The Detail in Seymour Hersh’s Bin Laden Story That Rings True

Hersh’s scenario explains one detail that has always nagged me about the night of Bin Laden’s death.

After one of the SEALs’ Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, neighbors called the police and reported hearing both the crash and the subsequent explosions. The local police told me that they received the calls and could have been at the compound within minutes, but army commanders ordered them to stand down and leave the response to the military. Yet despite being barracked nearby, members of the Pakistani Army appear to have arrived only after the SEALs — who spent 40 minutes on the ground without encountering any soldiers — left.

Persian Gulf Allies Confront Crisis of Confidence in U.S.

Decades of cooperation and billions of dollars in weapons contracts have left the gulf nations deeply entwined with the United States and Britain in ways that cannot be quickly undone, analysts say.

.. American-made fighter jets are being used in the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen, but “none of these airplanes would fly if the United States refused to send parts,” Dr. Seznec said.

.. “Just as the United States is trying to lessen its dependence on Saudi oil, the Saudis are trying to lessen as much as possible their reliance on the American alliance,” Mr. Shammari said.

.. “The Saudi air force could not carry out day-in, day-out bombing missions without help from U.S. trainers and maintenance experts and the flow of spare parts and ammunition,” said Bruce Riedel, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, speaking about the Saudi-led bombing campaign against Shiite rebels in Yemen.

.. Mr. Seznec, of the School of Advanced International Studies, estimates that Saudi Arabia has spent about $500 billion to build its military in the last 20 years. About three-quarters of that money has gone to the United States.

 

 

Japan’s Role in Supporting the US Military

Japan already acts as the “counter balance” as much as she possibly can.  Her Diet passed a record defense budget for 2015 (under much pressure from the US).  Moreover, there’s a more interesting thing that Japan does for the United States — she buys American military equipment almost exclusively.  The Japanese government is actually a key partner in keeping the American defense industry afloat, especially Boeing, who has significant assets in Japan.  The total Japanese defense budget is nothing to turn your nose up at:  $45 billion (US) and rising.  Defense contractors who set up shop in Japan also get all sorts of cushy Japanese investments too.  That, in turn, fuels the innovation of American defense.

.. Japan is part of a key sphere of alliances that have encircled China in much the way the US encircled the USSR.  China and Russia do not trust each other today and are unlikely to do so tomorrow.  China and India do not trust each other today and are unlikely to do so tomorrow.  This means that the US has China effectively “boxed” in by Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia.  Furthermore, requests from nations in East Asia have pressured the US to increase her presence there NOT because “Americans want it” but because they genuinely feel fear for a powerful China.

 

If tomorrow Russia suddenly decides to nuke the US, will the US be able to withstand the attack?

Depending upon who was left alive in the wake of the Russian first strike and who was left in charge, American retaliation could come from a single ballistic missile submarine (which could target and destroy every major city in Russia) in roughly an hour. Or it could come in the days, weeks or months which follow the attack, after the US has determined what remains active in the country and begins to wipe that out.

And again…that is what a single ballistic missile submarine can do.
There are 11 of them in the US Navy’s inventory.
Along with 4 additional cruise missile boats which have nuclear-capable missiles aboard them as well.