ParaPundit links to an article in Nature from economist Mike Spagat and physicist Neil Johnson in which the authors suggest that the conflicts in Iraq and Colombia follow a mathematical power law which matches that found for long term conflicts in non-Western nations. The post made me start thinking about a metaphor for opposing terrorism that probably has occurred to everyone but me by now: treating a disease.
If you treat a pathogen with an inappropriate drug or use too low a dose for too long a period, it gives the pathogen the opportunity to develop a resistance to the drug. The alternatives are few: use a high enough dose, change drugs (and use a therapeutic dose this time), or get used to chronic disease. Or, perhaps what we’re attempting to do in Iraq, keep the patient alive and strong enough that the patient’s immune system fights off the pathogen by itself.
Just musing.
Submitted to the Beltway Traffic Jam.
This has been thought of. During the Holocaust. Wars and conflicts are not diseases. They react and respond to social (ethical-biological) problems.