Quote Originally Posted by nichols View Post
My intent was to show that this is a clash of cultures.
I am not sure how the shopping list of violence you provided proves any such thing. It does suggest to me that someone's IO campaign is getting a free helping hand.

I am increasingly tired of the essentially puerile 'arguments' made about 'clashs of culture / civilisation' etc that are patently no such thing.

If these 'theories' were adequate summations of the problem one would expect them to provide an insight that could be operationalised. I can't recall one 'useful' operational concept to arise from this 'insight' since 9/11 - feel free to jump onboard and correct me if I have missed something.

(Note: I am making distinction here between the need to 'appreciate' culture in the COIN sense and the idea of 'culture' as the root cause of terrorism).

It is my opinion that much of the guff about 'clash of culture' is:

1) in some circumstances addressing a religious prejudice (or ignorance) on 'our side' ;
2) a cover for ignorance of the true nature of the source(s) of conflicts;and
3) an artifice created by some 'experts' in order to fashion a lexicon that empowers them in some way.

Cheers

Mark