Counter insurgency: Encyclopedia - Counter insurgency

Counter insurgency

Counter-insurgency is the combatting of insurgency, by the government (or allies) of the territory in which the insurgency takes place. It therefore falls somewhere between ordinary policing, on the one hand, and conventional warfare on the other. Counter-insurgency is normally conducted as a combination of conventional military operations and other means, such as Propaganda, Psy-Ops, and assassinations. Counter-insurgency operations include many different facades military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken to defeat insurgency.

The term began to be used by the U.S. Army in the Autumn of 2004 to describe ongoing operations in Iraq and related operations as far back as the Vietnam War. The Army published a Special Forces manual titled Counter-Insurgency Operations in 1960.

As used by the U.S. Army, counter insurgency operations include psychological warfare and information warfare aspects of such operations, which include direct interference in a country's politics and media or the spread of disinformation (the civilian equivalent of military deception) to maintain control of a population.

Counter insurgency - Controversy

Counter-insurgency tactics are often controversial, sometimes involving human rights abuses and violations of civil liberties, such as internment, detention of familiy members of suspected insurgents as de facto hostages, extra-judicial killing of civilians and prisoners and torture. Tactics similar to those of guerrilla warfare and insurgency are sometimes used by the governments themselves, such as assassinations of suspected insurgents, extra-judicial executions of suspected insurgent sympathisers and irregular paramilitary operations by covert operatives who may not wear uniforms.

In many conflicts, counter-insurgency operations can kill more civilians than the insurgents themselves. This may especially occur when the insurgents have a sizable support base among certain sectors of the civilian population (or among the population as a whole), or when certain regions are predominantly under their influence or control. Examples of this include the US anti-insurgency operation in Iraq, Israeli counter-insurgency during the occupations of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Lebanon, many anti-British colonial uprisings, Contras in Nicaragua, the Caravan of Death in Chile, and many of the different paramilitary groups (such as the AUC) and death squads in Colombia.

It could also be argued that in US President George W. Bush's War on Terrorism, US and allied armed forces have by far killed more civilians than Al Qaeda, the Iraqi resistance and allied anti-US Islamist militants. According to Iraq Body Count, over 3,500 civilians were killed by anti-US paramilitaries between September 2001 and November 2003, compared to over 3000 civilians killed in Afghanistan and at least 10,000 killed in Iraq by US and allied forces. [1]. The Lancet journal subsequently estimated 98,000 (8000-194000) civilians died as a result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and reported civilians deaths according to Iraq Body Count now exceed 25,000. Most (over a third) are attributed to US and allied forces, a similar amount to common criminals and only 9% to the insurgents. [2].

An exception to this rule appears to be the most recent 1970s-1998 Troubles in Northern Ireland, in which Provisional IRA guerrillas are said to have killed the most people, including the most civilians, when compared to the British security forces and Loyalist paramilitaries.

Notable British counter-insurgency operations occurred during the difficult process of decolonization: for example, the Mau-Mau emergency in Kenya, and the Malayan Emergency.

The U.S. military and allied South Vietnamese security forces conducted counter-insurgency operations against National Liberation Front guerrillas during the Vietnam War, including the notorious Phoenix Program which resulted in the killing of thousands of civilians accused of being NLF sympathisers or relatives of sympathisers.

The U.S., British and allied occupation forces and the Iraqi security forces are currently engaging in a counter-insurgency operation against various Iraqi guerrilla groups opposed to the presence of foreign troops and the current elected Iraqi government.

Counter insurgency - Tactics

Counter insurgency - Draining The Water

The name of this tactic is taken from Mao Zedong's advice to his guerrillas to "move through the people like a fish moves through water".

It involves the often forced relocation of the population ("water") to expose the guerrillas or insurgents ("fish"). That is, to deprive them of the support, cover, and resources of the local population.

This strategy was used extensively by U.S. forces in South Vietnam, initially by forcing the rural population into fenced camps referred to as "strategic hamlets", and later by carpet bombing them with B-52s to kill some and remove the rest from their villages and farms. Widespread use was made of chemical herbicides, sprayed from airplanes, to destroy crops that might have provided food for NLF fighters and the population that supported them.

Counter insurgency - COIN Aircraft

Since the 1960s, a specialized form of close air support has been developed for counter-insurgency operations. This covers a wide range of operations, from ground attack and observation to light transport and casualty evacuation. An aircraft used for counter-insurgency should ideally be able to perform all these roles. Such an aircraft should have low loitering speed, long endurance, simplicity in maintenance, and the capability to make short take-offs and landings from rough frontline airstrips.

At first (particularly during the Vietnam War) counter-insurgency missions were flown by existing airplanes and helicopters hastily adapted for the role, notably the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Later, more specialized counter-insurgency (or COIN) aircraft began to appear, such as:

• Britten-Norman Defender (UK)
• BAC Strikemaster (UK)
• Cessna A-37 Dragonfly (USA)
• Rockwell OV-10 Bronco (USA)
• FMA IA 58 Pucará (Argentina)

See also

• Internally displaced people
• COINTELPRO
• Operation Condor
• Strategic Hamlet
• Einsatzgruppen
• death squad
• School of the Americas
• Second Boer War
• Philippine-American War
• Robert Thompson (counter-insurgency expert)
• Edward Lansdale (counter-insurgency expert)
• Klaus Barbie (counter-insurgency expert)
• Roberto D'Aubuisson (counter-insurgency expert)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Counter insurgency", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki