View Full Version : Suggestions for course readings
marct
01-28-2007, 06:17 PM
Hi Folks,
I have been asked to look into running a directed reading course on counter-insurgency / counter-terrorism. This would be at a 4th year (Senior I think it's called in the US) level. The student(s) involved (there might be 2 or 3) are civilians and are unlikely to go into the military, but would probably become involved in the GWOT via either NGOs or government policy organizations. It's my feeling that they would need a comprehensive understanding of COIN, including the military aspect as well as LE and reconstruction efforts. Any suggestions for readings, especially online ones, would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Marc
bismark17
01-28-2007, 11:31 PM
One very overlooked book is, Guerriilla, by Charles W. Thayer. Thayer reminds me of a the author of, This Kind of War, by Ted Fehrenbach a soldier/scholar who was able to get down into the small details but also discuss the main overall themes. He combined both academics and actual real world experiences. He had the rare experience of working COIN from both perspectives being with Tito's guerrillas and then working with the Department of State post Army.
His page of acknowledgements of people who read and commented on the book is living history....Averell Harriman, Samuel B. Griffith, Roger Hilsman, Victor Krulak, Edward Lansdale, and his fellow cadet at that college on the Hudson, William Yarborough. The preface is by Sir Fitzroy Maclean. It's pretty amazing to read. My well thumbed copy cost me $1.45 which just goes to show that prices don't always equate to value.
On the Law Enforcement realm I would check into the products of the Problem Oriented Policing sites but bare in mind that L.E. Intel doesn't have anywhere near the depth of the Military when it comes to methodology. Plus, a lot that passes for L.E. intel literature is geared for managers and supervisors. It doesn't go into the creation of "actionable" intel that tells you what is going to happen when and where. That is very difficult without the use of various technologies and the use of informants which are both areas of concern for domestic Intel.
SN100682136
01-29-2007, 02:22 AM
Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual 1983
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB27/02-01.htm
KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation 1963
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB122/CIA%20Kubark%201-60.pdf
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB122/CIA%20Kubark%2061-112.pdf
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB122/CIA%20Kubark%20113-128.pdf
Marc I have hard copies of these readings, I can give to you next time if you don’t want to read 500 pages on a computer screen and have your eyes starting to bleed …
SN100682136
Yannick
milnews.ca
01-29-2007, 04:03 AM
I have been asked to look into running a directed reading course on counter-insurgency / counter-terrorism. This would be at a 4th year (Senior I think it's called in the US) level. The student(s) involved (there might be 2 or 3) are civilians and are unlikely to go into the military, but would probably become involved in the GWOT via either NGOs or government policy organizations. It's my feeling that they would need a comprehensive understanding of COIN, including the military aspect as well as LE and reconstruction efforts. Any suggestions for readings, especially online ones, would be much appreciated.
If you have the flexibility of showing movies, can't recommend "Battle of Algiers" enough - the DVD package my spouse uses in one of her courses (poli sci) also includes interviews with the officers of the day, explaining why they did what they did. Also, the film is a good link-up to David Galula's "Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice" (Amazon Listing (http://www.amazon.com/Counterinsurgency-Warfare-Theory-Practice-Science/dp/0275989410)) - he fought with the French in Algeria, and did a Rand Monograph (downloadable in .pdf here (http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG478-1/)) which was apparently a precursor to the larger work.
bismark17
01-29-2007, 04:13 AM
The show, The Wire, is like a modern day L.E. U.S. version of the, Battle of Algiers. Its dead on and does a good job of covering technological issues of investigations.
The Patriot
01-29-2007, 05:09 AM
I just took a counterinsurgency / counterterrorism class and would recommend a book by Bard E. O'Neill - Insurgency & Terrorism (From Revolution to Apocalypse). Potomac Books is the publisher. It's very readable and is an excellent overall introduction to the subject. O'Neill is very knowledgeable and he wrote the book "for a more general audience that includes, most importantly, military and civilian members of the national security policy community." It also includes many references to other related material should you decide to delve deeper. Hope this helps...
Gary
Steve Blair
01-29-2007, 02:32 PM
You may want to go into some of the emerging work about the Kansas-Missouri border troubles just before and during the US Civil War. This is an overlooked COIN area (and yes, I'd call it that for both the nature of the conflict and the heavy political overtones and population control issues that were central to many operations), plus it has the advantage of benefiting from a blend of military and social examination.
hsa333
01-29-2007, 02:48 PM
Speaking of movies, you might want to check out an independent film just released on DVD called "Cavite". It's about a Filipino-American who is lured back to the Philippines and coerced into carrying out a bombing by Abu Sayyaf. It's on Netflix. Totally fascinating. In my opinion, the best movie so far about the GWOT. It's on Netflix.
