Comment by simonmd

The Union and Confederate armies both had around 200,000 soldiers each in 1861. That is a war on equal terms. FARC guerillas are about 17,000 now (about 5000 in 2010, before this 'peace process'). The colombian army is 500,000 plus 40 million regular citizens who despise FARC. The situation is quite different from US post-civil war reconstruction efforts.