Warren: Destroying ISIS should be 'No. 1 priority'

[Chathamization]

110. I haven’t really found one source that’s good. If I had to choose one I’d probably choose Wikipedia,

since it collects the claims of numerous different sources (of course, you need to check where each claim is coming from), and is also edited over time, so you get older information (and you can notice conspicuous gaps). I’ve found older information in general to be invaluable – whenever there’s suddenly excitement about issue X, I’ve found it’s useful to do a search for news articles some weeks/months/years prior to the excitement. It definitely helps provide perspective as well as avoiding the hot topic group think that’s so pervasive in the media (and as a result, in the country at large).

Source documents are also great, and it’s a good habit to read them directly when one can (if I read an article that says “according to report XYZ”, I try to do a search for report XYZ when I get the chance).

We on the Left should be aware of how useless the mainstream media is. One only has to remember the daily reports about how Obamacare was “failing” last winter and the absence of reports now about it’s success. Or the way the media reported that the IRS was targeting conservative groups when the report they were basing it on said that other groups were also targeted.

As for the ability of bombs to degrade the operational capability of the militants – I think the issue is that it works to some extent, but you won’t be able to bomb the groups into submission (which is why years of employing these tactics haven’t led to the defeat of the militant groups in Iraq or Afghanistan). It probably disrupts their ability to become a centralized, cohesive force and leads to the groups splintering and going underground. But I imagine true peace will need to come through the political process (though it may also include military actions). We ultimately ended up negotiating with the militants in Iraq and Afghanistan after years of dismissing the idea and trying to bomb them into submission. Our stubbornness only seems to have brought about more death and devastation.

Of course, one problem is that certain states would rather have perpetual bombed out wastelands in some areas of their country than compromise with “the enemy”.