Military fails in fights against non-state combatants

Wednesday's massacre in Paris is a reminder of the dilemma western civilization faces in combating non-state enemies. Basically since the end of the Cold War, the United States has faced military challengers who do not belong to an established government. They go by the names of Viet Cong, al-Qaida, al-Shabaab, Sandinista, and others. While many of these groups are linked by Arabic names and Islamist theology, they are separate organizations with no central leadership, legislature and capital city.

Since the end of World War II, the United States has struggled against insurgencies around the globe in Africa, Central America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The strongest military force in the world has been stymied by these non-state organizations. The World War II strategy of invading and holding territory while destroying any opposition has not worked since 1945.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq worked in its initial phase of conquering territory but failed in its efforts to wipe out the insurgents who ambushed, bombed and blew up American soldiers. There was no post-war stability because there was no post-war.

Now the insurgents, or terrorists if you prefer, are not just in Africa or the Middle East. They are in America, in Britain and in France. They perceive western democracy as evil and view it as their responsibility to destroy that evil. Murderous attacks, such as Wednesday's on a defenseless newspaper office, can easily multiply and escalate.

These attacks cannot be stopped until the West becomes alarmed enough to set aside its trendy embrace of "diversity" and accept the fact that some people, or some groups, will never be assimilated into a democratic society. They will take advantage of Western freedoms, then use that freedom to destroy the freedoms of everyone else.