Episode 15 - Trump in Iraq, Murders in Morocco

Trump visits the troops - and the media covers it in the most ridiculous way possible, as usual.  A terrible tragedy in Morocco, and a look back at where 100 thousand air miles took me in 2018.  Coming up on the Hot Zone.

 

Thanks for being with us, I'm Chuck Holton.  So the troops in Iraq got a nice surprise the day after Christmas - a visit from the First Lady and her husband.  Trump's first visit with US troops in an active conflict zone was the normal dog-and-pony show with lots of selfies and group photos, a few meetings and a speech.   This all happened while news outlets...and I use that term loosely... like MSNBC and the Huffington Post were posting articles criticizing the President for not visiting the troops this holiday season.  When they found out he HAD, in fact made a secret trip to Iraq, they shifted their reporting to criticize Trump for taking photos with the troops.  Some tried to make a scandal out of the fact that he posted a video of himself taking photos with a troop of US Special operators - and called it a violation of Operational Security.  

 

So let's think about this with more than two brain cells, shall we?  How, exactly is this a breach of Opsec?  Is anyone surprised to find there are Navy Seals on duty in Iraq?  These men were not wearing any recognizable name tapes or insignia.  So no problem there.  They aren't giving away any TTP's or top secret equipment.  Heck their faces are barely recognizable.  And Donald Trump is their commander in chief.  If there's a problem here, I just don't see it.  The reality is that most of the people calling this an opsec violation wouldn't recognize a true opsec violation if it were handed to them.  

 

The other issue I saw bandied about on CNN by, who else, Jim Acosta, was that Trump was somehow causing the troops to go against military regulations by signing their MAGA hats.  Seriously.  His assertion was that troops are prohibited from campaigning for any political party.  What?  How is getting your hat signed by the commander in chief campaigning for a political party?  That's a stretch, even for CNN.  I mean heck, the commander in chief has the power to amend or change military regulations if he wants.  But this is just crazy.   There is no reality where this was inappropriate.  But CNN doesn't deal in reality.  It deals in spin.

 

Now, what do I think about the President's visit?  Well, the President needs to go see the troops, and it's generally good for morale when he does, although it sometimes causes a mountain of busywork and late nights as the troops whitewash everything in sight before he arrives.  In this case that probably didn't happen because it was a surprise visit.  Which is good.  From a political standpoint, it's generally good for the President's image too.  The media crowing about the President using the troops as campaign props isn't an outright lie, but every politician uses visits to the troops to improve his image.  Barack Obama did it, George Bush did it, Everyone does it.  

 

The President's speech to the troops was the only thing I take issue with.  He used the speech to double down on his decision to pull troops out of Syria.  

 

[excerpts from President's speech]

 

I've been saying this all along...the President is wrong to pull troops out of Syria, and his reasoning is shoddy.  To hear him explain it, it seems he believes that we are out there putting American blood and treasure on the line to simply be the world's policeman.  That's not true.  If that were the case, we'd have troops in Burma and Venezuela, to pick two easy examples.  We deploy our forces in our own national interests, and until the compelling reason for deploying them goes away, we should not pull them out.  I keep saying this:  You can't just stop a war.  You either win it or lose it.  This should make us exceedingly careful about the wars we get into, and 100% all-in it to win it once our troops are committed.

 

I understand where the President is coming from here, because as I've also said before, we are very good at defeating the enemy.  But very bad at nation building.  Our forces are not equipped to go from warrior to diplomat on a dime.  So once the enemy is defeated, we need to look very carefully at our reasons for staying.

 

In the case of Syria however, there are still very compelling reasons to stay.  My friend Dave Eubank made a really good point about this.  We have a moral commitment to stay in Syria to support the Kurds, the Christians, Druze, Yezidis and other disaffected minorities who have only genocide to look forward to if we pull out now.  

 

There are also tactical and strategic reasons to stay, beyond the imminent collapse of ISIS.  

