Virtual COIN

[davidbfpo]

David Betz, KOW plus, has written a journal article and Prof. Randy Borum has written a quick review on his blogsite:http://globalcrim.blogspot.com/2009/...nsurgency.html

Betz's four main points are:

First, we do not take it seriously enough and therefore the tools we try to fight with are not fit for purpose.

Second, to the extent we do engage in the virtual dimension we concentrate too much on shifting Muslim opinion on an aspect of their religious faith that we as outsiders cannot effectively voice an opinion on. This is not to say we have not a stake in the outcome of that debate. We obviously do. But the surest way to make it go against us is to get involved in it.

Third, we pay almost no attention to the audience to which we have access and understand: our own population, which includes Muslims in the West whose allegiance to global Jihad is what Islamists crave more than anything.

Fourth, our efforts at narrative construction falter because they lack vertical coherence.

The basic problem – Betz explains – is that

What we say does not always align with what we do.

His article is:Betz, D. (2008). The virtual dimension of contemporary insurgency and counterinsurgency Small Wars & Insurgencies, 19 (4), 510-540 DOI: 10.1080/09592310802462273 (I suspect this is behind a pay wall).