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Bob's World offered that Saudi Arabia is the decisive effort in this fight. There is merit in that argument, but I'll suggest something different.

In the short-run, Islamic terrorism is a threat....

Tequila,

Excellent points; however, we're probably going to face those issues regardless of the strategy we choose. We disrupted the balance of powers in SW Asia with our invasions in Iraq and...

Glad I could offer some humor to this otherwise serious debate. Eventually, I'm going to do a dissertation on this topic, game theory, and international relations using marraige, divorce, and...

This debate on strategy in Afghanistan is NOT an either/or of Occupy with Pop-Centric COIN versus simply leaving and only conducting limited CT.

What BW is describing (I think), is a softer,...

Spot On. I used to wonder why Sunnis in Iraq would stare at us with disgust while we attempted to build schools. Then, I found out. They felt impotent. They used to build the schools for their...

Continuing the analogy if this thing went to trial...

I'd hire Ken and JMM as my defense team.
Fuchs would be her attorney.
WILF would be my hitman if sh*t hit the fan.
MarcT and BW would be my...

working with the marraige analogy, I'd suggest we forgive and forget...

Pray for forgiveness to those that harmed us, stay true to our own values, and stand tall... Allow our own values shine and...

I found the approriate analogy...I'm not happy with it, but it is true.
Now, we must discuss it...

v/r

Mike

Ken, I understand your take on our obligations (and I agree). A good catholic would never consider not doing his duty or even ponder divorce; however, there is always a point where it is deemed...

Those principles are always in deep conflict with our Puritan ethics, Manifest Destiny, and utopian hopes of expanding "The Great Society."

v/r

Mike

As I'm reading through this thread, I was struck by an article by Krugman on economic theory and practice. The theory assumes 1. perfect communication and 2. fair competition. In practice, the...

This paper argues that the Russians failed in Afghanistan through its own mis-managed attempts at COIN and nation-building, not repressive population control techniques and tactical losses of...