BBC News – Viewpoint: Counter-insurgency lessons from Vietnam

Viewpoint: Counter-insurgency lessons from Vietnam

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Taliban Conflict

• Marching forwards
• Taliban fighters switch sides
• What lies ahead?
• Nato’s exit strategyWatch

The rise in so-called insider attacks by rogue Afghan security forces has highlighted the perils of joint operations in counter-insurgency. But former US soldier David Donovan, who fought in Vietnam, says lessons learnt long ago have been forgotten.

If you could feel the heat and sweat of the tropics. If you could hear the noise of battle and sense the fears.

If you could put yourself on the other side of the world where you are the selectee of your government to advise and help a unit of foreign fighters defend their village.

And if you and that unit are at this moment in combat but they are being slow to react, you might come close to understanding how I felt one day in 1969 in the Mekong delta of Vietnam.

The enemy were in a nearby tree-line. They had taken us under fire, and bullets were cutting leaves from the trees.

We already had wounded – one man shot in the foot, another in the side. Everyone had gone to ground and the Vietnamese officer, my counterpart, was down behind a small dike with some of his soldiers. He was fixed in place, not taking the lead.

I was an American infantry officer there to provide assistance when possible and leadership when necessary. Frustrated at our slow reaction, I ran toward my counterpart intent on getting him to lead his men. But as I made my way, a background programme had already begun running in my mind. It asked, “What are you doing here? Is this ever going to mean anything?”

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About the author

David Donovan is the pen name of scientist Terry T Turner, of the University of Virginia. He served in the US army from 1967 to 1970, and saw frontline action in Vietnam. He has written a number of books about his experiences there.

• Find out more about David Donovan

BBC News – Viewpoint: Counter-insurgency lessons from Vietnam.

I can’t really say too much about this but, I have over the years known quite a few officers who were advisers to ARVN units, and they pretty much unanimously say nearly the same things as the author does here If they are correct, and I believe they are, it’s still another reason to get out while we can.

As Donovan says the Mullahs in the hills are saying exactly the same things about us as they did the British 150 years ago. Remember how the poem ends?

If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it’s ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
And wait for supports like a soldier.
Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier ~of~ the Queen!

Rudyard Kipling

 I don’t think it would be wise to have cause to write a similar poem about the American soldier.

Related articles

• Lessons from the Vietnam war (bbc.co.uk)
• US lost eight jets in worst air loss in one day since Vietnam war (EndtheLie.com)
• Crocker: Taliban Infiltration Worse Than US Will Admit (news.antiwar.com)
• Nato cuts Afghan joint patrols (bbc.co.uk)
• Force Arrests Taliban Leader Linked to Camp Bastion Attack (defense.gov)
• US Scales Back Operations With Afghan Forces Amid Increased Tensions (jhaines6.wordpress.com)

Happy Saturday

From the E-Mail. Thought it would be nice to brighten your Saturday morning a bit.

So, here’s the world situation, according to John Cleese.

A little John Cleese humour to brighten up your day.

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country’s military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbour” and “Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be alright, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is cancelled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level.

– John Cleese – British writer, actor and tall person.

A final thought -“ Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC.”

Thanks DBM-W, you made my day.

Afghanistan: Part III

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve already written most of what I know about Afghanistan, if you want to know what I said, I’ll wait over here while you read Part I and Part II. This time, however, I’m calling reinforcements, serious ones Mark Steyn, no less.

Say what you like about Afghans, but they’re admirably straightforward. The mobs outside the bases enflamed over the latest Western affront to their exquisitely refined cultural sensitivities couldn’t put it any plainer:

“Die, die, foreigners!”

And foreigners do die. USAF Lieutenant Colonel John Loftis, 44, and Army Major Robert Marchanti II, 48, lost their lives not on some mission out on the far horizon in wild tribal lands in the dead of night but in the offices of the Afghan Interior Ministry. In a “secure room” that required a numerical code to access. Gunned down by an Afghan “intelligence officer.” Who then departed the scene of the crime unimpeded by any of his colleagues.

Some news outlets reported the event as a “security breach.” But what exactly was breached? The murderer was by all accounts an employee of the Afghan government, with legitimate rights of access to the building and its secure room, and “liaising” with his U.S. advisers and “mentors” was part of the job. In Afghanistan, foreigners are dying at the hands of the locals who know them best. The Afghans trained by Westerners, paid by Westerners, and befriended by Westerners are the ones who have the easiest opportunity to kill them. It is sufficiently non-unusual that the Pentagon, as is the wont with bureaucracies, already has a term for it: “green-on-blue incidents,” in which a uniformed Afghan turns his gun on his Western “allies.”…

How about that it’s common to have the Pentagon give it is normal bloodless euphemism: Green on Blue, indeed, we are talking about the murder of American Servicepeople here. ….

