Dream warriors: Our enemies fight for fantasies, not freedom

Armed Forces Journal by Ralph Peters | Jun. 28, 2007 (Opinion)

Until we are willing to confront the mentality -- the soul -- of our enemies honestly, we can't and won't defeat them.
We seek a logical understanding of mass violence, but war and civil strife rarely explode because of rational grievances. Complaints about oppression, poverty or injustice may serve as superficial catalysts, but few wars can be traced to objective decision-making by the dispassionate leaders of cool-headed populations. War is an ... Full Story »

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Kaizar Campwala
2.8
 by Kaizar Campwala - Oct. 1, 2008

While this kind of essay, exploring the motivations behind insurgency violence in Iraq, is important, this essay is unsuccessful. It makes strong claims about fundamentally different motivations on the part of Arabs with scant evidence, other than the observations of French imperialists in Algeria years ago. If empiricism is a methodology those in the west understand so well, perhaps it should be used when making arguments.

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Kaizar's Rating

Overall
2.8

Average
from 13 answers
Quality
2.7
Facts
1.0
Fairness
2.0
Information
2.0
Sourcing
2.0
Style
4.0
Accuracy
2.0
Balance
2.0
Context
3.0
Popularity
3.0
Recommendation
2.0
Credibility
3.0
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