 

The president spoke to the troops as if they would be in total agreement with him that they'd rather be back stateside.  Now it's not their place to say what they would prefer - their job is to follow orders and go where they are sent.  But if you did ask US troops whether they'd prefer fighting terrorists or practicing drill and ceremony back stateside, I'd wager most of our warriors would rather be busy killing bad guys.  Nobody wants to spend their entire enlistment training for the superbowl and never get to play.

 

Now, let's turn our attention for a second to a terrible tragedy in Morocco.  Two Scandinavian young women, backpacking in the Atlas Mountains were attacked and brutally murdered by a group of extremist muslim men on December 16th.  The story has gained worldwide attention, which is always the case when two pretty white girls are murdered on holiday.  Arrests have been made, and the perpetrators linked to a muslim terror group, which the authorities refused to identify.  

 

A lot of ink has been spilled over this story and I don't want to rehash the whole thing for you.  I do want to point out a few items that you should take into consideration for your own personal security when travelling.

 

Let me make this crystal clear:  I am in no way blaming these young women for what happened to them.  The guilt here lies solely and exclusively with the monsters who murdered them.  

 

Having said that, let me point out a few things, because I see things like this all the time.  European twenty-somethings are some of the most intrepid travellers I've ever met.  I run into them on holiday in places like El Salvador, Vietnam, Jordan, and yes, almost every day here in Panama.  Very often these groups are made up of pretty young women traveling alone or in pairs, looking to save money by camping out or staying in the cheapest hostals they can find. 

 

That's all well and good.  But very often these kids - and I'm almost fifty so I get to call them kids - are taking risks they don't even understand.

 

It's super important when you travel to be intentional about the image you are presenting in light of the local culture and customs.  I like to put it this way - do you want to look like a bunny or a wolf?  Very often these young women don't understand the culture where they are traveling, and so they inadvertently walk around oblivious to the fact that they are presenting an image of vulnerability and maybe even promiscuity they certainly don't intend to portray. 

 

Remember the point I made about this in regards to the refugees flooding into europe this spring:

 

[sexual politics video]

 

Now, this is doubly true when a western woman travels to a majority muslim country, even one that's supposedly modern and liberal.  

 

I think there are a couple of important takeaways from this story.  One, when traveling, you should think hard about the image you are portraying, and be intentional about making yourself look less appealing to the predators that are out there.  

 

Two, you should be careful about the risks you are taking just to save a buck.  Sometimes it's worth paying a little more so you can sleep safely at night.

 

And lastly, don't underestimate your value.  If you had a fifty-carat diamond necklace, you'd probably be careful about walking around the streets of San Salvador or Caracas flashing it about.  I say this especially to young women.  Like it or not, as a woman, you are walking around with one of the most valuable assets on this planet - your body.  Ask any red-blooded male if he'd rather have a diamond necklace or a willing female body, and for most their choice would be clear.  You might hate the fact that the world works this way, but you won't change it.  Wherever you go, many men are looking at you like sex on a stick.  You can either feed their fantasies or foul them by the way you dress, the way you carry yourself, and the places you choose to go.  I'm not blaming the victims here, I'm just pointing out the hard reality of the world we live in.

 

In 2014 I happened to see two scandinavian girls with backpacks on waiting for a bus here in our little town of El Valle.  They were young and cute, and caught my eye.  A few days later the news reported two girls missing in boquete, another tourist town here in Panama.  Months later their remains were found on a hiking trail in the mountains outside that town.  Their bras and at least one pair of pants were found separate from their remains.  No definite conclusion of foul play was ever reached, however.  

 

Whether or not these women were murdered, it's another chilling reminder that there are unseen risks to travel even in countries that are considered safe.  That shouldn't keep us from traveling, but it should make us want to be intentional about our security.

 

Okay, enough about that subject.    We're going to do a lot of good for a lot of people in 2019, and you can be a part of it.  Just visit patreon.com/hotzone  and subscribe for three dollars a month, and when I run into people in need, you'll get to help them directly and see the effects of your generosity.  So this coming year, don't just watch the news, get involved in it!  With me, Chuck Holton, here on the Hot Zone.