http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/washington/08strategy.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin Sooner or later they will realize that the real successful war on terrorism is an intelligence and police effort. It's all about winning the hearts and minds of the populace once you have invaded them, but you need to be killing the hearts and minds of the terrorists in their cells from within..
When terrorist organizations are the size and scope of those in the Middle East, intelligence and "police effort" is not enough. The military has to be involved in a sustained, low-intensity effort. The "within" aspect is an unrealistic tactic. It would take DECADES for any Westerner to get anywhere within an Arab terrorist organization.
One must provide security before winning hearts and minds can even begin to take place. Japan was and will always be the object lesson in how deal with a nation and a people after you have defeated them in war. MacArthur ruled occupied Japan from Sept 1945 through the end of 1946 with an iron fist. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese were imprisoned, detained, killed, etc as the occupation force rooted our all vestiges of old regime and its supporter. He refused to build housing for the populace during the winter of 45-46 leading to over 400,000 citizens to die of exposure and disease in order to "cow and humiliate" the populace and to punish the Japanese people for what they had done to the world. He also systematically disarmed the country. With that done, we spent the next eight years then winning over the population and establishing a new order before turning the country over them in full in 1954. We did much the same thing in Germany, although with the complication of the Soviet presence. The biggest mistake in Iraq was in not securing the country BEFORE beginning nation-build efforts. We have yet to secure the borders and never did attempt to disarm the country. Both have been CRITICAL mistakes. And not having martial law for at least ayear, not killing Sadr and his militia, not killing the insurgents in Fallujah when we had them surrounded was a bad mistake. Afghanistan's problem is the enemy has a safe haven in Pakistan from which to operate from. That's what happened fifty years ago in Korea. MacArthur wanted to bomb Chinese bases in Manchuria and wipe out the Chinese build up north of the border BEFORE they had a chance to invade. The stupid politicians (as they always do) interfered and the rest is history. At some time we will have invade northwest Pakistan at some time whether the Pakistanis agree or not. Otherwise we will never wipe out the reminants of the Taliban. We need to bomb and eliminate those radical schools as well.
Since the US hasn't suffered from a non-domestic terrorist attack for some years perhaps it's time to re-think the need to occupy Iraq and to prop up the puppet government in Afghanistan. What is the need?
How long will the current approach on the battlefield take, how many deaths? And all you get is a temporary fall back. Who says it has to be westerners? Which is unrealistic?