Here are a few books that are my favorite on the COIN topic:
"The U.S. Army and Counterinsurgency in the Philippine War, 1899-1902" by Brian McAllister Linn. Stunning review of a very nuanced counterinsurgency policy.
"The Army and Vietnam" by Andrew Krepinevich . This is a very thoughtful analysis of how military and civilian policymakers developed the strategy for Vietnam, and ignored the realities of the war they were fighting. My personal fave on the VN war.
"The White King of La Gonave" by Faustin Wirkus. Wirkus was a Marine NCO assigned to administer a small Haitian island during our occupation. For that era (contrast with Capt. John Houston Craige's book saturated with a racist mindset about his experiences in 1920's Haiti, "Black Baghdad") Wirkus was extremely enlightened. This is a book about Civil Affairs in a guerilla warfare environment, before the term even existed.
There are more, but I have to run.
marct
01-29-2007, 02:52 PM
Thanks, folks - good suggestions all.
Marc
hsa333
01-29-2007, 03:11 PM
If you want to interject some COIN-Lit check out Leo Tolstoy's "Hadji Murad" about the Russian-Chechen war in the mid-19th Century. It's short.
marct
01-29-2007, 03:14 PM
If you want to interject some COIN-Lit check out Leo Tolstoy's "Hadji Murad" about the Russian-Chechen war in the mid-19th Century. It's short.
Really? Never even heard of it Hsa. Thanks!
Marc
Tom Odom
01-29-2007, 03:25 PM
Marc
I would point to my COIN bibliography as a source. It is extensive but I also put as many web-sourced readings into as I could.
Best
Tom
J Wolfsberger
01-29-2007, 03:26 PM
Marc, this month's issue of Military History contains an article on Tolstoy's experience in Chechnya, and mentions this book.
With regard to suggested readings, you might look into "A Savage War of Peace" by Alistair Horne. I understand it is to be reprinted soon with a new forward.
Two others that might provide very useful background are "Vanceremos," by Che Geuvarra, and "War in the Shadows," by Asprey.
IMO, these provide a good basis for understanding guerilla warfare (including insurgency and terrorism) before moving on to more advanced work such as Killcullen.
marct
01-29-2007, 03:30 PM
Marc
I would point to my COIN bibliography as a source. It is extensive but I also put as many web-sourced readings into as I could.
Best
Tom
Hi Tom,
I don't have a copy of your bibliography. Is it in the SWJ library or online?
Thanks,
Marc
marct
01-29-2007, 03:37 PM
Hi J.,
Marc, this month's issue of Military History contains an article on Tolstoy's experience in Chechnya, and mentions this book.
With regard to suggested readings, you might look into "A Savage War of Peace" by Alistair Horne. I understand it is to be reprinted soon with a new forward.
Two others that might provide very useful background are "Vanceremos," by Che Geuvarra, and "War in the Shadows," by Asprey.
IMO, these provide a good basis for understanding guerilla warfare (including insurgency and terrorism) before moving on to more advanced work such as Killcullen.
It looks like my University's library doesn't subscribe to Military History, so I'll have to try and find it somewhere else. I'll check out the other suggestions :).
I'd thought about using Guevera and, possibly Lawrence as well from the SWJ library. I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about using online sources - they're free :D.
Marc
J Wolfsberger
01-29-2007, 03:42 PM
I completely forgot about "Seven Pillars of Wisdom."
Merv Benson
01-29-2007, 04:09 PM
Marc, I have a couple I am looking at now. Insurgents Terrorists and Militants by Richard Shultz, Jr. and Andrea J. Dew, and Triumph Forsaken by Mark Moyar. I hope to do a review on both soon and let you know when it is posted. Shultz also wrote The Secret War Against Hanoi: Kennedy and Johnson's Use of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors which was a pretty interesting discussion of how unsuccessful the US was in its own insurgency campaign against the communist. One of our few successes involved a scheme to turn the communist counterinsurgency operations against themselves.
They noticed that whenever we did an insertion the communist would not be content with just killing the few people we put in, but would lash out against anyone who may have come in contact with them. They developed a scheme to repatriate communist POW's via parachute drops with contact information hidden in their clothing. The program was stopped during one of President Johnson's bombing pauses and never restarted.
Tom Odom
01-29-2007, 04:15 PM
I don't have a copy of your bibliography. Is it in the SWJ library or online?
