Principles, Imperatives, and Paradoxes of Counterinsurgency 5B
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Eliot Cohen; Lieutenant Colonel Conrad Crane, U.S. Army, Retired; Lieutenant Colonel Jan Horvath, U.S. Army; and Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl, U.S. Army MERICA began the 20th century with helps illuminate the extraordinary challenges inher Amilitary forces engaged in counterinsurgency ent in defeating an insurgency. (COIN) operations in the Philippines. Today, it is Legitimacy as the main objective. A legitimate conducting similar operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, government derives its just powers from the gov and a number of other countries around the globe. erned and competently manages collective security During the past century, Soldiers and Marines and political, economic, and social development. gained considerable experience fighting insurgents Legitimate governments are inherently stable. They in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and now engender the popular support required to manage in Southwest Asia and the Middle East. internal problems, change, and conflict. Illegitimate Conducting a successful counterinsurgency governments are inherently unstable. Misguided, requires an adaptive force led by agile leaders. corrupt, and incompetent governance inevitably While every insurgency is different because of fosters instability. Thus, illegitimate governance is distinct environments, root causes, and cultures, all the root cause of and the central strategic problem successful COIN campaigns are based on common in today’s unstable globalsecurity environment. principles. All insurgencies use variations of stand Five actions that are indicators of legitimacy and ard frameworks and doctrine and generally adhere that any political actor facing threats to stability to elements of a definable revolutionary campaign should implement are— plan. In the Information Age, insurgencies have ● Free, fair, and frequent selection of leaders. become especially dynamic. Their leaders study ● A high level of popular participation in and and learn, exchange information, employ seemingly support for the political process. leaderless networks, and establish relationships ● A low level of corruption. of convenience with criminal gangs. Insurgencies ● A culturally acceptable level or rate of political, present a more complex problem than conventional economic, and social development. operations, and the new variants have a velocity that ● A high level of regime support from major previous historical insurgencies never possessed. social institutions. Governments that attain these goals usually Principles of Counterinsurgency garner the support of enough of the population The principles and imperatives of modern coun to create stability. The primary objective of any terinsurgency provide guideposts for forces engaged counterinsurgent is to establish such a government. in COIN campaigns. However, counterinsurgency While military action can deal with the symptoms of is a strange and complicated beast. Following the loss of legitimacy, restoring it can only be accom principles and imperatives does not guarantee suc plished using all elements of national power. Unless cess, which is just one of the several paradoxes of the government achieves legitimacy, counterinsur counterinsurgency. Understanding such paradoxes gency efforts cannot succeed. MILITARY REVIEW March-April 2006 49 Form Approved Report Documentation Page OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE 3. DATES COVERED 2. REPORT TYPE APR 2006 00-03-2006 to 00-04-2006 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Principles, Imperatives, and Paradoxes of Counterinsurgency 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Army Combined Arms Center,Army & Marine CounterInsurgency REPORT NUMBER Center (COIN),Fort Leavenworth,KS,66027 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release; distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF 18. NUMBER 19a. NAME OF ABSTRACT OF PAGES RESPONSIBLE PERSON a. REPORT b. ABSTRACT c. THIS PAGE Same as 5 unclassified unclassified unclassified Report (SAR) Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 Unity of effort. Ideally, a counterinsurgent would in the conflict. The interconnected politico-military have unity of command over all elements of national nature of insurgency requires the counterinsurgent power involved in COIN operations. However, the to immerse himself in the lives of the people in best that military commanders can generally hope order to achieve victory. Successful U.S. COIN for is unity of effort through communication and operations require Soldiers and Marines to pos liaison with those responsible for the nonmilitary sess a clear, nuanced, empathetic appreciation of elements of power. The ambassador and country the essential nature of the conflict, particularly the team must be key players in higher level plan motivation, strengths, and weaknesses of insurgents ning, while similar connections are achieved down and indigenous actors. the chain of command. Even nongovernmental Intelligence as the driver for operations. organizations (NGOs) can play important roles in Without understanding the environment, one cannot improving lives. Many such players will resist being understand and properly apply intelligence. With overtly involved with military units, but they must out good intelligence, a counterinsurgent is like a make an effort to establish some kind of liaison. blind boxer wasting energy flailing at an unseen Connecting with joint, interagency, coalition, opponent. With good intelligence, a counterinsur and indigenous organizations is important to ensur gent is like a surgeon cutting out the cancers while ing that objectives are shared and that actions and keeping the vital organs intact. All operations must messages are synchronized. The resulting synergy be shaped by carefully considered actionable intel is essential for effective counterinsurgency. Unity ligence gathered and analyzed at the lowest possible of effort must pervade every level of activity, from levels and disseminated and distributed throughout national to neighborhood. Otherwise, wellinten the force. tioned but uncoordinated actions can cancel each Isolating insurgents from their cause and sup- other out or provide a competent insurgent with port. Cutting an insurgency off to die on the vine many vulnerabilities to exploit. is easier than it is to kill every insurgent. Dynamic Political primacy. While all the elements of insurgencies regenerate quickly, so a skillful national power have a role in successful counter counterinsurgent must cut off the sources of that insurgency, political objectives must retain pri recuperative power. Ideological support can be macy. All actions, kinetic or nonkinetic, must be sundered by redressing the grievances that fuel the planned and executed with insurgency. Physical support consideration of their con can be cut off by population tribution toward strengthen Without good intelligence, a control or border security. ing the host government’s counterinsurgent is like a blind In the 20th century, popu legitimacy and achieving the boxer wasting energy flailing at lation control often meant U.S. Government’s political an unseen opponent. resettling people; in the 21st goals. The political and mili century, biometric identifi tary aspects of an insurgency cation cards will accomplish are usually so bound together as to be inseparable, the same objectives with much less disruption to and most insurgents recognize this fact. In coun people’s lives. International or local legal action terinsurgencies, military actions conducted without might be required to limit foreign financial support proper analysis of their political effects will at best to insurgents. be ineffective and at worst aid the enemy. As the host government increases its own legiti Understanding the environment. A key aspect macy, the people will more actively help achieve in an insurgency is the population. Analyzing this principle. Victory will be gained when this the effect of any operation is impossible without isolation is permanently maintained by the people’s understanding the society and culture within which active support. the COIN operation occurs. Soldiers and Marines Security under the rule of law. The cornerstone must understand demographics, history, and the of any COIN effort is security for the populace. causes, ideologies, aims, organizations, capabilities, Without