Dead Wrong.Originally Posted by Dayuhan
First, We really aren't conducting "COIN Campaigns" anywhere;
Second, neither Irarq nor Afghanistan are truly central to the issues driving the spate of international terrorism over the past 15 years or so being executed by Sunni Arabs affiliated with radical Islamist organizations such as Al Qaeda;
Third, the bulk of the direct and indirect support to said movements has generated from the very populaces that are at this very movement either celebrating their liberty from some generational despot, or are plotting or implementing the same.
4th. The US acted early in the Cold War to shape a controlling influence over this same region, denying Soviet and European influence alike; and has then dedicated a large portion of our diplomatic and military energy over the past 60 years to the shaping and sustaining of a status quo that we felt best served our national interests in the region.
5th. During that same time national leaders now secure from external threats were free to design and implant internal security measures and limitations on civil liberties that could only be described as "despotic" and that have left this region largely frozen in time as they watch through new technologies the world moving rapidly around them
6th. At the core of each of these distinct nationalist movements is a private, personal insurgency that is not some component of a "global insurgency" but rather is independent and distinct. AQ has worked to connect itself to as many of these movements as possible, like a virtual flea attached to the backs of a pack of dogs. Yes the flea is an irritant and motivates the dogs to bark and scratch; but it is their respective masters that have locked them in small kennels and treated them so poorly that drives their quest for liberty (My apologies to my Muslim brothers for this analogy, I in no way call you dogs, but rather attempt to communicate why so many are so motivated to be free).
Lastly, and if you take away only one thing, FACTS are immaterial in insurgency, and PERCEPTION is everything. No one cares about our facts, they only care about their perception, and it is their perception that brings terrorism to our shores, and it is there perception that is driving the to the streets to face national security forces that have held them in check for generations.
So, we can argue over what their perceptions are, but don't argue your facts, because they don't matter. Many the colonial power argued the facts all the way up to the point they were driven from their respective acquisitions. They still argue those facts. They are probably right, just has Harry Summer was right when he told the Vietnamese officer that we had never lost a battle. All of your arguments may be technically and factually correct. However:
"That may be so," he replied, "but it is also irrelevant."
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