BOOK REVIEW: Australian Expert David Kilcullen Illuminates Strategies for Winning Hearts and Minds in 'Counterinsurgency'
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Few people have the impressive counterinsurgency resume' possessed by David Kilcullen. He's a former Australian Army officer, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He's worked in the field in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, advising both Generals David Petraeus in Iraq, and Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan, and he has a Ph.D. in politics from the University of New South Wales.
In "Counterinsurgency" (Oxford University Press, 272 pages, $15.95) Kilcullen presents the elements of successful counterinsurgency in a collection of previously published papers that he has updated.
As Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to Petraeus in Iraq -- who has replaced McChrystal in Afghanistan in the wake the latter's disastrous interview in Rolling Stone magazine -- his vision of war powerfully influenced America's decision to rethink its military strategy in Iraq and implement the Surge, now recognized as a dramatic success.
At the heart of "Counterinsurgency" is Kilcullen's legendary Twenty-Eight Articles. In it he shows company leaders how to practice counterinsurgency in the real world, at night, with the GPS down, the media criticizing you, the locals complaining in a language you don't understand, and an unseen enemy killing your people by ones and twos.
Reading this piece is like reading a modern-day Sun Tzu--an essential read for officers in the field, and not infrequently an excellent source of wisdom for readers of all backgrounds -- military or civilian. In such pithy adages as "Rank is nothing: talent is everything" or "Train the squad leaders -- then trust them," Kilcullen offers advice that any leader would be wise to consider.
The other pieces in the book include Kilcullen's pioneering study of counterinsurgency in Indonesia, his ten-point plan for the Surge in Iraq, and his frank look at the problems in Afghanistan. He concludes with a new strategic approach to the War on Terrorism, arguing that counterinsurgency rather than traditional counterterrorism may offer the best approach to defeating global jihad.
Kilcullen e borrows a term from nuclear physics and describes how "critical mass" can be applied to counterinsurgency: "...insurgent theatres given sufficient time and energy, can reach 'critical mass.' When an insurgent theatre reaches critical mass, removing the initial cause of the insurgency will no longer cause it to wither. It has become self-sustaining, with sufficient energy and matter moving in the system...that it can continue to function without the initial stimulus."
He points to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example of a theatre that long ago reached critical mass: "Removing Israel from the West Bank or complying with all the Palestinian demands would not remove the insurgency," he writes. He has similar views about the Chechen insurgency in Russia's Caucasus region.
"Counterinsurgency" is a picture of modern warfare by someone who has had his boots on the ground in some of today's worst trouble spots--including Iraq and Afghanistan--and who has been studying the topic since 1995. Filled with down-to-earth, common-sense insights, this book is indispensable for all those interested in making sense of our world in an age of terror. The book, together with his 2009 work "The Accidental Guerrilla," is essential in understanding the realities of insurgencies and counterinsurgency strategies.
About the Author: David Kilcullen (born 1967) is an author and a consultant on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. He left the Australian Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2005 and now works for the U.S. State Department. Kilcullen is also an advisor to the U.S., British and Australian governments and NATO. He is an adjunct professor of Security Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His book The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One was published in early 2009.