Combined force in Río de Janeiro

[MT2008]

Everyone stop acting so stupid, or this topic gets it. How many times have I asked y'all?

Originally Posted by BurtReynoldsMoustache

Take a moment to think about if this was happening here in the United States. This isn't a bunch of police officers making arrests, this is a military operation. They are literally at war with their own citizens.

Except that Brazil is nothing like the United States. Our drug dealers haven't killed dozens of cops with weapons like HMGs and RPGs. In terms of their weapons and tactics, the favela gangs are far more comparable to paramilitary or insurgent forces than they are to the Crips and Bloods. So it is necessary for BOPE to act like a military force (and, in this op, work with actual military personnel) in order to fight them.

I suppose you also feel the same way about Mexico (Mexican troops have been deployed to fight the cartels on countless occasions)?

Originally Posted by BurtReynoldsMoustache

Drugs, yes. Welfare checks, no.

Neither of these is going to happen anytime soon (and Brazil has no control over American drug laws, anyway), so you might as well deal with reality. As long as there is a problem, BOPE has to deal with it.

Originally Posted by k9870

There a threat, a bigass threat, to everyone and seeing them wiped out is good.

Although I disagree with Burt that it's wrong for the Marines to take part in this operation, you are wrong about this last part. They aren't going to be able to "wipe out" the drug gangs. As long as there is poverty and drugs are illegal, the gangs will always exist. By occupying the favelas, the BOPE and Marines will be able to repress the gangs, but it won't be permanent. As soon as they leave (which they'll have to do eventually, because military occupations are expensive, especially for a country like Brazil), the gangs will return.

[Swordfish941]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Although I disagree with Burt that it's wrong for the Marines to take part in this operation, you are wrong about this last part. They aren't going to be able to "wipe out" the drug gangs. As long as there is poverty and drugs are illegal, the gangs will always exist. By occupying the favelas, the BOPE and Marines will be able to repress the gangs, but it won't be permanent. As soon as they leave (which they'll have to do eventually, because military occupations are expensive, especially for a country like Brazil), the gangs will return.

So gangs are like cockroaches (figuratively). No matter how many times you flush them down the toilet, they always climb back up the bowl.