Quote Originally Posted by jmm99 View Post
Part of this discussion is losing me. So, a couple of serious questions:

1. Who are these "policy types" who can "identify, address and repair the failures of local/national governance" ?

2. Have the "policy guys" (whoever they are) actually solved any insurgency; if so, where and when ?

Sorry to be dull, but I need some context to understand this.

Mike
when has a military operation ever resolved an insurgency.

By policy types I mean the national governmental leadership. Karazai, for example, has the insurgency in Afghanistan to either win or lose, the military forces in that country can merely set the conditions..

Similar for the larger GWOT it is incumbent upon the national govenmental leadership of the US to address and change our policy approach to the governemnts and populaces of the middle east to win or lose that event. Bin laden is a SYMPTOM of a much larger problem, a man for his times, if you will. The military can go out and attack that symptiom, but if the larger policy issue is not addressed new men will emerge to pick up that bright burning torch.