Quote:
Originally posted by taxwonk
I think that they might be as willing to kill American soldiers, but with an occupation force in their neighborhoods, they won't be as able. Furthermore, with troops in the Gaza and Lebanon and Haifa, etc. full-time, there will be more ability to distinguish between enemy and civilian. What's more, when you do a door-to-door sweep of a building looking for terrorists, you are bound to kill fewer civilians than when you just drop a bomb and level the fucker and everybody inside it.
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What do you do when the enemy is a civilian? Terrorists, insurgents, call them what you will, they don't wear uniforms.
These guys are ahead of us, because they know that the US (and Israeli) military are set up to fight other militaries. But they changed the rules. They don't wear uniforms, and no, they are not going to come out and fight like men. They are going to continue setting off roadside bombs and firing from mosques and using civilians as shields because - guess what - it works.
Now we have to adapt to that. We have to add a capability to wage war on a closer, more face to face level. We need to be fighting and winning hearts and minds wars, because just blowing people up on the off chance you'll hit an insurgent or Hezbollah is like using a hammer for brain surgery. And we have to do that while maintaining awareness of what distinguishes us from them.
We can start in Iraq by saying "Fuck the candy - we're handing out cheeseburgers and triple-chocolate milk shakes." Drop Shakira video collection DVDs from the air, and every kid under the age of 18 gets a Super Soaker. iPods for everyone. Drown 'em in American pop culture, and bring the troops home!
