Quote Originally Posted by Bill Moore View Post
With our so called new theories on COIN and our precision targeting for more conventional wars where we make herculean efforts to avoid killing innocent civilians it seems alien to us that others would pursue a strategy that is very focused on cowing the population via coercion/fear to achieve their ends. "
Thats right and its down to who blinks first.

Remember that we impose upon ourselves the burden of believing that all civilians are innocent.

You look at the circus this has led to in Afghanistan.

This is not a call to kill civilians but rather to get real about who is doing during a war. One would have thought the Vietnam experience would have led to some truth coming home to the US military but sadly looking at Afghanistan nothing was learned.

Worth a read is the following:

The Art of Coercion: The Primitive Accumulation and Management of Coercive Power