A First Class stamp
sexcam
The Swat Valley in Pakistan exemplifies the process and shows why it will be hard for al-Qaida to win the deep battle of ideas. Ground down by decades of corrupt and dysfunctional rule from Islamabad, the people of Swat wondered briefly if the jihadis might be a better option. In 2008, after a series of blunders by the Pakistan army, some local jihadis broadly sympathetic to al-Qaida managed to win power in Swat and proceeded to whip or behead anyone they didn???t like the look of. When the army eventually responded and regained control, it was grudgingly welcomed by local residents, who had concluded that a corrupt and dysfunctional government is preferable to a religious and violent one. The same process may be about to play itself out in Syria, parts of North Africa and some countries where the Arab Spring has failed. Many more close battles, in other words, may have to be fought and lost before the deep battle is concluded.