...a cigar is just a cigar. It's axiomatic you have to know your enemy in order to defeat him. That's a rule that's been on the books since Sun Tzu.
That doesn't mean going all medieval is the answer - but you're just guessing if you won't make the attempt to understand your opponent. Or, worse, you proceed from the assumption that they think just like you do.
That hurt us in Southeast Asia, that hurt Chamberlain in 1938, it hurts us now.
Heh. Dig up Charles Martel and ask him. I like that image.
Shamelessly swiped from Denny, who swiped it himself.
That doesn't mean going all medieval is the answer - but you're just guessing if you won't make the attempt to understand your opponent. Or, worse, you proceed from the assumption that they think just like you do.
That hurt us in Southeast Asia, that hurt Chamberlain in 1938, it hurts us now.
Heh. Dig up Charles Martel and ask him. I like that image.
Shamelessly swiped from Denny, who swiped it himself.
God'sBammy's Ears.John is quite right that one should know one's opponent (or enemy), but the knowledge should be accurate. I've been reading for a fair number of years now from the folks over at Strategypage.com (hardly an outpost of lefty idjits) that the past 30 years is Yet One More Eruption of Radical Islam. Apparently at regular intervals the True Believers get sick of the corrupt kleptocracy demonstrated by most Muslim countries. and try to reform things. Alas, that reform almost invariably takes the form of <i>Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius</i>. Great on stirring things up, not so good on actual governance.
There are a couple of factors which made a difference, this time around. For the first time in centuries, the Middle East and southwest Asia have some economic & political sway. Add to that the ability to turn civilian energy sources (i.e. jet airliners) into bombs. Add global 24/7 information exchange, and stir.
The historical record seems to be that 20-40 years after the first irruption of radicals into the body politic, we will see them fade into crime, then obscurity. Look at what happened to the Black Hand (later the Mafia) and FARC. It's the same thing that's happening to AQ and the Taliban; they're migrating from political/military action to drug running. Same thing that happened to Fatah, for that matter.