I don’t know who first said it (and am not even sure where I last saw it *heh*), but this ranks up there with, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia,”* as timeless wisdom:
“A human without at least one sharp pointy thing and the ability to start a fire is just whining hairless ape in most survival situations.”
Yeh, I feel naked without at least two or three “sharp pointy things” on my person at all times, and since I can start a fire with my burning gaze of scorn… *heh*
*Which is why anyone with any historical perspective whatsoever has counseled against long term involvement in Afghanistan. The area has chewed up and spit out every invader since Alexander the Great. More great military powers have broken their teeth in that part of the world than anywhere else. I think the last conqueror who had any luck whatsoever in conquering and ruling the region was Darius I of Persia, who did the smart thing: he beat the snot out of the local rulers, divided the region into ethnically and tribally determined satrapies and gave them independent rule, as long as they paid tribute. Let’s see… that was about 2,600 years ago, and no one–no one–has enjoyed his level of success in dealing with that fractious region since that day.
Beat ’em up, divide ’em into regions that share ethnic, religious and tribal similarities and let ’em do whatever the heck they want to do as long as they behave themselves with their neighbors and pay tribute.
That’d work for me. Heck, it’d work for me in Iraq as well. For that matter, just apply it to Islamic countries in general and I’d be pleased as punch.