Of wars lost and won

The contamination of Irish pork is indeed a case that requires more probing by the authorities. While I am not here to cause a scare but given the current liberties that terror groups are taking with innocent lives, it is important that one should get to the bottom of the issue to ensure that foul play if any is not the job of those who are bent to do evil in society. Indeed if they could puncture the WTC and cause a catastrophic loss of a few thousand lives, there is nothing to prevent them from looking at the food supply chain to contaminate it with poison. I wonder if there is going to be an end to all this evil doing. We once lived in an era where hijacking of planes were a continual occurrence. Tightened security at airports and concerted efforts by government to deny them landing rights eventually rendered the hijackers out of jobs. But the current wave of furtive planting of bombs to main and kill innocent people is making the job more challenging for the authorities. I then took refuge in Socrates and remembered his encounter with Meno in the latter's search for an understanding of what is "virtue" and what is "good". Are these evil-doers in carrying out their killings under the belief that what they are doing is good and virtuous? Or are they so warp in their beliefs that they don't see right from wrong and would simply "carry out orders"? Indeed even as I am writing my eyes caught a glimpse of the scrolling news that talks about the Taliban occupying 70% of the society in Afghanistan and also about the arrest of the alleged Mumbai mastermind in Pakistan. Where do we go from here? Will Afghanistan return to the days of the Taliban as the West struggles to put their economic mess in order? I recall reading some eminent person pointing out that future for warfare lies not in just going for high technology weapons to win the battles. Rather it is the ability to endure and survive after winning the battles that determines the eventual winner. Iraq and Afghanistan are two present day lessons. Vietnam was a lesson that was quickly forgotten. While the British won the battle with the Malayan Communist Party by winning the hearts and minds of the local population, the landscape has changed dramatically since those early days. Today, it is more than bread and butter. It is religion that is the platform for winning the ground. The Philippines is still struggling in its fight against the Moro Liberation Front. Does it mean that wars must now be fought with the religious teachers embedded in the front lines, to advice and engage the ground after each battle is won in order to raise the flag for the final victory?