returningliberty
Well-Known Member
I'm'a jump in here too, at the risk of being a warmonger / tinfoily / whatever lol.
Guys, we've been in a region wide war since '98, the nation of Islam declared war with the embassy bombings in the 80's. The small scale conflicts all over Africa and the wars in the ME are different campaigns in the same old war.
The problem for us, the Israelis, the Brits have is the exact same problem the Russians had and the Brits had before that: it's hard to fight an ideology. War is traditionally an extension of political will, a "diplomacy tool". Diplomacy and military force are two sides of the same coin. The west has used war in this way since the fall of the roman empire. Even the Crusades, from the western perspective, was a political war.
We "make the other side's leaders feel like continuing to fight is hopeless" and they quit. Killing the other nations "king" is pretty rare in the wars westerners fight.
The war we find ourselves in now is different. There is no "diplomacy/military" coin to flip over and over again. There is "kill the infidel" and "steel rain response". A lot of guys, even guys who served with me totally disagree, but my opinion is even their leaders are total ideologues that believe they hate they tell the rank and file. There is zero hope of achieving a diplomatic victory Or defeat. If we surrender they wint
So we kill a jihadi, another 2 make him a martyr and take his place. We kill a jihadi leader, and we disrupt his cell, but they're only loosely organized and the rest drive on.
There is no diplomatic solution. Period. Appeasement wouldn't work, even if we unconditionally surrendered the enemy won't just go away. We can offer a semblance of stability and try to set up a democracy, but look how that's working out. Their people don't Want western democracy.
The only three options left are total war, genocide, and culture war.
I won't even go into the reasons for /against genocide, but total war is an option that, to me at least, is attractive.
Culture war would be extremely difficult in this case because we're not fighting the soviets, these guys Want to go to heaven, and killing infidels is the fast track. Its possible with enough Money, time, and willpower we could raise their standard of living that their own people would reject the radicals. But I doubt it.
To me, that means the only way to bring peace and stability to them and us is total war. Conquest. Take their stuff and make em squeal to have it back. They may not have a pot to **** in but when they have to ask nicely to get fed they'll get the picture.
American imperialism anyone?
Guys, we've been in a region wide war since '98, the nation of Islam declared war with the embassy bombings in the 80's. The small scale conflicts all over Africa and the wars in the ME are different campaigns in the same old war.
The problem for us, the Israelis, the Brits have is the exact same problem the Russians had and the Brits had before that: it's hard to fight an ideology. War is traditionally an extension of political will, a "diplomacy tool". Diplomacy and military force are two sides of the same coin. The west has used war in this way since the fall of the roman empire. Even the Crusades, from the western perspective, was a political war.
We "make the other side's leaders feel like continuing to fight is hopeless" and they quit. Killing the other nations "king" is pretty rare in the wars westerners fight.
The war we find ourselves in now is different. There is no "diplomacy/military" coin to flip over and over again. There is "kill the infidel" and "steel rain response". A lot of guys, even guys who served with me totally disagree, but my opinion is even their leaders are total ideologues that believe they hate they tell the rank and file. There is zero hope of achieving a diplomatic victory Or defeat. If we surrender they wint
So we kill a jihadi, another 2 make him a martyr and take his place. We kill a jihadi leader, and we disrupt his cell, but they're only loosely organized and the rest drive on.
There is no diplomatic solution. Period. Appeasement wouldn't work, even if we unconditionally surrendered the enemy won't just go away. We can offer a semblance of stability and try to set up a democracy, but look how that's working out. Their people don't Want western democracy.
The only three options left are total war, genocide, and culture war.
I won't even go into the reasons for /against genocide, but total war is an option that, to me at least, is attractive.
Culture war would be extremely difficult in this case because we're not fighting the soviets, these guys Want to go to heaven, and killing infidels is the fast track. Its possible with enough Money, time, and willpower we could raise their standard of living that their own people would reject the radicals. But I doubt it.
To me, that means the only way to bring peace and stability to them and us is total war. Conquest. Take their stuff and make em squeal to have it back. They may not have a pot to **** in but when they have to ask nicely to get fed they'll get the picture.
American imperialism anyone?
