The Impact of Insurgency on American Interests, Foreign and Abroad

1. The Impact of Insurgency on American Interests, Foreign and Abroad Michael Piscetelli

2. Table of Contents • Definition of Insurgency • Historical Examples of Insurgency • Lessons to be Learned from the Various Insurgencies • Current examples of Insurgency • Threats posed by Insurgency • Plan to combat current and future • Conclusion

3. The Importance of Understanding • In order to discuss and debate the impact of something there first needs to be a proper understanding of it and what it represents. • I am going to start this project by naming and defining several key terms.

4. Definition of Insurgency • According to Merriam Webster, the definition of insurgency is as follows: • A condition of revolt against a government that is less than an organized revolution and that is not recognized as belligerency • This is a term that we hear a lot being used in the media but not too many people actually know what it means.

5. Definition of Counterinsurgency • According to Merriam Webster the definition of Counterinsurgency is as follows: • Organized military activity designed to combat insurgency • This term is important because it is the system that the United States Military employs to combat insurgency • However, many different plans exist to combat insurgency

6. The Importance of these terms • It is important for one to understand the definitions of both terms to provide a greater understanding of the project as a whole • The take away from these two terms is that Insurgency is a far less organized force attacking a more organized force • Counterinsurgency is a more organized force attacking a far less organized force

7. Historical Examples of Insurgency • Roman Invasion of Britain • Malaysia • Philippines • Vietnam • Along with these examples from history there are many other appropriate examples • There are also many different historical texts on insurgency

8. New Style of Fighting? • Is this a new style of warfare? • It might seem like a yes , but the answer is a resounding no • The news might make it seem the case, but there are many examples of insurgent style combat as far back as 2,000 years ago • You just need to read between the lines and you can see examples in the most unlikely of places

9. Examples From Historical Texts • One example from the most unlikely source of early insurgent based religious combat is the King James Bible • In the King James Bible, there are many examples of the early Hasidic peoples fighting wars in a style similar to that fought today in the Middle East • Reference- the story of Abraham

10. Roman Britain • The Roman Invasion of Britain was a slow and steady process that began in 43 AD • Before that, Rome invaded Britain twice, once in 55 BC then again in 54 BC • The invasion began under Emperor Claudiusand slowly developed under other Emperors • Before the Invasion, Britain enjoyed a certain amount of freedom and prosperity • A percentage of their economy was based on trade with the Roman Empire and various colonies

11. Roman Britain • Then, the balance of trade slowly began to shift away from the Britons and more toward the Romans • This shift in the balance of power is what gave the Romans the signal that it was time to invade • The invasion spanned a number of years and emperors’ reigns • As the years went on, it seemed that the Romans were ever more and more successful

12. Roman Britain • When the Romans moved into Scotland, the problems started • The Northern parts of the British Isles were inhabited by the Scottish, Pictish, and Irish colonists. • Unlike the rest of the British Isles they chose not to fight the Romans on conventional footing • This by far was one of their best choices, because the Romans were the first true professional Army and conventional fighting was their expertise

13. Roman Britain • The various peoples fought the Romans any and every way they could • They would attack Roman patrols • They would target officers, i.e. they would capture them and take them back to their respective camps and do awful things to them • Some of these things might include being burnt alive, sacrificed, or being tortured to death

14. Roman Britain • This was an issue because the Roman Empire as a whole was unwilling to take this issue seriously • This led to the damaging of the morale of their fighting forces • This new style of fighting led to the Roman Army being stalemated for over a decade • This was all because the indigenous peoples intended to fight differently than the Romans expected

15. Advantages to Pictish fighting • They didn’t fight the way that the Romans expected • They targeted the Officer corps and the NCO corps in order to destroy the morale of the Army • The main style of attack that they preferred was nighttime ambushes with the intent to capture of Roman soldiers alive • They fought in a way that used the terrain to their advantage better than their enemies did

16. Map of Roman Advance Roman Army Antonius Pius’s Wall was built 142 AD Hadrian's Wall was built 112 AD

18. Malaya • The Malaysian insurgency was known by many names, but one thing is sure- it carries the same earmarks of insurgency that the American forces are facing in modern day Iraq and Afghanistan • This particular insurgency is extremely important because it is an example of one of three successful insurgencies throughout history • The conflict was fought between the British Security Forces and Communist Forces in the area • The Communist Forces were known as the Malayan People’s Anti – British Army • The conflict took place between 1948 - 1960

