PC rears its ugly head again
Reader comment on item: Must Counterinsurgency Wars Fail?

Submitted by Y Brandstetter MD (Israel), Sep 16, 2008 at 04:07

• Isolate terrorists from the non-terrorist civilian population.
• Control and isolate the territories where terrorists live and fight.

Amidror, like every israeli who wishes to stay on the good side of PC neglects to mention two major points that would make victory over insurgency not merely "repressed quiet", but irreversible

One: recognition that insurgency is the tool the civilian population uses to sow terror into the majority. Thus the PA used battalions of terror to blow up busses cafes and restaurants and shopping malls in Israel, thus 911, the London underground etc. absolving the civilian population from responsibility for its terorist actions insures further insurgency

two: recognition of the right of the civilian population from whose ranks the terrorists arise to stay on the ground as inalienable gives impunity to terror. The most potent weapon against terrorist insurgency is to deny it hold on the ground, and in Israel's case, take action that will induce emigration. It is not PC, but has proved itself correct and blood-saving in the long run in antalia, Greece, the Sudeten. It is irrelevant in Iraq where the US has no intention of staying as a civilian power in the long run, which is the Surge is a temporary success, but no victory.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.