Exit Strategies

[Mark O'Neill]

Now, I didn't say that. I simply said that the way the United States conceptualizes insurgencies is as a variant of war, hence "victory" defined as the defeat of the insurgents is the end state. That's not just a military/doctrinal thing.

Steve,

I know, I was just making the point that the line cited was , for want of better term, a 'rote' line as opposed to a considered view that required 'defeat' of the insurgents as the end state. I would not like to rely on that line alone to justify your point.

At one level, I think it is possible to view a compromise that is suitable or acceptable to the state as 'defeat' for the insurgents. This is because of the fact that several conditions favourable to the State have been met:

1. The insurgency, and its implicit threat, has gone.
2. The state has survived and the 'elite' have made a deal that they can live with.
3. The societal ill that lead to the insurgency has been mitigated against to some acceptable degree to all parties, thus having a normative effect on stability.