Spray and Pray
Not every Taliban is an extremist ally
--Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
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A recent commenter on RAW stated that the AK-47 was the cause leading to the defeat of worldwide colonialism. This started Ranger to consider the idea.
In Ludwig Olsen's book,"The Mauser Rifle" was a poster from the Boer War which stated (from the Boer perspective), "God and Mauser made us free." Before this war, the British Army controlled their colonies through riflery and backed it up by cold steel, which was a result of training and discipline
The Mauser rifle ended this era by putting long-range rifles into the hands of non-professional soldiers. “Vertrou in God en die Mauser!” This was the death knell for colonialism, but it took a while to play out. the AK simply ended the trend started by the Mauser rifle.
In truth, Ranger believes that any force today armed with Mauser rifles would give a good account of themselves in a counterinsurgency environment. Full auto weapons are not necessary: More soldiers were killed in Iraq by improvised explosive devices (IED's) than by rifle fire. The rifle is not the centerpiece of modern insurgencies; it is but a building block.
The central tools of present insurgencies are the video cam, television uplink and computer and cell phone-generated images. Present-day insurgencies and terrorism are the direct descendants of such technologies. Building large armies and police forces ignore this reality.
Weapons will not defeat ideas. And firepower is useless unless the adversary can be found and fixed.
--Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
_______________
A recent commenter on RAW stated that the AK-47 was the cause leading to the defeat of worldwide colonialism. This started Ranger to consider the idea.
In Ludwig Olsen's book,"The Mauser Rifle" was a poster from the Boer War which stated (from the Boer perspective), "God and Mauser made us free." Before this war, the British Army controlled their colonies through riflery and backed it up by cold steel, which was a result of training and discipline
The Mauser rifle ended this era by putting long-range rifles into the hands of non-professional soldiers. “Vertrou in God en die Mauser!” This was the death knell for colonialism, but it took a while to play out. the AK simply ended the trend started by the Mauser rifle.
In truth, Ranger believes that any force today armed with Mauser rifles would give a good account of themselves in a counterinsurgency environment. Full auto weapons are not necessary: More soldiers were killed in Iraq by improvised explosive devices (IED's) than by rifle fire. The rifle is not the centerpiece of modern insurgencies; it is but a building block.
The central tools of present insurgencies are the video cam, television uplink and computer and cell phone-generated images. Present-day insurgencies and terrorism are the direct descendants of such technologies. Building large armies and police forces ignore this reality.
Weapons will not defeat ideas. And firepower is useless unless the adversary can be found and fixed.
Labels: phony war on terror, PWOT
posted by rangeragainstwar at 4:32 PM
2 Comments:
Central to defeating imperial colonialism is the will to do so.
I remember reading in an ad for a Cold Steel spear a few years ago how a similar spear design had been used successfully by, I believe, the Zulu tribe against, I believe, ANC forces armed with AKs in a close battle situation.
As long as I had a sufficient supply of ammo I'd feel comfortable fighting against colonialism with a center fire converted 41 Swiss. While the Mauser might give me more range I like the knock-down of a 310 grain hunk of lead. Also I think the ability to load more ammo into the magazine while having the bolt in a closed ready to fire position is a nice touch.
I don't know how we win the information war. I'm pretty sure the Afghanis who live in the hinterlands don't want to buy what we're selling, though. They just want to be left alone. The sooner we come to that realization and just leave, the better for all concerned.
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