In the last couple of months, two prominent politicians of different nations visiting their troops on the ground have used the same image to me for Western military bases: crusader forts. Behind the fortifications, a mini-West has been built in a cheerless land: There are Coke machines and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Safely back within the gates, a man can climb out of the full RoboCop and stop pretending he enjoys three cups of tea with the duplicitous warlords, drug barons, and pederasts who pass for Afghanistan’s ruling class. The visiting Western dignitary is cautiously shuttled through outer and inner perimeters, and reminded that even here there are areas he would be ill-advised to venture unaccompanied, and tries to banish memories of his first tour all those years ago when aides still twittered optimistically about the possibility of a photo op at a girls’ schoolroom in Jalalabad or an Internet start-up in Kabul.

The last crusader fort I visited was Kerak Castle in Jordan a few years ago. It was built in the 1140s, and still impresses today. I doubt there will be any remains of our latter-day fortresses a millennium hence. Six weeks after the last NATO soldier leaves Afghanistan, it will be as if we were never there. Before the election in 2010, the New York Post carried a picture of women registering to vote in Herat, all in identical top-to-toe bright blue burkas, just as they would have looked on September 10, 2001. We came, we saw, we left no trace. America’s longest war will leave nothing behind.

Read the entire post at National Review Online.

What exactly is the point to this charade? It’s time to bring our people home now, not 2013, now, by Easter would be appropriate. We all know that our military will do their very best to win, in accordance with their orders, which makes it impossible to win.

Otherwise we’re reenacting some history which was a stupid idea the first time.

 

 

Related articles

• Time for some straight talk on Afghanistan | Douglas Alexander (guardian.co.uk)
• Betraying Our Troops: Obama’s Deadly Policy In Afghanistan (thecampofthesaints.org)

Afghanistan

Image via Wikipedia

We’ve been in Afghanistan for ten years now. Have we accomplished anything? Looks to me like the same old story. And I mean the same really old story.

According to history, Afghanistan was first invaded by Alexander the Great and his Macedonians, the very first disciplined (modern style) army. It took Alexander 3 years to complete the conquest whereas Persia had fallen in 6 months. Incidentally if you have read much of ancient history the Bactrian warriors mentioned at the Battle of Gaugemela were from eastern Afghanistan.

It took from about 642 until well into the 11th Century to complete the conversion/conquest of Afghanistan by Islam. Incidentally the ethnic make up the Afghans like the Persians to the west is primarily Aryan; like Europeans and unlike Arabs who are Semitic. It pays to remember that the Middle east has been a crossroads of humanity as long as there has been humanity.

The Khwarazmian Empire which consisted of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and neighboring territories was attacked by Genghis Khan. It wasn’t pretty. From Wikipedia “The Mongol invasion of Central Asia however would entail the utter destruction of the Khwarezmid Empire along with the massacre of much of the civilian population of the region. The Mongols systematically exterminated a particularly large portion of the people of the cities, such as Bukhara. This earned the Mongols a reputation for bloodthirsty ferocity that would mark the remainder of their campaigns.”

This was followed by a group of regional wars by empires in the are which went on more or less continuously until:

The First (of 3) Anglo-Afghan wars which grew out of the British East India Company attempting to expand and then defend their empire. These continued until 1919. As usual, Rudyard Kipling had some advice for Tommy Atkins.

The Young British Soldier

 When the 'arf-made recruity goes out to the East
 'E acts like a babe an' 'e drinks like a beast,
 An' 'e wonders because 'e is frequent deceased
 Ere 'e's fit for to serve as a soldier.
       Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
       Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
       Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
          So-oldier _of_ the Queen!

 Now all you recruities what's drafted to-day,
 You shut up your rag-box an' 'ark to my lay,
 An' I'll sing you a soldier as far as I may:
 A soldier what's fit for a soldier.
       Fit, fit, fit for a soldier . . .

 First mind you steer clear o' the grog-sellers' huts,
 For they sell you Fixed Bay'nets that rots out your guts --
 Ay, drink that 'ud eat the live steel from your butts --
 An' it's bad for the young British soldier.
       Bad, bad, bad for the soldier . . .

 When the cholera comes -- as it will past a doubt --
 Keep out of the wet and don't go on the shout,
 For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out,
 A' it crumples the young British soldier.
       Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier . . .

