When you turn cities into rubble and indiscriminately target civilians, only to find yourself bogged down in an asymmetric war.

Tangential but there’s a certain exchange from the Battle of Algiers movie I keep thinking of.

Journalist: M. Ben M’Hidi, don’t you think it’s a bit cowardly to use women’s baskets and handbags to carry explosive devices that kill so many innocent people?

Ben M’Hidi: And doesn’t it seem to you even more cowardly to drop napalm bombs on defenseless villages, so that there are a thousand times more innocent victims? Of course, if we had your airplanes it would be a lot easier for us. Give us your bombers, and you can have our baskets.

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