The main war is not militarily

Submitted by Shial Inquilab (United States), Sep 16, 2008 at 16:22

The main war is propaganda war -- Islamic extremists are much better and often more effective than the west.
Bombing killing thousands of people will not lead to anything if not accompanied by winning the public opinion. It only accomplishes turning the local population against the western forces.

Westerners have very short term strategies and they are doomed to fail. They come to our countries, loot and plunder wealth and kill people with abandon, and treat locals with condescension. West may be well served by trying out longer term strategies -- genuinely help the countries out, support good people and win the hearts - the long term payout will be far greater than the short term lootings and plunder.

As a local, its hard to stand in solidarity with the western forces when you clearly see the the lootings, killings, corruption and rapes carried out by the occupation forces on a day to day basis.

Local support needs to be cultivated through good governance and long term policies, not short sighted policies. Time frames for reaping benefits should be counted in decades not months. Focusing on short term guarantees defeat.

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