Knowing Thine Enemy

Via my favorite lefty blog, there is a very interesting article in the New Yorker by George Packer, the guy who wrote The Assassins' Gate I wrote about earlier. Like many New Yorker articles, it's wordy, but even if it takes you two or three reading sessions, it's worthwhile. He profiles people in the Pentagon (most notably David Kilcullen) who are charting out new strategies for dealing with "global jihadism."

One night earlier this year, Kilcullen sat down with a bottle of single-malt Scotch and wrote out a series of tips for company commanders about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He is an energetic writer who avoids military and social-science jargon, and he addressed himself intimately to young captains who have had to become familiar with exotica such as “The Battle of Algiers,” the 1966 film documenting the insurgency against French colonists. “What does all the theory mean, at the company level?” he asked. “How do the principles translate into action—at night, with the G.P.S. down, the media criticizing you, the locals complaining in a language you don’t understand, and an unseen enemy kill-ing your people by ones and twos? How does counterinsurgency actually happen? There are no universal answers, and insurgents are among the most adaptive opponents you will ever face. Countering them will demand every ounce of your intellect.” The first tip is “Know Your Turf”: “Know the people, the topography, economy, history, religion and culture. Know every village, road, field, population group, tribal leader, and ancient grievance. Your task is to become the world expert on your district.” “Twenty-eight Articles: Fundamentals of Company-Level Counterinsurgency”—the title riffs on a T. E. Lawrence insurgency manual from the First World War—was disseminated via e-mail to junior officers in the field, and was avidly read.

There are some smart people out there, and they're on our side. Somehow, though, I doubt this new kind of thinking maps to our current, er, notion of "victory." Sigh.