The rise of the ISA is a demonstration of the simple principle Napoleon once summarized as “The moral is to the physical as ten is to one.”
We have seen this for years, and the lesson is never learned by the West.
People who believe in what they’re fighting for, who are willing to both kill AND die are far better soldiers (and pretty much everything else) than those who aren’t.
This has been demonstrated, over and over again. The Chinese in Korea, the Vietnamese, Afghanistan, Hezbollah.
Moreover endless low-grade war is moronic. I once noted that Hezbollah was the perfect Darwinian organization; it had learned all the lessons Israel had taught. It was used to fighting while outgunned and outnumbered. It learned when not to use modern communications, to operate as a secret state, and so on, from Israel.
The modern form of electronic and surveillance warfare that the US practices is all very nice, and it is powerful, but the US and its proxies have been at war with the Islamic world for decades The West, basically, does not learn. Its militaries are not getting better (though many will claim they are), except in terms of equipment.
The militaries of those who fight the West, on the other hand, are improving by leaps and bounds. They move fast, give power to local commanders, isolate and destroy enemies, and regularly surprise their foes. The ISA, to an extraordinary degree, chooses where to fight and when. Of course they are winning. The only people in the Middle East who are almost certainly the ISA troops equal are Hezbollah (and I would expect, their betters. We’ll find out.)
When you fight wars as a superior power, you want to make them quick, over and out. An America which invaded Irak, stayed in Baghdad for only two months, and installed the Colonel of its choice as the new leader would still be a US which terrified the Islamic world.
The ISA, I suspect, has another great advantage over the militaries it faces.
It doesn’t use much in the way of electronic communication (those commanders who do, get dead.) This means that once units are given orders, the local commanders are free to execute those orders as they see fit, rather than being micromanaged by generals in the rear line. No single person, or even staff, can react as quickly as the commanders on the ground can, or as appropriately.
The sheer stupid of Israel, of America, of the West is stunning to behold. “Here, let us teach you how to beat us by engaging you in years of inconclusive warfare.”
The correct policy, from a hegemonic point-of-view (not what I would prefer), is to let them have their governments, let their elites rule, and if they get out of hand, knock them over. Maintain the fear. Let them get a bit soft and fat, let them have something to lose.
Failure to do this, and coddling of Saudi Arabian Wahhabism, has led to the rise of a truly barbaric form of militant Islam, which also happens to be startling effective on the battlefield.
Don’t teach people how to actually fight you. Don’t support barbaric regimes like Saudi Arabia’s in exporting their loathsome ideology. If you’re going to be an imperialist, learn how to actually play the game.
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