From Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor (review tomorrow):
…[U]ntil the United States decides to wield a very large stick up here in support of the elected government of the people, in Kabul, I’m not looking for any serious change real soon. The enemy is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve victory, terrorizing its own people, if necessary, and resorting to barbaric practices against its enemy, including decapitating people or butchering them.
We are not allowed ot fight them on those terms. And neither would we wish to. However, we could fight in a much more ruthless manner, stop worrying if everyone still loved us. If we did that, we’d probably win in both Afghanistan and Iraq in about a week.
This is an excellent book.
I’ll look forward to your review. It was a lot “heavier” than I was prepared for, even knowing the jist of it before reading.
The time he spent talking about the training was meaningful too.