When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
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Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#2Fascinating though this is, the negative long term impact of these guys tends to be much greater than their positive short-term impact.
You go in, you train a bunch of locals as guerrillas, you achieve the objective, and then you get out, leaving the local guerrillas behind.
These guys now have the knowledge, experience and organisation to make the place ungovernable. At least some of them will proceed to do so; either they will form a resistance movement to whoever is in charge and become a proxy force for some other power, or they will simply replace politics with profit and convert to organised crime. Either way, the new government is faced with an ungovernable mess.
Afganistan is probably the best example. It was never easy to govern, but after the US trained a guerilla resistance to the Soviet invasion it became impossible. Most of the Islamic fundamentalism that the USA is fighting today can be traced back to that one event.
Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#3Fascinating though this is, the negative long term impact of these guys tends to be much greater than their positive short-term impact. You go in, you train a bunch of locals as guerrillas, you achieve the objective, and then you get out, leaving the local guerrillas behind. These guys now have the knowledge, experience and organisation to make the place ungovernable. At least some of them will proceed to do so; eith…
Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#4Fascinating though this is, the negative long term impact of these guys tends to be much greater than their positive short-term impact. You go in, you train a bunch of locals as guerrillas, you achieve the objective, and then you get out, leaving the local guerrillas behind. These guys now have the knowledge, experience and organisation to make the place ungovernable. At least some of them will proceed to do so; eith…
It's a delusion of grandeur to think that Islamic fundamentalism owes its existence to a transient American action.
American exceptionalism but from the Left.
Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#5Fascinating though this is, the negative long term impact of these guys tends to be much greater than their positive short-term impact. You go in, you train a bunch of locals as guerrillas, you achieve the objective, and then you get out, leaving the local guerrillas behind. These guys now have the knowledge, experience and organisation to make the place ungovernable. At least some of them will proceed to do so; eith…
It's a delusion of grandeur to think that Islamic fundamentalism owes its existence to a transient American action. American exceptionalism but from the Left.
Huh? This is about military training, equipment, and logistics, not religion.
Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#6Fascinating though this is, the negative long term impact of these guys tends to be much greater than their positive short-term impact. You go in, you train a bunch of locals as guerrillas, you achieve the objective, and then you get out, leaving the local guerrillas behind. These guys now have the knowledge, experience and organisation to make the place ungovernable. At least some of them will proceed to do so; eith…
This does happen but is not necessary. Cases in point: Norway, France, Eastern Europe, Germany after WW2. The crucial difference seems to be that the winner must immediately invest in nation building or the defeated must be crushed.
Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a delusion of grandeur to think that Islamic fundamentalism owes its existence to a transient American action. American exceptionalism but from the Left.
Huh? This is about military training, equipment, and logistics, not religion.
These things sound like catalysts, but not as the fundamental reasons things were happening. Just look at history to see that violence was there before training, equipment and logistics were available.
Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a delusion of grandeur to think that Islamic fundamentalism owes its existence to a transient American action. American exceptionalism but from the Left.
Huh? This is about military training, equipment, and logistics, not religion.
Most of the Islamic fundamentalism that the USA is fighting today can be traced back to that one event.
Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#9Fascinating though this is, the negative long term impact of these guys tends to be much greater than their positive short-term impact. You go in, you train a bunch of locals as guerrillas, you achieve the objective, and then you get out, leaving the local guerrillas behind. These guys now have the knowledge, experience and organisation to make the place ungovernable. At least some of them will proceed to do so; eith…
Chechnya after the 1994-1996 war is also an excellent example.
Re: When You’re Outnumbered: Lessons from Two British Masters of Irregular Warfare
#10Fascinating though this is, the negative long term impact of these guys tends to be much greater than their positive short-term impact. You go in, you train a bunch of locals as guerrillas, you achieve the objective, and then you get out, leaving the local guerrillas behind. These guys now have the knowledge, experience and organisation to make the place ungovernable. At least some of them will proceed to do so; eith…
This does happen but is not necessary. Cases in point: Norway, France, Eastern Europe, Germany after WW2. The crucial difference seems to be that the winner must immediately invest in nation building or the defeated must be crushed.
Yea, firing the Iraqi Army after the 03 invasion was a small whoopsie.