Quote:
Originally Posted by satexasguy
The major advantage IS has is they don't give a shit about the Geneva Convention. They will shoot at and kill anything in their way. They don't follow "the rules" of warfare. The last time the US and it's allies won a war was in WWII because it was understood that civilian casualties were going to happen if the war was to be won. Ever since WWII, our politicians and the media have run our wars. The US cannot win against IS until our politicians (and the rest of the "civilized" world) understands that. Israel is often criticized for destroying civilian buildings and killing civilians when they target the Palestinian terrorists. The Palestinian terrorist intentionally lob home made rockets from schools, hospitals, etc and Israel fires back at those locations. The Israelis have the right idea.
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ISIS succeeds because they are fanatics and generally aren't afraid to die......yet. They confront the typical Arab nation army, only willing to fight weekdays during daylight hours, within commuting distance. ISIS's crude weapons and lack or organization don't matter, just their fanaticism. History has many parallels, the Afghan Mujahedeen being the most relevant. Illiterate mountain tribesmen brought the Soviets to their knees with barbaric terrorism and WWI Enfield rifles until Moscow declared a free fire zone for attack helicopters, used poison gas, and children's toy booby traps. Ruthless barbarism usually carries the day. We fire bombed every Japanese city into ashes, perversely saving a couple for "demonstration" of our new gadget. Curtis Lemay once spotted a drill press standing above charred rubble in bomb damage assessment photograph, and promptly ordered the city bombed. He understood that breaking the will of the combatants was necessary. Can you imagine Odumbo managing a war? He who never served, not even the Cub Scouts. Sadly, his ignorance is pervasive as evidenced by recent Washington managed wars. Better to decisively defeat an enemy, then forgive most atrocities and rebuild a society, precisely what we did with Germany and Japan. We have lost that wisdom. We should be debating the level of asymmetric response, i.e. do we use tactical nuclear weapons as a demonstration/military/terror response. The deserts of Syria and Iraq present the ideal setting. Madness, you say? The French considered it at Dien Ben Phu. Would they like a do-over? We shouldn't let ISIS think that this kind of Great Satan response is off the table.
