Connectivity is the COIN of the realm
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at 7:35AM Sitting through panel of warfighters (all services) and hear this one: suicide bombers drive a huge wedge between our troops and the people. Successful counter-insurgency (COIN) is about maintaining connectivity with the masses (lots of mini-forts and humint). Losing the COIN is suffering disconnectedness either through your enemy's kinetics (e.g., bombs) or his follow-on ideological exploitation.
You connect the dots or they disconnect you.
As one guy says, it's more important to know when NOT to pull triggers than when you need to. Trust and credibility are huge assets in COIN.
Think CENTCOM and SOCOM aren't learning in this Long War? Think again.
In my mind, you leave a commander like Abizaid in his current job for as long as possible. Man is creating a huge intellectual wake.
Less Clausewitz, more Sun Tzu.
You can never have enough friends in this battlespace.
Reader Comments (1)
Very interesting.
Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli had similar comments in today's LA Times;
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The commander acknowledged in the interview the difficulty soldiers faced and the strong emotions they would feel when they "watch their buddy blown up one day."
"Iraqis worry they can't do their daily business without us shooting at them," he added, citing poll results. "And you know why? We are scared. The insurgents have done just an unbelievable job of making us scared.
"When your first experience is a negative one, [some of] you will automatically join the 20% who will decide that 'I am going to shoot first and ask questions later,' " the commander told the soldiers. But he urged the roomful of fighting men — M-16 rifles lying beneath their seats — to instead try to "save an Iraqi life."
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Read the whole piece here. Reg. Req'd
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-general9may09,0,5757222.story?coll=la-home-world