Darwinian.

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog by Johnny W. Wilson:

"The main problem as it has been from times of Richard Lionheart, is that heavy firepower and bombing operations alone won't be able to do much. As it has been stated here, there's a great need of boots on the ground to truly consolidate any gain."

First consider this item from the Daniel Pipes web site:

"How Much Can Air Power Achieve?"

Suddenly, wherever you look in the greater Middle East, you find air forces bombing guerrillas"

•  "Syria: The government air force attacks the rebels, mostly Sunni, with notorious use of barrel-bombs. The U.S. air force attacks ISIS, minus the barrel-bombs."
•  "Iraq: Government forces rely partially on air power to attack ISIS forces."
•  "Libya: Egyptian jets attack ISIS and other Sunni Islamist forces."
•  "Yemen: Saudi jets attack Houthi positions."
•  "Somalia: Kenyan planes just started to attack the Shabaab forces."

Next consider from the Martin van Creveld Internet web site:

"Killing insurgents drives the Darwinian ratchet and making them more effective"

Without further ado extracts and commentary

"Summary: During the past decade we have deployed our most skilled warriors and most advanced technology in an assassination program with few precedents in history. Result: the Middle East in flames and our foes resurgent. I and others predicted this, the natural result of putting the force of evolution to work for our foes. It’s called the Darwinian Ratchet."

“What does not kill him, makes him stronger.”
 — Friedrich Nietzsche in Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is (1888).

"Never engage the same enemy for too long … or he will adapt to your tactics."
— Falsely attributed to Clausewitz but still insightful. From Lions for Lambs (2007).

“I’ve killed them by the tens of thousands, scoured their countryside at will, pried their allies away, and humiliated them day after day. I have burned their crops and looted their wealth. I’ve sent a whole generation of their generals into the afterworld … Have I changed nothing? They are stronger now than before. They are more than before. They fight more sensibly than before. They win when they used to lose.”
— Hannibal speaking about Rome in David Anthony Durham’s novel Pride of Carthage (2005).

Aerial bombardment of the ISIL combatants as currently proceeding will undoubtedly put the big hurt to the villains but do not expect air power alone to finish the Islamic State off.

As Van Creveld and others before him have observed, those insurgents surviving become that much more confident, tougher and effective.

THEY HAVE UNDERGONE A CYCLE OF DIFFICULT COMBAT, ENDURED, EVEN PROSPERED AND THRIVED. YOU HAVE THROWN ALMOST EVERYTHING BUT THE PROVERBIAL KITCHEN SINK AT THEM AND YET THEY CONTINUE!!

Van Creveld one of the most highly regarding military historians and theoreticians [?] of the present era. When he speaks we should listen?

coolbert.