Unqualified Offerings

Took the Metro today because the car was in the shop. With all the talk about the increased and obtrusive security, I wondered if my reading material – Robert Pape’s Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terror – would raise eyebrows or delay my progress. Answer, no! I didn’t even see any of [...]

At the request of Loyal Reader Stephen, all spoilers tucked into the comment section. I’m going to bed so I won’t have my own reactions until tomorrow, but don’t feel obliged to wait for me.
UPDATE: Monday 8/8. I start to weigh in. See comment 11.

David Clark Scott, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, November 26, 2003:
US soldiers trying to create goodwill in Fallujah echo the bitterness. “We thought we were doing something good when we built a soccer field,” says Maj. Allen Vaught. “We brought in engineers, earthmovers, welded goal posts, and trucked in some smooth dirt.”
The next day [...]

“With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them.”
Lt. Colonel Nate Sassaman, quoted by Dexter Filkins in the NYT, December 7, 2003.
So what was the problem, do you think?
1. Not enough fear and violence?
2. Not [...]