Monday, August 18, 2014

Yochi Dreazen — From Electricity to Sewage, U.S. Intelligence Says the Islamic State Is Fast Learning How to Run a Country


Rag-tag insurgents doing what the US has been unable to do in years in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"ISIS is the most dangerous terrorist group in the world because they combine the fighting capabilities of al Qaeda with the administrative capabilities of Hezbollah," said David Kilcullen, a counterinsurgency expert who spent several years working as a top aide to Gen. David Petraeus during the height of the Iraq War. "It's clear that they have a state-building agenda and an understanding of the importance of effective governance."
Foreign Policy

1 comment:

David said...

One is reminded of the scene in Lawrence of Arabia where the Arab Revolt, soon after taking Damascus began to fall apart, revealing their technical incompetence and political ineptitude which would soon require the intervention of the British to save them from themselves.

This popular western stereotype of the incompetent, childishly parochial Arab as presented in that film and dozens of others since blatantly belied the facts. The facts were that the Arab Revolt successfully held Damascus for three years and only gave it up due to pressure from the French.