Community Organizers. In late September 2001, the movie Zoolander had a decent opening weekend of $15M. It was an escape for a nation witnessing collapse, rescue and recovery in the aftermath of al-Qaeda commandeered airliners crashing into pillars of our might. Ben Stiller’s romp about rival male fashion models did not channel our grief. Our responsive chords were struck by television, cell phones, desktops and each other. Our nation changed. How have we responded? The conceit of Zoolander is that scores are settled on the runway. We like this idea. It’s a cold war relic.

Now we square off with foes we cannot find. Our resilient military has set out to win hearts and minds. Success in counterinsurgency operations stems on our military’s ability to adapt its organizational structure and strategy to win the support of the local population and directly defeat insurgents. That local population needs to have capable local security forces, especially police. It needs local governance. It needs sanctuary and support for the counter insurgents. Street patrols, block captains, community development corporations. These are lessons learned in southside Chicago or Dodge City in Indianapolis. Generals McChrystal and Petraeus as community organizers.

This may be our best response, until we entice bin Laden onto the runway in a dance off.