Oh please. When has continuing military action ever wiped out indigenous resistance? I can’t think of a single case off the top of my head. And if there’s a demand for replacement weapons, there will surely be a supply.
The only way to “wipe out” indigenous resistance is to eliminate the social and economic motivations for engaging in it. Military responses can minimize the effects, but is powerless to eliminate it barring repression of Orwellian magnitude.
Now, if certain of Sam’s past posts are correct, and the resistance is mostly last-gasp Baathists, and there is no popular support, then a military response may eventually be effective. I personally think that the evidence doesn’t support this conclusion, but I could certainly be wrong on that score. However, pointing to a few raids resulting in arrests and weapons confiscations is largely meaningless. If you could point to solid progress in restoring infrastructure, or getting serious foreign investment underway I’d be much more impressed. Bringing about order and prosperity will end the resistance, not the other way around.
I have no idea. It seems that no matter what he writes (or where he writes it), he is let off the hook. No disciplinary action, no changing of ways, nothing. Seems nuts to me.