Indian War parallels

[120mm]

Actually, I think damned few of the parallels are operational and tactical. All the ones that count are strategic.

1. Intergenerational struggle - check
2. Culture clash of completely and utterly incompatibles - check
3. Incoherent strategic goals of "our side" - check
4. Love them one day, murder them the next - check
5. Out of control "loose cannons" in the enemy camp who generate overresponse by "our side" - check.
6. Implacability of the conflict - check.
7. Inequity of the concept of "humane treatment" - check.
8. An enemy divided within itself - check.
9. Inevitability of one side destroying the other regardless of what batch of "neato, nifty good ideas" are generated by the "egg-heads" - we'll see.

Where the conflicts differ, here, is that Islam is not restricted to race - also, American Indian populations were not self-sustaining and self-replacing, whereas the Islamic parts of the world are growing.

I have an airplane historian friend who can argue for days that a J-3B Cub is a "completely different airplane" from a J-3C Cub. This is a similar argument from my point of view.

[tequila]

120mm - The major conflict issue in the Indian Wars is missing. The West is not attempting to physically conquer and destroy the Islamic world as it was the Western tribes. AQ believes this to be the case, but other than in the Palestinian territories the Muslim world generally doesn't buy AQ's case yet. Indeed, the No. 1 IO mission is to ensure that this remains the case. No. 2 IO mission is to convince the wider Muslim world that AQ is not the defender of oppressed Muslims but rather the Islamic Jacobin radicals that they really are. We are, I believe, far away from accomplishing this feat and getting further away every day.

Unfortunately the problem with IO nowadays is that it is near impossible to control the media environment, especially with regards to a wider global population. In the U.S. case control is not even an option --- simply gaining entry to the necessary media markets is a problem. At some basic level policy changes will have to be made in order to have an effect --- a better form of BS is not going to do a damn thing.

Goesh - I have yet to encounter any Islamic text which asserts that personal income tax is illegal. Are you referring to interest on savings?

Regarding women's rights and democracy, I point you to Western culture's rather recent conversion to the same. The West had democracy far before it had any concern for women's property rights. The Napoleonic legal code in Egypt actually removed the property rights for women they had previously held under sharia law. Turkey, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia headline culturally Islamic countries where women have held the presidency or prime minister's chair, which has never occurred in the U.S. Japan and Korea, are textbook examples of how a country can achieve modernity and democracy while at the same denying women equality in the cultural and economic spheres.

[120mm]

Good point, tequila. I hadn't put that into the equation.

But there is the oil issue. Extractive economies almost never benefit any but a few. In the end, we will have figuratively "stolen" the value of their land, which I guess is similar to stealing their land.

An interesting question will be how will the "end times" of oil production affect the Middle East?

[tequila]

But there is the oil issue. Extractive economies almost never benefit any but a few. In the end, we will have figuratively "stolen" the value of their land, which I guess is similar to stealing their land.

This forms a part of the terrorist manifesto, but it is not convincing to many IMO. The vast majority of the Islamic world does not live in oil states. I would argue that the key "evidence" of imperialism for the vast majority of Muslims is represented in Israel's policies towards the Palestinians and the occupation of Iraq. However, there are many other things to factor in, especially since as Kilcullen has noted the disaggregation of conflicts and issues represents a crucial part of our IO message. For instance, anti-Americanism in Pakistan is a far different animal with different motivations than anti-Americanism in Saudi Arabia, for instance.

I disagree with those who argue that things like this represent Muslim disgruntlement with the West.

[goesh]

Tequila - Zakat/alms is a personal responsibility, a Quranic obligation as you know and income tax would create double-dipping out of the individual's pocket, since in Democracy, the state assumes varying degrees of responsibility for orphans, the infirm, cripples, etc. From a mere economic perspective, the more booty/plunder that can be obtained, the more can be given via Zakat - an economic consideration in the expansion of the Ummah.

Western women have had the right to be President/PM for quite some time and it pretty much coincides with industrialization. The Islamic world hasn't yet resolved the issues of honor killing and clitorectomy for example, even in areas that are semi industrialized. In the epitome of industrialization in the Islamic world, Saudi Arabia, women can't even drive cars. Rigid paternalism is sanctioned in Al Qu'ran, there is no way around that. The prescription for divorce, punishment for adultery, property division, the authorization for multiple wives etc are fully paternal.

Regarding the Indian wars, genocide, resource depletion, reconciliation, placation and aculturation were all employed in varying mixes in the 260+ years of conflict. There was no one set prime directive. Tactically, the most successful forces were the mountain men/free trappers who adopted Indian ways and some of their spirituality. How else could small parties of 'infidels' move so freely and successfully so deep in Indian country? More and more, COIN/CAPS it seems is the only way to go in Iraq.

[tequila]

Zakat/alms is a personal responsibility, a Quranic obligation as you know and income tax would create double-dipping out of the individual's pocket, since in Democracy, the state assumes varying degrees of responsibility for orphans, the infirm, cripples, etc. From a mere economic perspective, the more booty/plunder that can be obtained, the more can be given via Zakat - an economic consideration in the expansion of the Ummah.

Zakat can also be collected and administered by the Islamic state. Muslim states throughout history generally have found little difficulty in collecting taxes. You can find a decent discussion of taxation and Islamic history in Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddima. Note once again that income taxes are an innovation in Western practice, only lately levied, just as women's rights are comparative latecomers in the history of liberalism.

The Islamic world hasn't yet resolved the issues of honor killing and clitorectomy for example, even in areas that are semi industrialized. In the epitome of industrialization in the Islamic world, Saudi Arabia, women can't even drive cars. Rigid paternalism is sanctioned in Al Qu'ran, there is no way around that. The prescription for divorce, punishment for adultery, property division, the authorization for multiple wives etc are fully paternal.

Honor killing is most often found in clan, tribal, or caste-based societies and are hardly restricted to Muslim countries. They are, for example, a major problem in democratic India among all religious groups. See also, for instance, a recent occurrence in Catholic Italy. The same goes for female genital mutilation, which largely continues as a sub-Saharan African practice and is common in Christian as well as Muslim countries in Africa - for example Ethiopia, where the Coptic Church sanctifies the practice.