SWJED
12-05-2005, 02:06 AM
John Robb at Global Guerrillas on Clear and Hold (http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2005/12/clear_and_hold.html) in Iraq.
The current US strategy in Iraq is clear areas of insurgent activity and hold them to prevent their return. This is a redux of a 20th Century counter-insurgency method called oil spots (a variant is strategic hamlets). The idea is to tightly control select areas to return them to a vestige of normal life (under the assumption that this is what the people the vast majority of people in those areas want). As a strategy for Iraq, it is markedly flawed. The flaws in this approach can be seen in the recent history of Ramadi and Fallujah, both of which are currently being 'held' by US forces...
The current US strategy in Iraq is clear areas of insurgent activity and hold them to prevent their return. This is a redux of a 20th Century counter-insurgency method called oil spots (a variant is strategic hamlets). The idea is to tightly control select areas to return them to a vestige of normal life (under the assumption that this is what the people the vast majority of people in those areas want). As a strategy for Iraq, it is markedly flawed. The flaws in this approach can be seen in the recent history of Ramadi and Fallujah, both of which are currently being 'held' by US forces...