Are ‘body counts’ really the right measure of success or failure in the fight against ISIS?

[TomSea]

Excerpt from essay by a Duke professor:

Are ‘body counts’ really the right measure of success or failure in the fight against ISIS?
by Charlie Dunlap, J.D. · 18 August 2018

...

Here are some questions for you: is it necessary to “extinguish” every last ISIS follower in order to say the caliphate has been “vanquished” or “defeated”?  Did we somehow come up short after World War II simply because millions of enemy soldiers made it through the war without being “extinguished”?  Or were Japan and Germany still “vanquished” or “defeated” (even if forms of their hateful ideology have not yet been completely “extinguished from the face of the Earth”)?

Perhaps even more importantly, how useful (if at all) are terms like “vanquished” or “defeated” in the context of ISIS?

In my view, the nature of terrorism is such that it will always exist, and the fight against evil ideologies never ends.  While we have to continue to battle terrorists of all kinds, we should not fall into the trap of using ‘body counts’ as indicative of failure or, for that matter, success.  A better indicator is territory controlled and population liberated, and from that perspective the anti-ISIS coalition has done remarkably well in Iraq and Syria.

Article: https://sites.duke.edu/lawfire/2018/08/18/are-body-counts-really-the-right-measure-of-success-or-failure-in-the-fight-against-isis/

[endicom]

Body count won't do against enemies not valuing life. Determine what they do value and attack that.

[Fishrrman]

Body counts of dead isis probably really don't matter much, considering the struggle that The West is currently engaged in.

That's because that struggle will not and cannot be won "over there".
The fight ... is HERE.
On... Western soil.

Whether your great-great-grandchildren will be wearing burqhas depends on what is done about muslims and islamism HERE.

And that's why.... again and again... I've posed the question:
"Who's winning?"

Because the answers to that question will be determined HERE.
About what happens in the schools in your district.
NOT by how many isis fighters we can kill "over there".

[sneakypete]

No.

The only body count that matters is one focused on the leadership and the bankers that fund them.

[thackney]

Body count won't do against enemies not valuing life. Determine what they do value and attack that.

It does cut down on the repeat offenders.