If You Know Your Enemy

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. "

The Art of War - Sun-Tzu
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In order to win a war, you must know your enemy. To think the Iraqi's (and the Muslim's) are fighting us because they "hate freedom and democracy" is ludicrous. Our forefather's said that some things are self evident. The universal love of freedom is one of them.

So, perhaps it is something else that inflames their wrath. Perhaps it is hypocritical policies. Like the way we talk fairness and then change their laws to enable the selling of their resources only to our friends. Perhaps it's because we expound human rights and then create Abu Grahaib, and Guantanamo, and extraordinary renditions to somewhere. We talk justice, and then jail innocent people without cause or trials. We talk democracy, and then support dictators if they will support our material needs. We talk rule of law and then let our hired mercenaries act without laws.

If we really knew the terrorists and the insurgents, we would know these things. Since we don't, we cannot win.

"... it helps ... to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and ... we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition."

A Buddist Quote