To: Hawkmoon who wrote (271687 ) 12/2/2009 5:00:40 PM From: SARMAN 3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) | Respond to With all due respect, you are still out to lunch on this issue.Too many advantages? Look we threw out the original Taliban with SpecOps and suitcases of money passed out to various tribal factions. That took down the Taliban, but it didn't create a replacement government. So now you're telling us that the Taliban have more of an ability to "buy off" the tribal leaders? It's not realistic to believe the insurgents are particularly "nationalistic". They are tribal groups ruled by warlord chieftains in most cases, each seeking to dominate, or protect themselves from, their rivals. And this is the case even within the Pashtun tribes. There has been a nationalistic trend within the Pashtun nation for decades, but they can't seem to unify behind anything. Islamic Jihadism IS a potential force behind which they might find common cause, but I doubt that few of them would prefer the strict Taliban interpretation of Sharia law, over what they currently employ. People just do not like to go from freedom to restriction and oppression. Once they feel entitlement, they are loath to give it up. Entitlement is a MORE POWERFUL FORCE than anything you've ever seen. Because entitlement represents self-realization as an individual. And that individual begins to realize they have individual rights, and not just rights that are arbitrarily bestowed upon them by a particular ruler. But as a German General was once quoted.. "The reason Americans do so well in war is because WAR IS CHAOS and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis". IOW, we are adaptable. We take initiative to find solutions for battlefield problems. We alter our tactics to fit the local situation, not the training manuals. We improvise new weapons or tools to counter any enemy advantage. Certainly not in all cases and that's why it's critical to broadcast far and wide that the sooner they stand up as a nation and a people to govern themselves, the sooner we're out of there. Most Arabs didn't believe we'd ever leave, until we actually started withdrawing troops from Iraq. And now we're seeing far more calm than existed when I was there a few years back. But for most of these tribal leaders in Afghanistan, the Taliban are FOREIGN INVADERS FROM PAKISTAN, where most of their Madrassas are located. So it's those Afghans who we're seeing beginning to stand up and fight, if only because they've experienced what a Taliban government represents. And Ed.. Jihad is Jihad. If you're a young muslim who's been brainwashed to wage Jihad, you can't stop until the battle is won, or you've cashed in your life and collected your 72 virgins in Paradise. Once you've committed to such a struggle, you know nothing else. You live to die. Think out of the box.. analyze the threat, and counter it with creative thinking that denies your enemy the advantage.
