Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
So each year we start again. The 'Long War' is here. Needless to say Soufan writes more:[URL]
Indeed, it's tragic we're - de-facto - back to September 2001.

Namely, after formation of this 'anti-ISIS-coalition', I cannot but conclude that the basic idea about how to tackle the threat is still very much the same like back in 2001. 'Arm and fight'.

That said, I do not think the West is fighting the same war all over again since 13 years: too much effort was squandered for absolutely no gain in Iraq in the meantime. Instead, and tragically, it seems that nobody of responsible characters learned anything at all: instead of cleaning the 'backyard' (see: removing all the debilitating regimes in the Middle East, which are core root of the problem), the West is still happily cooperating with any of them pretending to be 'friends'.

And one just can't 'kill' ideas: only provide more attractive alternatives.