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Column 100608 Brewer

Monday, October 6, 2008

The Americas, New Arms Races & the Right to Self-defense

By Jerry Brewer

A new era of global conflict and global insurgency has raised its
diabolical head in the Western Hemisphere. This resurrection
brought about by leftist rhetoric, manipulation, and provocative
military movement and massive arms purchases. In fact, Latin
America is en route to a new arms race.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has focused his efforts on

an administrative that is an obvious and growing threat to the
stability of the region. Colombian officials labeled the joint
military maneuvers of Venezuela with Russia as "tensions
between the United States and Russia being relocated to
Andean and Caribbean scenarios."

The facts of such statements are clearly tempered with the acts
of Chavez's forced Marxist ideology on his people – a modern
creation of socialism and leftist rhetoric directed at the
manipulation of Venezuela's neighboring countries by threat and
fear. In his ranting directed at the U.S., Chavez called the U.S.
president the "Devil," as well as referring to the U.S. populace
as "Yankees of … (excrement)."

He joins Iran's President Ahmadinejad as "kings" of terrorist

threat. Ahmadinejad continues to threaten the extinction of
Israel in what could only be described as another Holocaust.

Venezuela has increased its military budget by nearly 50% with

the country's petrodollar revenue, clearly the largest military
investment in the region. Military equipment purchased from
Russia has been estimated at around US$3 billion. The
acquisition of multi-purpose aircraft/fighters, 50 helicopters, and
100,000 AK-103 rifles are clear indications of a propensity to
use them.

Latin America has seen its fill of weapons, ordnance, and death
throughout its history by rogue leftist regimes attempting to end
freedom and democracy, and force dictatorial mandates.
Transnational crime in the region, overwhelmingly directed at
instilling fear and rejecting the rule of law and authority, has
been taking root from the tri-border confluence of Argentina,
Brazil and Paraguay to the U.S. border with Mexico.

The ritual slaughter is indiscriminate and continuous. Over the

past two years almost 20% of the approximate 25,000
international terrorist attacks were directed against law
enforcement. In the past several years automatic weapons
have replaced bombs as the number one weapon of choice for
international terrorist organizations.

Hugo Chavez has brought the Russian military – that he

enthusiastically embraces – to the region with Russian Tupolev
Tu-160 bombers landing in Venezuela recently for "joint military
maneuvers." These bombers have the capability of carrying
multiple cruise missiles and nuclear warheads. Chavez
comically stated that "Russia brings security to Latin America."
When Chavez's rhetoric overloads his posture, he sometimes
cries wolf as he accuses the United States of planning to invade
Venezuela or assassinate him.

It is indeed clear that Venezuela has no real threat from anyone

in the Western Hemisphere, albeit the internal struggles by the
homeless and hungry within its homeland due to the populace
not reaping benefits from the massive oil income.

Meanwhile, arms escalation in Latin America increases as

Brazil and Chile step up their arms purchases in response to the
new potential for threat in the region. While the United States
continues to be engaged and distracted in fighting terrorism in
Afghanistan, the migration of Middle Eastern terrorists has
rapidly expanded into Latin America.

Preventing terrorism, as well as tactically and strategically

engaging terrorists, requires intensive organizing and training
among an international community as a first line of defense.
Colombia, as a proactive example, has had much success
against their domestic insurgency with the FARC and ELN
guerrillas, as well as drug cartels. Many of these terror-trained
commandos have been displaced to points north in Central
America and beyond.

The terrorist threat is a global phenomenon. The specter of the

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is a critical
issue. It is an ever-changing threat of home grown sleeper
cells, as well as independent "lone wolf" attacks instigated by
the radicalization efforts of leftwing organizations, rogue foreign
intelligence services, and other terrorist group hierarchies. This
newest trend in terrorist modus operandi shows innovative and
loosely organized self-financed international networks.

The conceptual model of antiterrorism is a deliberate and

dynamic process that has been learned in response to prior
attacks. The deployment capabilities of antiterrorism forces
must incorporate coordinated and synchronized offensive and
defensive measures, while degrading opportunities for the
terrorists to be successful.

Those in the path of terrorists have an inherent right to self-

defense. As the United States initiated military operations in
2001 against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and
strongholds of al-Qaeda since 1996, with the assistance of 136
countries Latin American nations must now step up in unity to
secure their homelands.

——————————
Jerry Brewer is Vice President of Criminal Justice International
Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in
Northern Virginia. jbrewer@cjiausa.org