JMA,

As I said, we can agree to disagree. But when you do disagree, ensure you read what I say and argue with that.

illegal political challenge is not "day to day," and it is a populace driven to the belief that it must operate outside the law to achieve resolution of issues that the government is unwilling to address through legal means that makes the essence of insurgency.

The military should be last in and first out in government prevention and response to insurgency. Definitions that only recognize the high end violent aspect of insurgency is like a definition of icebergs that only recognizes that portion rising above the surface of the water. One can attack that portion of the iceberg for a long time and only give rise to more ice. Same if one treats insurgency the same way.

A civil emergency is civil business. That is the vast majority of insurgency.

I will agree with WILF on this point: "War is war." Where we disagree is that I do not believe that insurgency is war.

Cheers!

Bob