Quote Originally Posted by Old Eagle View Post
Instead of publishing a COIN manual, the Air Force lumped all the IW missions together in a single manual. If done correctly, that may provide a more holistic approach for the military and the interagency.

There's an important conceptual distinction here though: 3-24 reflects the idea that counterinsurgency is not simply a form of warfighting. By lumping it with irregular warfare the Air Force took a different approach that--unfortuantely from my perspective--distills it down to destroying targets.

I saw a full court press from the Air Force on this last week at the Carr Center/Army War College seminar on counterinsurgency in DC. The highlight was a panel that included Maj Gen Dunlap and LTG Chiarelli. While I am not an objective observer, I though Chiarelli eviscerated the Air Force arguments.