NY Times Video Op-Ed: "Meeting Resistance"

[tequila]

The only important thing was the interrelation between his soldiers and the actual population in Cabylia... An invitation to tea, a kind wave, an imam speaking about the harvest, instead of rebellion at the Friday sermon in the mosque were the important "polls" that was taken by the soldiers every day (it is a sort of parallell to the attitude of the old German general staff, who always said that it is better if operations are reconnaisance driven, rather than intelligence driven...)

It should be noted that the French lost the war in Algeria, and they lost it because they lost (or never had) the Muslim Algerian population. Tolerance or acceptance of armed soldiers enforcing the peace should not be confused with movement towards what those soldiers view as an acceptable political settlement. The same goes for a population's tolerance or acceptance of an insurgent force in their midst as well.

[Nils Banér]

I was actually in the process of making a tedious and pretentious reply about the war in Algeria, and what the French did and didn't do; what worked and didn't work, etc. But what it actually comes down to, is this:

It should be noted that the French lost the war in Algeria

I have to rest my case, I'm afraid...