 But the worst o' your foes is the sun over'ead:
 You must wear your 'elmet for all that is said:
 If 'e finds you uncovered 'e'll knock you down dead,
 An' you'll die like a fool of a soldier.
       Fool, fool, fool of a soldier . . .

 If you're cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind,
 Don't grouse like a woman nor crack on nor blind;
 Be handy and civil, and then you will find
 That it's beer for the young British soldier.
       Beer, beer, beer for the soldier . . .

 Now, if you must marry, take care she is old --
 A troop-sergeant's widow's the nicest I'm told,
 For beauty won't help if your rations is cold,
 Nor love ain't enough for a soldier.
       'Nough, 'nough, 'nough for a soldier . . .

 If the wife should go wrong with a comrade, be loath
 To shoot when you catch 'em -- you'll swing, on my oath! --
 Make 'im take 'er and keep 'er:  that's Hell for them both,
 An' you're shut o' the curse of a soldier.
       Curse, curse, curse of a soldier . . .

 When first under fire an' you're wishful to duck,
 Don't look nor take 'eed at the man that is struck,
 Be thankful you're livin', and trust to your luck
 And march to your front like a soldier.
       Front, front, front like a soldier . . .

 When 'arf of your bullets fly wide in the ditch,
 Don't call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
 She's human as you are -- you treat her as sich,
 An' she'll fight for the young British soldier.
       Fight, fight, fight for the soldier . . .

 When shakin' their bustles like ladies so fine,
 The guns o' the enemy wheel into line,
 Shoot low at the limbers an' don't mind the shine,
 For noise never startles the soldier.
       Start-, start-, startles the soldier . . .

 If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white,
 Remember it's ruin to run from a fight:
 So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
 And wait for supports like a soldier.
       Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . . 

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
 And the women come out to cut up what remains,
 Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
 An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
       Go, go, go like a soldier,
       Go, go, go like a soldier,
       Go, go, go like a soldier,
          So-oldier _of_ the Queen!

From this point on we all know the broad outlines.

The Soviet Union got sucked in to support their (more or less) puppet regime in Kabul in 1979. Note that they were very reluctant and stalled for a considerable time, and that the United States under Carter had something to do with it also. They stuck with it until 1989, and apparently ended up pretty much agreeing with Kipling. After they withdrew the Taliban staged a coup taking power.

They remained in power until late 2001 when having hosted al-Qaeda and refusing to extradite bin Laden they were overthrown by US forces cooperating with the Northern Alliance, a loose grouping of warlords. And so now the US is conducting ground operations and so-called nation building in Afghanistan. I don’t really see why we expected our troops to be a lot more welcome than anybody else’s have been over the millennia, and they weren’t.

And so now here we are, ten years into a nation building mission that may never end while the locals snipe and set off IEDs at us, and our Presidents apologizes for burning a few books used as message pads. He also feels the needs to telegraph that we will be leaving in 2013, telling our enemies that they merely need to lie low and wait.

Given the givens and the history of the area, I see no particular reason to wait any longer than it takes to get transport in and get our people out.

There no glory to be won and no particular shame in not winning in this theatre, nobody else has done any better than we have and most far worse. The only one that has done as well is Genghis Khan and our equivalent to his method would to be nuke the entire country. I don’t think we really have the stomach for that, do we

Libya; a New Start

Image by v i p e z via Flickr

Well it seems that Colonel Khadaffi has lost his country. Actually, he has probably traded it for a spider hole for the time being. But the retirement plan for dictators isn’t too good, so we’ll probably hear, eventually.

From an American viewpoint, he doesn’t really matter anyway, he hasn’t since Bush put the fear of America back in him in 2003. Seems like maybe he had heard a little bit about LT Presley O’Bannon and his successor Devil Dogs.

What is concerning, though, is what is the future for Libya. Hopefully, the rebels have a plan that doesn’t include turning into an Iranian client state. For once, it could well be, the Benghazi area has long and profitable ties to the west. But the militant Islamists are on the march all over the Middle East, so it bears watching.

Libya’s oil  isn’t really important, although Italy probably disagrees, but it is always good for another country’s citizens to decide to be free.

Hopefully our country (and NATO) have some sort of plan set up to influence the winners. Again, we will have to wait and see. This could be an encouraging development, especially if it puts the fear of the people back into Bashar Assad in Syria and some others.

Meantime about all we can do is congratulate the rebels. It was definitely time for Khadaffi to go. It would be nice if we could render some medical or other nonmilitary assistance soon.

Related articles

• Watch: Rebels Storm Gaddafi Compound in Libya, Celebrate on Camera (newsfeed.time.com)
• Libya: Benghazi explodes in gunfire and fireworks (telegraph.co.uk)