You key in on the distinction between “dismantling� and “affecting� the insurgent structure. This may be a translation from terms that that commander uses when he is among his own, but that would be misunderstood in the general public. hat he may mean is that the insurgent network has been “defeated� which specifically means that it has been thwarted in its aims, one step short of “destroyed�. The general public does not use that professional jargon, would not make that distinction and would rightly claim he had been lying if he used that actual term.

Something tells me that they’ll never be able to say “destroyed”, but “dismantled”? Yeah, I think if they identified the terrorists, took them out and had relative peace in a certain place where before their was chaos, the terminology would be apt. “Affected” doesn’t really come close to that.

But perhaps you’re right. I simply don’t know.