Quote Originally Posted by goesh View Post
"Large portions (not all) of the US COIN-club approach is "history free." They know it exists, but ignore the bits they want to invent and change the bits they need as evidence. What is more a great many of the COIN clubs' assertions about the future, past and present are wonderfully evidence free. "
(WF Owen)

-maybe then that's to say the COIN principle of talent being gleaned from anywhere regardless of rank is either a myth or incapable of being implemented without fracturing the chain of command. How much spontaneity can there be in a combat zone? MikeF asserts there are no human terrain teams, only people. If true, it is a two edged sword, applicable to both camps. What price is paid for spontaneity? What is the reward? The reflection of history shows a lot of dead bodies stemming from fractures in the COC. I don't have a clue as to how much at the small unit level has to 'go up' before there is movement on the part of the small unit in either theatre.

1. Any "COIN" lessons learned in Iraq should have a astrix next to them, just like a Barry Bonds homerun record. Good lessons, but you just don't want to confuse them with truly understanding COIN, or contributing to truly understanding COIN

2. History is indeed critical to understanding COIN, but anyone who limits that study to just the insurgencies of the past 100 years or so won't draw a full perspective. In fact, anyone who just studies conflicts over thousands of years won't have a true perspective. COIN is about governance and human dynamics, and the conflict aspect of it is just the one very blaring, but small slice that we focus on. Look deeper to understand the root causes, and through that, not the study of tactics used to "defeat" insurgents will one find the true keys to putting to rest an insurgency.

3. Some Empires die in a blaze of glory with grand conventional fights. Others, like the British Empire, die a death of a thousand cuts, through a series of lost COIN campaigns due largely to the misconception that military might and the ability to exert ones will on another means anything in COIN.

4. Do study history, but make it as comprehensive as you can, or the lessons you draw may be false ones.