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What Is a Sufficient Victory?

[Jerusalem Post] Caroline Glick - In a paper on counterinsurgency warfare authored by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror released last week by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, he discusses "sufficient victory," involving defeating an irreconcilable foe and then preventing him from rebuilding his capacity to wage war. Sufficient victory doesn't entail any political transformation of enemy society, and indeed it takes for granted that such a transformation is impossible to enact. But the effect of a sufficient victory can be longstanding if the victorious side is willing and able to consistently prevent enemy forces from reconstituting themselves. Thus, there is a military option for victory in counterinsurgency wars devoid of political transformation. Indeed, Israel's options for transforming Palestinian society from a terror-supporting society to a terror-combating society are limited. Influenced by domestic, pan-Arab and pan-Islamic jihadist indoctrination; supported militarily, financially and politically by Arab states, Iran, terror groups and the West, the Palestinians have little reason to transform.
2008-04-18 01:00:00
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