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Catalog

Colonel Thomas X. Hammes USMC

6 quotes

From “The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century”

A group's goal—a successful group—can't be total annihilation of the enemy. The leverage for 4GW is that capitulation is cheaper and easier than a continued costly fight. Demands of total destruction obviously removes that option. You put them on a death ground.

strategy

The things that terrorists do throw rocks, threat of suicide bombs don't seem awful on tv. But the response they provoke—riot police, non-lethal rubber bullets, etc does. Smart groups exploit this.

strategy

Terror groups have two messages. One for international consumption, the other directly for the enemy. IOW. One for who you're fighting, one for people watching, judging, scoring the fight.

strategy

Insurgents are networks—networks are resilient.

strategy

Bin Laden's weakness—he can't understand how Americans think. 9/11 was a violation of that. Is this why he hasn't attacked since? Is it ridiculous to expect empathy from a terrorist? Are the ideas mutually exclusive?

strategy

From “The Sling and the Stone”

An insurgent's greatest strength: he doesn't have to win.

strategy

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