Just emailed it to you.
best
Tom
marct
01-29-2007, 04:33 PM
Hi Merv,
Marc, I have a couple I am looking at now. Insurgents Terrorists and Militants by Richard Shultz, Jr. and Andrea J. Dew, and Triumph Forsaken by Mark Moyar. I hope to do a review on both soon and let you know when it is posted. Shultz also wrote The Secret War Against Hanoi: Kennedy and Johnson's Use of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors which was a pretty interesting discussion of how unsuccessful the US was in its own insurgency campaign against the communist. One of our few successes involved a scheme to turn the communist counterinsurgency operations against themselves.
They noticed that whenever we did an insertion the communist would not be content with just killing the few people we put in, but would lash out against anyone who may have come in contact with them. They developed a scheme to repatriate communist POW's via parachute drops with contact information hidden in their clothing. The program was stopped during one of President Johnson's bombing pauses and never restarted.
What an intriguing idea! I'll look forward to your reviews of the books.
Mac
Steve Blair
01-29-2007, 04:53 PM
The Secret War Against Hanoi is a great book, although it is in part a tale of paths not taken in covert war. Many of their ideas were borrowed from OSS operations against Germany in World War II (to include the idea of sending nasty letters to Party members in hopes of getting them investigated/executed and thus lowering cadre morale). Good stuff.
You may want to go into some of the emerging work about the Kansas-Missouri border troubles just before and during the US Civil War. This is an overlooked COIN area (and yes, I'd call it that for both the nature of the conflict and the heavy political overtones and population control issues that were central to many operations), plus it has the advantage of benefiting from a blend of military and social examination.
For this topic, a potential read could be from "Inside War: The Guerilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War" by Michael Fellman.
jcustis
01-29-2007, 08:35 PM
Decent Interval by former Saigon CIA analyst Frank Snepp. Not too heavy on the dynamics of COIN, but a lot of interesting points about the dangers of mis-reading the enemy's intentions, and the pitfalls of supporting a government in a classical insurgency.
If nothing else, it's a good primer on how not to evacuate from a country at the end game.
God Evening Marc !
Since nearly everyone has provided you with something, I may as well take a shot at some of the books that kept me from "crazy" while in the Sub Sahara.
Tom gave me the first (I didn't even have to pay for it :p ):
Certain Victory: The US Army in the Gulf War by General Robert H. Scales, Ft. Leavenworth, KS 1984
Certain Victory provides a window on the future as well as a chronicle of the past.
In the future, we must maintain the training and the readiness of every aspect of our nation's capability to meet a similar challenge whenever and wherever it may be thrust upon us.
In his book, General Scales refers to the "Unblinking Eye" - a greater part of my second "keep me from crazy" book, World War II, American at War, 1941-1945, Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, 1991.
Scales quoted "Just as the Army must achieve and maintain a dominant overmatch in the direct firefight, it must also do so in intelligence, achieving a more complete understanding of the foe while rendering the enemy blind."
He was refering to the Allies success in breaking the Enigma code and Germany's veil of secrecy. Back then, a big deal !
Yep, its pretty old stuff. Somehow though, Scales figured out where we are today (he may have taken Anthro lessons :eek: ). Certain Victory is a whole lot smaller should time be a considering factor :D
Regards, Stan
Tom Odom
01-29-2007, 09:24 PM
ehem...:)
Actually the General got many of those thoughts on intelligence dominence from yours truly as I was the intelligence researcher and ended up as coauthor with General Scales and LTC Terry Johnson.
best
Tom
(Ahem) Oooops !
Sorry 'bout that mate :)
I did enjoy it, and last year while on 24-hour watch calls, read it again.
Regards, Stan
marct
01-29-2007, 10:31 PM
And now I find that it's available online (http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/content.asp#cert)! Excellent!
Marc
Merv Benson
01-30-2007, 01:37 AM
Peter Harclerode's, Fighting Dirty also gives details of the attempts by the US and UK to infiltrate support people to help insurgents in Eastern Europe after the Soviets took over. Like our attempts in Vietnam, they were all captured and either killed or turned. Some were betrayed by a rather infamous spy ring in the UK, others were betrayed by moles that the Soviets had inserted into the Eastern European insurgents. It occurred to me while reading it that the Soviets may have had the most successful counter insurgency operation in history. It is something to think about for course material. The book is a bit tedious to read. You are constantly confronted with various people with difficult names who wind up dead a few paragraphs later in a series of failed operations.
marct
01-30-2007, 03:14 PM
Hi Folks,
Thanks for all the great suggestions - I really appreciate it! Let me ask another question now.
The titles have covered a fairly broad range of wars and historical events. Does anyone have suggestions on how to organize the course in terms of first topic X, then Y", etc?
Marc
Tom Odom
01-30-2007, 04:43 PM
(Ahem) Oooops !
Sorry 'bout that mate :)
I did enjoy it, and last year while on 24-hour watch calls, read it again.
