What most people don't understand is that the winning of hearts and minds in Iraq and Afghanistan mostly consists of being the biggest, baddest mother on the block; killing the enemy in every engagement; demonstrating our ability to close with and destroy anyone who opposes us. It's kind of hard to do this when you have little armchair generals telling us how to conduct tactical operations because of some imagined strategy.
Collateral damage doesn’t do as much to undercut the “winning of hearts and minds” as most people would like to think; especially when the collateral damage is the result of a legitimate engagement. Iraq is a perfect example of this, as they (the Iraqis) have suffered innumerable casualties as the result of collateral damage, yet we were still able to win them over. Why is that? Because they are smart enough to realize two things:
1. The Americans are bad mothers. We do not want to fight them.
My question would be, how does one go about intimidating people whose lives are so bereft of security and comfort that they are generally willing to sacrifice their lives- in a very literal way- by blowing themselves up on a routine basis in order to take some of their adversaries with them?
These people- the tribal people of Afghanistan- are some of the poorest people in the world, with the lowest quality of life. I don't
have to be there and meet them first hand to know this; I'm well-read, and it's common knowledge. I've heard it from a number of reputable sources and organizations, such as WHO.
It's true, their culture and their religion have a lot to do with it.
But do you really think a culture and religion like that would continue to thrive among a people who had
any personal stake in living this life?
These people don't have enough food or potable water. When they get sick, there isn't any medical care; they either die or just stay sick. They can't reasonably expect any of their children to survive to adulthood; if one does, it's an unexpected blessing. There is nothing of beauty or comfort in their lives. There is nothing to make them think they might be worthwhile- as individuals- to anyone. Their lives have meaning only when they are a cog in a machine; the only opportunity they have to give any meaning to the fact that they lived, were here for awhile, and died is to be part of this struggle against foreign invaders making their bleak lives even worse than they were previously, if that's even possible.
I'm not trying to get on a soapbox and make everyone feel sorry for these people, but seriously:
how are you going to scare or intimidate, with military might or through "being a badass", people who have no real reason to live and who aren't attached in any meaningful way to this life?
I mean, I suppose you could threaten to torture their loved ones to death; but even that doesn't really seem to faze them. Remember the story someone posted awhile back about the Iraqi police officer whose small son was kidnapped by insurgents and allegedly tortured for years.
"Better my son be a martyr," the policeman was quoted by the article as saying, "than that we give in to their demands."
Really. These people have lived all their lives- all their history- in a way that's inconceivable to us as Westerners.
It's foolhardy to believe we can scare them.
It's pretty hard to scare people who don't eat enough, and haven't gotten enough to eat for their entire lives. Their emotions and senses are kind of dulled; they view everything through a sort of numb haze. They can't be expected to respond as healthy, alert people would; I'm sure this fact is taken as further evidence by some that they aren't really human and don't need to be treated as such.