Here's a novel idea: armies don't need to be great big killing machines.
They can also conduct public-opinion polls.
This, it seems, is the modern way. "It's not pure war-fighting any more," says Lt.-Cmdr. Wynn Polnicky, part of the 2,500-strong Canadian military contingent currently waging war in southern Afghanistan against a shadowy force of fundamentalist Islamic rebels known as the Taliban.
"It's pretty clear we have an insurgency here, but what really matters is what people think. So, just ask them. It's not an earth-shaking idea."...
Traditionally, armies have tended to train most of their attention – not to mention almost all of their gun sights – on the firearm-toting fighters located on the opposite side of the front line, otherwise known as the enemy.
In Polnicky's view, however, it is not just the enemy that you need to be concerned about.
It's everybody else...
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