Misguided Beliefs Quotes
There was an interesting parallel to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. When American troops would explain their mission to locals, many were actually fearful of terms like democracy, freedom, education, development and modernity. Religious and cultural forces had made these concepts fearful and undesirable and while there were many who saw these as desirable, there were also many who perceived these as undesirable and even evil. The American military faced the same problem a century ago.
Most Islamic fundamentalists oppose the education of girls. Malala Yousafzai as a teen ager spoke out encouraging girls to go to school. This offended some of the Taliban fundamentalist terrorist, who threatened her if she continued to speak out. When she continued, they tried to murder her. They shot her in the head, but she was airlifted for medical treatment and survived. She was the winner of the European Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Even today many Americans believe the myth that the American colonial citizen was a skilled marksman who existing skill and familiarity with guns carried the day in the American Revolution. However, even General Washington had to dispel the myth. It was bad politics for members of Congress and other public officials to criticize the local citizenry militias regardless of how inept they were. Less than one fourth of the militia even owned guns and most were unfamiliar with how to use them. Perhaps one of Washington’s greatest military accomplishment was his choosing Van Stuben and other European officers who did such a good job of training a regular army. See {613015}, {613016}, {613022}, {613027}, {621987}, {621988}, {613030}, {613033}, & {613056}.
