It was the start of a new style of warfare.
Terrorism is the name of a style of warfare in service of a cause.
That's the ticket: irregular has become the Defense Department's adjective of choice to modify the current style of warfare.
It contrasted coalition efforts to minimise loss of life with the style of warfare favoured by Saddam Hussein.
He matched Morgan's style of warfare well: strike weak targets and avoid stronger foes, confuse with feints, exaggerate strength to overawe a more powerful enemy.
The shift in the style of warfare, towards such "asymmetric" conflicts, means that there is now less demand for big-ticket weapons systems.
Utilising "shock and awe" techniques on small, manageable targets, and using diversionary techniques, Isis is said to be introducing a "new style of warfare".
His great-uncle, who had fought for the Confederacy with many other ardent South Carolinians, would have recognised this style of warfare.
One danger is that the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters will become accustomed to the new style of warfare and improve their defenses.
So appealing did Obama find this new style of warfare that, early on in his first term, at a meeting in the Situation Room, he approved every targeted drone strike that Leon Panetta, then the agency's director, had requested.
This, he says, is evidenced by their style of warfare, which bears greater resemblance to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's than to "any African conflicts of the past decade".
