Because bombing doesn’t work – provided your “glance at 20th Century history” is so “brief” that it overlooks WWI and II, and Kosovo – i.e., that you don’t open the history book. 

Or, is it because we haven’t committed enough forces? 

No wait, it’s because it’s really about oil. 

Or, then again, maybe because it has no strategic significance – being on a distant planet.

 No, it’s really because it’s making Tony Abbott more popular!

Or rather, because we don’t know whose side we’re on! 

I think that’s just you Ian, talking up “the spirit of ISIL”. 

One can understand your frustration that the war wasn’t custom made to your specifications. After all, as an Australian, you’ve been blessed with the best quality of life in the world, and all cost-free!

Stan Heuston

Oxley Vale