Search:

I can't! ;)

Well thanks for the compliment.... :wry: - likewise, you do not conduct yourself in a way that implies anything but considered and carefully crafted thought, based on some hard won experience.
...

OK, but let us state this another way. "The insurgent/guerrilla often maintains his military potential my consistently not suffering decisive defeat."

Not losing requires tactical skill, and...

Utterly, utterly irrelevant! It has no bearing on the military instrument. You could say L. Ron Hubbard, has managed to creates and convert folks to new religion without resorting to violence -...

... but that is not the point. Tactical failure, can still have enough effect to break enemy will (Pyrrihic victory). That is completely different from trying to suggest that actual tactical success...

Well 67 and 73 were successes because they stopped the nation being annihilated/invaded - so I can't see how that makes them damaging to security. 82 and 06 were not actions of choice either.

I...

Can't argue with that. As Ashkenazi said, "Do not ask for my opinion. Tell me what you want done, and I'll tell you if it is possible." - He is helping construct policy by informing people as to the...

Not sure about "illegal" TTPs but actions deemed illegal by the various conventions would not disqualify something from being military, in my view, so yes, I guess it would.

- BUT we are getting...

So you mean subversion?

It becomes an insurgency when you use "military means." - physical actions using organised violence. The ONLY reason Ghandi opted for non-violence was that it made the use...

You could call it a "Protest Group" or even "Political Party."

The use of violence for political aims, so yes, on one level - "the organized effort by one group to impose its will on another group", but Thucydides and CvC have laid it all out in great detail. I...

We/you need to teach what war is to officers when they first join, and keep beating it into them, year after year.

You now have an Army that views COIN as something different from WAR, and has...

So if you are saying "doing stupid things is counter-productive" then I'd agree. Who would not? This applies to all forms of conflict. The whole point of the Tactical-Operational-Strategic construct...

Why would anyone in the Army do Strategic Thinking? It's none of your business, except to inform the Political Leadership, to whom you report whether the goals they seek can be aided or achieved by...