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Notes -
Yes, but the power of the fleet-in-being that is the citizen capable of resistance sets the bar higher. (It doesn't have to be guns directly; the power to send resources to the groups resisting is also part of this calculus, which is why that was targeted in 2022.)
The IRA ultimately failed in its objective to drive the English back onto their own island because they didn't bother, or predicted (accurately or not) that they wouldn't have enough domestic population support, to start taking the fight to the enemy directly. Mexican cartel members, by contrast, are powerful enough to target the friends and family of soldiers that show up to fight them (as in, "they have names and addresses"), and non-combatants discouraging anyone who would fight a war opposing the cartel is a powerful cooling effect on the number of people who show up to that fight.
It isn't the politicians or the soldiers you have to worry about- the public has already accepted their deaths. Once the public's goals start impacting the public directly, though... well, people are terrified of depicting Mohammed partially for this reason.
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