Where to start? Battle Birkenstocks? Sigh. The Long War will be a challenge as it is a religions war (just a reminder, only one side has to consider it to be a religious war for it to be so) - but from a military POV, it isn't that hard of a nut to crack when you make the decision to crack it. Good intel, solid targeting, and useful ROE. Doable.
Not as straightforward as the below, but doable.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not dismissing them at all. They are very good at killing, raping, torturing, and terrorizing unarmed women and children ... but let's keep perspective; we used to train for nuclear war on a global scale. We need to remember that previous generations faced worse by worse.
Within living memory, we also had few qualms about accepting civilian casualties as part of war. We need to accept that today as well.
The predawn raid Saturday came unstuck when the US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire, and pulled out to avoid civilian casualties, two security sources said. No Americans were injured.
Civilian deaths? Well ... take a number.
Don't accept terrorists in your tribal area, and then it isn't a problem. Have them as neighbors, well, sorry - we have a job to do.
