The pack of beer and cigs approach worked fairly well in WWII. It has been tried on islamists and does not work in most cases.
These people have a belief system and a god they fear.
You don’t necessarily need to use waterboarding but you do need ‘enhanced interrogation’, i.e. make them miserable. No sleep, alternating heat and cold, loud recordings of screaming babies etc. You also need to break down their faith to get the best results - which we have never done.
Mattis is great but he is old school and from everything I read he doesn’t understand islam. He thinks he is fighting terrorists or extremists.
A constant barrage of Rush, Hannity programs, and Christian sermons in Arabic.
Funny mohammed jokes until they beat themselves bloody.
I know it’s unpopular but there is a difference between the radicals and Islam itself. I don’t know why it’s so hard to understand. People move their own needle however they want. It’s like the Constitution and liberalism. Liberals think the constitution is living and should be moved for the times. You don’t think there are liberals who believe in Islam?
Yes, Mattis is fighting terrorists. He is fighting those who commit the acts of classic guerilla warfare.
But remember, because the guerilla can chose the time, place and means of battle, the guerilla can never be defeated “in the field.”
But that advantage is tempered by the fact that the guerilla cannot win without outside support. A classic example; the VC needed Russia and the PRC. We won at Yorktown not because we defeated the Brits gun for gun, but because the French fleet prohibited Cornwallis from being resupplied and evacuating his British Army to NY to fight again.
Mattis must “hold” the guerilla in the field, while eliminating (with others) his support structure at his home base.