Today's Warfare

RCP sent me over to USA Today's column by Col. Ralph Peters, who makes a great point about the battle of ideas.

"We have ideas, ranging from the universal validity of individual freedom and the power of democracy, to equal rights for women. Our enemies have passions — the ecstatic intoxication of faith and the Darwinian bitterness of the tribe — that give them a ferocious strength of will."

We aren't fighting nation states in a battle of realpolitic, we're fighting disparate groups of differing ethnic makeups and religious views completely at odds with Western values. Peters also points out that historically, insurgencies or revolutionary movements have traditionally failed, at least up to the point of the American Revolution. When they've been successful, it is usually due to the imperial power just giving up and going home. Hard to tell at this point what the future holds in store.