Irish Pennants
By Mitch Berg
John Kelly at Irish Pennants has among the best discussions going anywhere about fighting and winning a counterinsurgency war (and not just the linked post).
General Jack Keane, former vice chief of staff of the Army, and former West Point professor Frederick Kagan have a different view. They headed a study group for the American Enterprise Institute which issued its report Dec. 14. They think it’s about time we tried the only thing that’s ever worked in fighting insurgencies.Every counterinsurgency that’s succeeded has done so by protecting civilians from insurgents, Gen. Keane noted.
But protecting Iraqi civilians isn’t even formally a mission for U.S. troops, which explains in part why we’re doing such a poor job of it, Prof. Kagan said.
That’s one of the things the British have always done when fighting insurgents; secure the local population.
Along with the increase in the number of troops would be a change in strategy. Currently, after U.S. troops ‘clear” a neighborhood, they return to their bases, permitting insurgents to slip back in. Any civilians who cooperated with U.S. or Iraqi troops are subject to retribution, which discourages cooperation. The higher troop levels would permit a constant presence in the disputed neighborhoods.The AEI study has a specificity the Iraq Study Group report lacked. It identifies the particular mixed Sunni/Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad where the security problem is worst.
Read the whole thing.
