The Modern Face of War

So this is what it boils down to after all the missteps, the miscalculations, after we invaded under false pretenses, after we announced mission accomplished, after we stayed far too long and strayed  far afield, after all the blood has been shed and the instability has taken root,, after the seeds of hatred have multiplied and the images of brutal vicious death have been mockingly thrust upon the screen as a warning to us and as a cry for jihad, after all this time and all of this effort we are now left to consider a new strategy: out tweeting the enemy.

We are losing the battle of the minds. In the 21st century this turns out to be more critical than the fight in the trenches, for there no longer is a foe who stands before us in military garb announcing its intentions. Now everything appears in shadows, in hints, in momentary flashes of light and long stretches of darkness.  Now, borders and boundaries of allegiance have disappeared.Now it seems that nothing can be won by way of the conventional. Now it is all in promotional videos and slick advertising, as the campaign shifts from the battleground to the editing room. We no longer require generals, we need advertising executives.

It is a treacherous and dangerous time and it appears that we are always one step behind. We must learn a new language and a new way of thinking. We are facing a flexible foe, one capable of understanding the psyche of those it seeks to attract far better than we do in our ponderous, plodding fashion. We are last century's conventions.They are today's realities. 

For now we must stop doing the math in bullets and bombs. Our attack now lays on the internet. This is the modern face of war.