Center for a New American Security

anon said:

"Blame Whitey. The moment you People start blaming yourselves is the moment you'll Rise, until that time You'll always be the Victim.

Other races faced the same kind of Racism throughout California--the Japanese, the Chinese, the Arabs, the Mexicans, the Filipinos, South/Central Americans, the Indians, etc.--they're not pimping, selling crack or listening to Too Short

I think it's very important to remember that certain segments of the population still look at the Police with colored lenses. Remember the dogs and fire hoses? People tend to not forget stuff like that.

SNLII with the Flag Fetish -

YUou have seen the Eddie Izzard skit on this? I can't get to Youtube at work, but it is good and you would agree with him. Look for "Do You Have A Flag?"

I actually don't believe that this particular Oakland shooting demonstrates a rift (more like serious problems in the parole/prison system), but the NYTimes was pushing that angle...

A city of 400,000 people, Oakland has struggled with high crime and homicide rates. Its most recent police chief, Wayne Tucker, retired in January after coming under criticism for his handling of the

"But the salient point remains that even our super gangs, such as the Bloods, aren't trying to replace government services, as HAMAS would do."

HAMAS seems perfectly willing to co-opt aid, as well...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-04-gaza-aid_N.htm

again, if you have the guns, you only need to have the organic capabilities you can't obtain from outside

"But the salient point remains that even our super gangs, such as the Bloods, aren't trying to replace government services, as HAMAS would do."

It's not the Bloods or the Crips, nor the Mexican Mafia or the Aryan Brotherhood, but MS 13 and 18 Street. Instead of strict heirarchical organizations, you're getting leaderless movements. And whether conscious or not, they are

Not obvious at all...most gangs would have no problem shutting down somebody if they don't get their protection money, customer based be damned. It's got nothing to do with their families and everything to do with asserting power and authority. Same with the social workers..everybody knows that they only operate with gang sanction (and I'm sure that sanction would be removed if a social worker

"If it's a canard, then how come citizens know it's better to rely on gangs for business protection that the local police? "

Talk about canards. Gangs protect businesses informally. Why? Because their own families use the services. You can't have violence, intimidation or crime inside the very businesses upon which people rely.

Same also with those providing social services.

Being a gangster is about making Money.

'The truth is, we are already mired in counterinsurgency here at home...we just haven't figured out how to "outgovern" yet.'

Being a part-time scofflaw doesn't mean that you're an insurgent against a state, nor that you're actively using violence to make political points or influence the foreign policy of a rival nation.

The tools we use to combat one are NOT the same we should

"Money, Power & Respect"

OK, but I hit back by dropping some Thucydides: Fear, Honor and Interest.

Gangs go to war for the same reasons that states go to war.

But a gang isn't really important until it gets a flag.

"Let me provide an example of how a progressive effort went sour"

We also need to parse terms. Hope 6, et al, was sold as a "progressive" effort. It wasn't all that "progressive," and really relied on the traditional construction lobby to sell it to Congress.

If we're serious about tackling crime, we might wish to consider not the enhancement or the better scrutinizing of HUD

My research is looking at some of (what I believe) are assumptions about why gangs attract members. I'm not so impressed by notions that it's simply due to poverty, fatherless homes and other social phenomena, although I don't discount those as factors."

Money, Power & Respect

Why do people go to

SNLII,

I agree that the question of why youth join gangs deserves attention, and I understand that the police can't really intervene there. But the actions of the police have an effect on the community's willingness to harbor the gang presence. Ideally, we would like to reach a point where the community can handle its delinquent youth with a minimum of police intervention.

The

They still have baby HAMMER operations.

"RAMPART blew up in the late 90's not the 70's or 80's."

Are you seriously suggesting that RAMPART is the model upon which American cops fight crime? Really?

First of all, "RAMPART" as it is technically concerned means a patrol district. Rampart Division is the name of the LAPD branch that patrols the zone.

What you mean to say is the CRASH program. CRASH (Community

"Regardless, this makes no sense. First, the evolution of most urban police departments for the past 20 years has NOT been to SWAT or other paramilitary efforts, but rather to greater reliance on the social sciences to predict eruptions of crime and tailor manpower in better ways to target offenders."

I would contest that - when it comes to gangs it has been a paramilitary

I think this is a very very good debate. If I can stretch the Gang/unsurgent linkage one extra mile, might I add that Blacks and Whites in the US resemble Sunnis and Shia's in Iraq. In Iraq, you have believers in Islam but divided by interpretation just as in America you have Americans divided by dissimilar life expereicnes. I could argue that such bridges can never be gapped just as the

I stand by my assertion that those who fear COIN in our cities don't realize the extent to which our police has militarized themselves. Read the Rampart reviews, Klein's "Gang Cop", or anything about Operation Hammer.

I'm not talking about posse comitatus, I've talking about transferring military knowledge about NON-KINETIC tactics to police who need to know them. There's quite a few

On a more important note, we can't assume, as TE does, that we should be applying counter-insurgency efforts to gang violence in Oakland because the gangs aren't insurgents.

How do I know this? Because they don't have a flag. Under SNLII's Law of Insurgency, you can't be an insurgent band until you sew a banner.

A blue Crips' bandana does NOT count as a flag.

The

1. I was talking about Indians from India.

As for the Indigenous of America, do you see them selling crack, pimping underaged girls? Is there an Indian Too Short? Is there an Indian Flava Flav? Nuff said.


2. I'm talking about the ability of Fresh Off the Boat immigrants, with very little education, no command of the English language, many times without family support, to

how about the gov't set up another program like this, but this time with afghan heroin. how's that for counter-insurgency?

1st a little background. I’ve lived in the Bay Area my entire life. I’ve lived in Oakland off and on for 10 years. For the last 13 years I’ve taught 9th and 12th graders at Oakland Tech. High School.

2nd in response to the person that said violence in black neighborhoods has nothing to do with whites, let me give you a little history on Oakland.

Blacks first started coming to

The one COIN prinicpal that has been done fairly well in Iraq over the last 2 years that could make a difference is the "COIN behind the Wire". Gen Petraus and BG Stone were critical in turning the corner on our failing detention policies. Obviously, we made some immediate changes right after Abu Ghraib, but we still weren't doing it *right*, we just weren't doing it criminally wrong.

I have a stupid Question. Which I suppose deserves a stupid answer. Here Goes: When did the Phrase "The Bad Guys" gain prominence, when referring the wicked enemy people who seem to resist our best designs to help them?

I would guess its' use would be fairly harmless, though cartoonish, if used solely In Cathedra, among adherents.

But am I the only one that sees potential