The Gun Counter

That's what it's going to take, swapping atrocities until one side says "Enough!"

That, as the great Herman Wouk so aptly wrote, is what war is: frightening your opponent, through a lot of murder, into doing your will.

Yeah, but a John Pershing in the Philippines is probably more effective.

scipioafricanus wrote:Yeah, but a John Pershing in the Philippines is probably more effective.

This.

Indeed. Catch 'em by the bunch, kill them in spectacular/gruesome fashion, but leave one of each bunch alive to carry the word back to the others. As I've long said, give them something to whisper about around their campfires for a thousand years.

Christian crusaders didn't crucify their Moslem captives because that is how Christ died.

http://www.livescience.com/40843-real-d ... paler.html

Impalement, however, was not a problem.

14th century psyops.

Darrell wrote:Indeed. Catch 'em by the bunch, kill them in spectacular/gruesome fashion, but leave one of each bunch alive to carry the word back to the others.

Ah. The "Aldo Raines" school of warfare.

This is not realistic at scale these days. However, groups like the Taliban and ISIS are not lawful combatants, have no rights under the Geneva Conventions and should be summarily executed when caught. The message needs to be that if you want the protection of the rules of war, then you need to follow the rules of war.

Vonz90 wrote: The message needs to be that if you want the protection of the rules of war, then you need to follow the rules of war.

That's assuming that the [multiple expletives deleted] can actually READ the rules of war, or understand them.