SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: cnyndwllr who wrote (21964)10/22/2004 2:33:44 PM
From: Bruce L  Read Replies (1) of 23153
 
I don't want this thread to become like so many others: empty posts and counter-posts that add nothing to a readers understanding.

Just two points:

(1) You still have this "romantic" Frank Herbert vision of an Iraqi "hive" where most Iraqis will risk their lives to force us out. Yes, because of their 400 year inferiority complex, most Iraqis do resent our presence. But it doesn't follow that most Iraqis will take up arms against us or that they can't see that to equal us, they have to become more like us.

(2) You imply that modern explosives have somehow 'changed the equation', that "gunpowder can kill at a half-mile.

There is nothing really new under the sun; there have been insurgencies since the beginning of history. Stalin put down a hundred "native" insurgencies and the world never knew about them. China has put down an insurgency in Tibet. The Chechnyans, for instance, were moved from their homeland in 1942 almost to a man; Except for Khruschev letting them back in, there would not be a problem today. The British put down the insurgency in Malaya in the early 1950s. They put down a Shiite rebellion in Iraq in 1936. For that matter, we effectively put down an insurgency in South Vietnam! The Germans didn't even have an insurgency problem in Western Europe 1940 -1944.

Bruce
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2026 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News