpest crayons in the box.

Ever hear of any cases where there has been 100% casualty rate in a war (and I mean war, not battle or skirmish)? Doesn't happen. Some always survive and get away.

Best way to win a war is to not let your enemy reinforce or resupply.

I agree … but if they do make it to Syria they are legit targets. Better to eliminate 9 and one slips by, than the other way around.

And we still can do better on shutting down Daesh's oil business, etc., …

Weasel

When I moved to the US, I had to check a box promising that I was not a terrorist or an agent of the Third Reich.

Weasel, if need be, you can use me as a character reference …

If only we could get our "ally" to seal the border, but perhaps they don't believe in doing that……..

Sealing off borders isn't easy. We can't even keep our own borders secure, hence the popularity of a presidential candidate.

No sealing off borders it not easy … But even harder since it seems the Turks may not really care as much as they should. Being a member of NATO. With the Turks new found swing to islam and away from secular … things could get "dicey".

I mean, the North Korean border ain't sealed and I am hard pressed to think of a place in the world that's more heavily guarded

I beg to differ about the North Korea's border, especially the south. About as sealed as you can get.

Not really somewhere that you can sneak across, either as an infiltrator, defector or smuggler.

The north is more loose, but that was a calculated allowance to permit smuggling of needed goods. And that has been clamped down lately.

I agree with cw. I had 2 tours on the DMZ in the ROK, '84-'85. Nothing got thru the US sector of the border and I'm pretty sure the same can be said about the ROK Army sector. Unless they wanted someone to cross.

The Norks have tried many times to tunnel under the DMZ. At last count IIRC, in 2004, 27 tunnels were found and blocked.

They also tried to infiltrate along the long Korean Coast. But those get shut down fairly quickly. With the Norks committing suicide rather than getting captured. In many cases.

Now in '85, IIRC. A Russian IT guy. Ran across the line at Pan Mun Jom. From the North side. That is the location where the truce talks have been going on since the end of the war in '53. You are literally staring toe-to-toe with some of their biggest Nork troopers.
But the ROKs and US have some of our biggest troops there as well. Another little psyop game that is played between the two countries. And the US flew the UN flag along with the US. On our guard posts and base camp, etc. As it was/is still a UN mission. But the US was pulled off that mission in '90. But still have troops at Pan Mun Jom along with the ROKs.

Anyway the Russian defector ran across looking for asylum. The Norks chased him. 3 were killed and one ROK was killed and one US soldier wounded. The US QRF had 30 or so Norks cut off and surrounded on the South side. The 2d Div Cdr, told our guys, we are not going to start the 2d Korean War. And ordered that they let them go back to their side of the line.

A wise move obviously. No need for further bloodshed. And the Norks already lost 3. And those remains were returned to them later. According to international law, etc., …

So yes, Weasel you can cross that way too. But it is not recommended.

cwlinsj – The point is even with who knows how many miles of wire, towers, guards and mines, people still manage to leave NK and head south, though many head through China instead.

Now try to apply that to a society that is reasonably democratic (meaning the Turks can't simply pour every available resource into the military and people might reasonably start to ask why their pensions are getting cut to pile up concrete in the desert), in a rather inhospitable stretch of land to guard 300 miles of border with Syria and see how much success you get.

"Closing the border" is an absurd pipe dream that will never ever happen. Not in Turkey, not in the US, not anywhere else where there's even a sliver of democratic government.

The ROKs seems to have done a pretty good job of it … regardless.
And based on the Turks' past performance and predilections, I doubt they could ever shut down their border completely with Syria. For many reasons …

Weasel, you were trying to make a point based on incorrect assumptions and I am merely pointing that out to you.

I actually know a couple of NK defectors and I've had conversations with Norks over the decades while in China. How about you?

You shouldn't use North Korea as an example where people can infiltrate/exfiltrate with any degree of ease because it just isn't true.

You can seal borders, if you have the will to do so.

Many have, and some still do.

99.9%+ will be discouraged, and/or kept out.

With allies like the Turks, who needs……….?

Hmmm ….. isn't this a good thing?!

No, because we want at least 1,000 or more coming in each week.

The more that go in means the more that we can get to kill.

100 per week is just not cutting it.

Because they will have brothers and sisters ready to take up where they left off.

Sure, but sooner than later they will run out of bodies to throw into the meat grinder.

I think the strategy is to encourage your unemployed, sexually frustrated young hot heads to go fight Jihad in a foreign land and hope they never return. Instead of becoming revolutionaries and tearing up your back yard they become someone else's problem.

Good points cw & Dragon !

Sure, but sooner than later they will run out of bodies to throw into the meat grinder.

As a former Grunt … that is my train of thought. But you can't get'm all …

Problem is that you can't kill every enemy. The ones that survive will only get trained and become numb to death and violence.

Combine this with differing population sizes and growth rates between Arab/moslem cultures vs. Western Europeans, the math will never work out since there will always be more to "feed the grinder".

I have to agree again … But I was never very good at math …