Crumpton’s picks (7): Yes, if you want to clear and then really hold, you need to go back and understand Galula’s thoughts
French warrior and scholar David Galula wrote Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice, using his battlefield experiences in Algeria and Southeast Asia.
By Henry A. Crumpton
Best Defense guest columnist
7. Space and Time > 20/80 Power. French warrior and scholar David Galula wrote Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice, using his battlefield experiences in Algeria and Southeast Asia. He witnessed first-hand how French conventional military operations failed to suppress the resilient Algerian population — because they had nothing to gain in defeat, no hope for a better future.
Galula taught that hard, coercive, military power was essential in the first 20 percent of a counterinsurgency campaign, but leaders must immediately project other forms of power, via other instruments of civil society, for the remaining 80 percent of the campaign.
No doubt, lethal power stops the enemy from killing us, demonstrates political will, and establishes a narrative of victory. It also buys us space and time to deploy other forms of allied power, such as justice, free speech, education, and private sector investment – the 80 percent that achieves an enduring victory. In the wake of initial military success, our alliances should grow, so we can secure the peace and benefit all. Instead, we keep fighting, again and again, for areas previously secured. To embrace this principle, however, we will need a restructured national security system, especially State, USAID, Justice, and Commerce. These organizations need reinvention, with a bold, expeditionary, inclusive orientation. This will be more effective, and far less expensive in blood and treasure than continuous battle. The single most important, long-term, strategic objective for political success: empowered women.
Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, who led the CIA’s Afghanistan campaign 2001-02, retired from government service in 2007. He is the author of The Art of Intelligence.
(To be continued)
Photo credit: Wikimedia
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