Quote Originally Posted by JD View Post
My question is this: Is it possible to fight ideas with ideas in the current environment and has it been done successfully before, not just in the recent past, but back to even biblical times.
To give a partial answer to the first part of the question, about fighting ideas with ideas...

I believe that we are successfully doing this now, fighting the ideas of those who wish to establish a so-called Islamic state based upon the most oppressive interpretations of Sharia law. We are helping those who have discovered how undesireable that idea is and providing them with our alternative idea. The Anbar tribes finally realized that living under the rules set forth by AQIZ were intolerable. The bankruptcy of the ideas put forth by the contrived Islamic State of Iraq were revealed. We offered an alternative idea - one of cooperation with a representative government and enforcing civil law. After trying out the ideas of AQIZ and MNF-I, I think the Anbar tribes now view our idea more favorably. The tribes in Salah ad Din, the outer ring of Baghdad, and Diyala are also being swayed after seeing the dramatic changes in Anbar and the benefits being reaped by the tribes, which is why tribal security forces (or whatever the current psuedonym is) are being stood up in those areas. They've seen oppression under AQIZ and self-determination made possible by self-government. Our idea is much more palatable.