No Shit

Look, I admit that I can appear to think highly of my opinions and less-so of people who don't have the insight and wisdom to have similar ones ....

But, I have never thought that I really knew anything special about terrorism (outside of a youthful intellectual enthrallment with the IRA).

Turns out, that just a small amount of insight is all that is necessary to reject what statistics show to be the least effective means of stopping lunatics from suiciding all over your/my/our homes and homies.

Rand reports:

Military force was effective in only 7 percent of the cases examined; in most instances, military force is too blunt an instrument to be successful against terrorist groups, although it can be useful for quelling insurgencies in which the terrorist groups are large, well-armed and well-organized, according to researchers. In a number of cases, the groups end because they become splintered, with members joining other groups or forming new factions. Terrorist groups achieved victory in only 10 percent of the cases studied.

Needless to say (but they do anyway) that 'War On Terror' is a self-defeating appelation for Counter Terrorism activities.

The term we use to describe our strategy toward terrorists is important, because it affects what kinds of forces you use," Jones said. "Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to terrorism."