When and where the U.S. engages in such governmental-populace disputes is every bit as important as how.
This is why the assessment of national interests based on the current and emerging geopolitical dynamics is so critical. Too often we are driven by 60 year-old Cold War positions; or for the GWOT by flawed concepts of AQ and their role and relationship with insurgent populaces, coupled with an Intelligence-driven perspective that builds an ever growing threat picture that is then painted as being our critical interest to defeat.
The troubled regions where we have the greatest true national interests are, ironically, the locations where we are actually the least likely to engage directly as we have long relations with those "friendly" governments, preferring to engage in locations where we have few interests, and weak or strained relations with the government.
This brings us to another aspect of Decisive Points: We have made AFPAK our focal point for the GWOT, yet if one focus on the heart of the causation of GWOT, rather than merely the current location the current manifestations of this causation are operating out of; the decisive point shifts, IMO, to Saudi Arabia.
Now, this is not a call to send our military to remove a government, or to help a government control its populace. Nor is it a call to conduct a massive program of helping upgrade government effectiveness. Clearly such approaches seem as ridiculous when considered for a modern, friendly state as they seem obvious for a more primitive, or less friendly state; but are quite possibly equally inappropriate for both. The issues that must be addressed at the decisive point are those in the nature of the relationship between the Saudi government and their populace; and those in the relationship between the US Government and the Saudi Government. Both are wildly dysfunctional and are the burning core of causation for the GWOT that must be extinguished to rein this problem in.
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