"Don't Send a Lion to Catch a Mouse"

I would argue that, on the other hand, success in counter-insurgency depends on how many casualties one is willing to inflict--and how many one is willing to suffer. Fighting such a foreign war, against an enemy that is in no position to inflict decisive defeat in one's homeland, gives little incentive to do what it may take to win in today's liberal and media-soaked Western world. Unlike the world of the Indian Mutiny.

The French and the Russians, for example, won asymmetrical wars in Algeria and Chechnya in the 19th century, but lost asymmetrical wars in those same places in the 20th century...

Not so. The French won militarily in Algeria last century; they lacked the political will to keep it up. So far the Russians are still winning--at a horrible cost to the Chechens--in Chechnya.

One must convince the locals that one's interest is not just transient. A lesson for Afghanistan?

Perhaps neo-neo-imperialism is needed. But that will not happen.

Mark C.

Update: "Might, Will, Sacrifice"

What does it take to win a war? A young Canadian soldier thinks out loud...

Posted by markc at March 6, 2007 07:20 AM