Regards, Stan
I should be more clear in this as it came up on another thread today. In raising the idea of an "Unblinking Eye" as it related to future wars after DS, my fellow coauthor Terry Johnson and I lobbied against taking the whole "new way of war" thesis too far. First of all I fundamentally shudder when I hear of a "new way" as new is relative and ways are more likely to be means.
Anyone who says it is possible to know all about an enemy is selling snake oil and we were definitely not selling that in Certain Victory.
But I appreciate the kind comments on that book; it has stood up fairly well given its short fuse (10 months), its intent (put a box around the USAF), and its method (tight budget, tighter schedule, and extreme senior leader attention).
It seems funny that we led with a vignette about then CPT HR McMasters and 2nd ACRs Battle at 73 Easting. Another was about LTC Cody's Apache strike on the Iraqi Air Defenses and yet another covered LTC Abazaid's operations in Provide Comfort.
Best
Tom
Mondor
02-05-2007, 10:18 PM
Way Without Guns: American civilians in Rural Vietnam. George K. Tanham et al. The book focus on the aid and reconstruction of the US in Vietnam. Written while the conflict was still on going. Very good read on insurgency and the tools, skills, and organization that will win or lose the war for you.
marct, as autodidact, i found Andre Beaufre's books very helpful. He put insurgency as indirect strategy method to overall context with other possible strategies. He did this in very generalized way. For students, who don't now the big picutre and general framework, the endless descriptions of opposite side's TTP's (that change accordning to learning abilities) and action environments (that are to some degree very unique in every conflict), is quite disturbing, they don't see the forest behind the trees (or how the saying goes).
Books are following.
"Introduction to Strategy."
"Strategy of Action."
"Strategy for Tomorrow"
For general COIN understanding Gordon McCormick's "Diamond" model is very ok.
John T. Fishel
02-06-2007, 01:34 PM
Marc--
I will be teaching just such a course next fall at the U. of Oklahoma. I plan to use my own book (with Max Manwaring), UNCOMFORTABLE WARS REVISITED, U of Oklahoma Press, 2006. I would also recommend Paul Ausuresses, THE BATTLE OF THE CASBAH, by one of the models for the French Col in THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS. Also very useful are C.E. Calwell, SMALL WARS (first published 1896) and the USMC SMALL WARS MANUAL of 1940 (several reprints). Current US doctrine on COIN and Joint Pub 3-07 and the earlier FM 100-20 (1990) are also quite good. See also Kilcullen's article in the blog on this site.
Hope this is helpful.
John T. Fishel
Professor Emeritus NDU
Lecturer, SIAS, U of OK
marct
02-06-2007, 03:10 PM
i John,
Marc--
I will be teaching just such a course next fall at the U. of Oklahoma. I plan to use my own book (with Max Manwaring), UNCOMFORTABLE WARS REVISITED, U of Oklahoma Press, 2006. I would also recommend Paul Ausuresses, THE BATTLE OF THE CASBAH, by one of the models for the French Col in THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS. Also very useful are C.E. Calwell, SMALL WARS (first published 1896) and the USMC SMALL WARS MANUAL of 1940 (several reprints). Current US doctrine on COIN and Joint Pub 3-07 and the earlier FM 100-20 (1990) are also quite good. See also Kilcullen's article in the blog on this site.
Hope this is helpful.
Definitely, thanks. I'd also be interested in seeing your course syllabus if you wouldn't mind sending it to me.
Marc
mikeanders
02-28-2007, 11:45 PM
My contribution . . .
The Iraq War and the Sicilian Campaign (Part I)
By Brent T. Ranalli | Monday, January 22, 2007
Comparisons have inevitably emerged between current U.S. operations in Iraq and the Vietnam War. Yet, as Brent Ranalli explains, there are other parallels that can be drawn — even from ancient warfare. To make his point, the author draws ten major parallels between the U.S. war in Iraq and the Athenian campaign against Sicily in 415 B.C.
< http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=5914 >
John T. Fishel
03-01-2007, 12:23 AM
It is always easy to find parallels if one is not overly concerned with details. A couple of major differences between iraq and Sicily: (1) Syracuse was a democracy - there was no ideological reason for the Athenian invasion. (2) There is no evidence that I have seen that the US went to war in Iraq over oil or bases - the imperialis argument, in this case doesn't hold. Finally, with all due respect to Paul Hughes who is a friend, nobody in his right mind would argue that the counterinsurgency and inter-factional warfare should be primarily an American show. The Petraeus strategy, as I understand it, is to strengthen Iraqi capabilities in the near term by putting US forces on the ground cheek by jowl with the Iraqis while exapnding the training program for the long term. (Obviously very oversimplified....)
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