USAID doing COIN in Thailand in the late 70s?

[John T. Fishel]

There is an outstanding book, LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT: OLD THREATS IN A NEW WORLD, Edited by Edwing G. Corr and Stephen Sloan, Westview, 1992 - out of print but Amazon can get 8 copies - 7 are under $10, one is $32+. One chapter, by Robert F. Zimmerman, is on Thailand. Zimmerman was AID. He addresses the role of AID in COIN there and concludes that its effect - of the entire effort - was mildly and indirectly positive but hardly decisive. He quotes from the FY 75 "Mission Strategy Memorandum":

"Perhaps the most serious weakness in the U.S. effort stems from the quality of the U.S. advisory input, particularly in the field. The fact is that the skills required to advise Thai on counterinsurgency - including language, area knowledge, and sufficient level in advisory role to gain RTG [Royal Thai Government] confidence - are scarce and it has not been our policy to devlop them or to encourage successful practitioners to stay until the job is done."

In the immortal words of Bob Dylan, "When will they ever learn, oh, when will they ever learn?"