19. Malaya • Another important factor that makes this particular insurgency important: it shows that with a well thought out strategy, an insurgency can be beaten • However, there are aspects of this plan that are not feasible to implement today • The Malayan communist party called from an armed revolt against the government because they believed that the independence process was manipulated by the British • The initial phase of the Malayan Insurgency was marked with lots of violence aimed at the British Security forces

20. Malaya • The Malaysian communist party was successful in inflicting huge amounts of causalities on the British Security Forces, but they were unable to sustain their initial momentum • They were unable to effectively fight the counter attack launched from the British Security Forces, nor were they able to establish effective bases from which they could expand • This stalled the momentum of their initial assault; because of that they were forced to move deeper into the jungles to base their operations safely

21. Malaya • With the insurgents withdrawing deeper into the Jungle, the second phase of the fight began; it lasted from 1949 to 1951 • During this time the Communist Force relied heavily on terrorist style attacks • During 1951 there were over 6,000 terrorist style attacks launched at British Security Forces and Civilians

22. Malaya • However, as time went on, the insurgents began to break their forces up into even smaller platoons to avoid detection • As a direct result, the police losses fell from 100% to 20% • However, during this time the British leadership was changing as well, which brought about the “Briggs Plan” for dealing with insurgency

23. BRIGGS PLAN NEW VILLAGES • AIM : deprive the commies of food, money, medicine , men & info • commies got supplies from Chinese villagers & squatters living near jungle • people were intimidated by commies & MinYuen -> murdered traitors & informers • DIFFICULT to protect villagers & squatters – isolated & scattered • New Villages – resettlement of Chinese squatters • surrounded by barbed wire fences – protected by soldiers • water , electricity , schools, medical services , social services provided • Propaganda & education teams sent to villages – to gain their support of Brit govt • isolated the villagers from the commie threat • cut off the supply chain to commies COORDINATION • better coordination among army, police, military & civil forces • introduced War Executive Committeesat federal & state & district levels • JOB : 1. supervise the different security groups in the country .plan emergency work together : food control , police, info & military operations • coordination of all the security forces made attacks on the commies consistent & organized – more effective PROTECTION OF PEOPLE • people felt protected through new villages & extra military forces • knew it was more difficult for the commies to get to them • people were willing to give info on the commie activities & hideouts • Security forces were able to attack hideouts & capture commies OPERATION STARVATION • Scheme that imposed controls on the purchase, sale, transport & storage of food • commies got supply of food from villagers • people were now given ration cards • only allowed to purchase restricted amounts of food according to number of family members • ensure strict control on purchase , sale & transport of food • people could not buy food supply for commies • govt sprayed weed killer over jungles to destroy food commies were growing in secret • it was difficult for the commies to get food supplies

24. Malaya • The final phase was based around the British Offensive • During this phase, the emergency was mostly over; it was a mop up operation for the most part • The British relied heavily on air power for various aspects of their counter offensive operation e.g. offensive air support, transportation, reconnaissance, crop spraying, and support of psychological operations

25. Malaya • They would use the air strikes as a way of flushing out the insurgents and prepping the area for the incoming ground attacks • The air attacks would rarely kill insurgents outright; they were meant to harass and flush them out • The air support was also used to provide cover for convoys en route between places • Regardless of the air strikes, there still was the need for ground troops to come in and clear the areas

26. Malaya • There was also a heavy reliance on psychological warfare • The British used the constant dropping of leaflets that detailed the key deaths of communists and other demoralizing material • They also used aerial and loud speakers to send messages to the insurgents

27. Malaya • In terms of taking the war to the enemy through the use of air power and resources, it was considered a success both in physical and psychological terms • They used it as a force multiplier and to win the hearts and minds of the insurgents

28. Malaya • The British also set up more centralized coordination for intelligence gathering under a single person • Between the intelligence gathering and the resettlements, the British Army had essentially won the major battles and had only to wrap up

30. Philippines • The struggle between various communist factions and the Filipino government has been going on as far back as 1948 • It initially began with small scale skirmishes • The real full scale fighting began in the 1960’s • During this time many different group emerged to challenge the establishment

31. Philippines • In 1948 several different rebel groups started the Hukbalahap Rebellion • This rebellion was targeted at the government and their supporters • During World War II, the Hukbalahap movement had support from the Japanese Occupation • However, after the war, feelings for the movement began to wane

32. Philippines • Huks carried out a campaign of raids, holdups, robbery, ambushes, murders, rapes, and massacres of small villages • The Federal Government found this unacceptable and deployed an unorthodox counterinsurgency strategy • It might have been unorthodox, but it reduced the random violence on the civilian populace

33. Philippines • The government deployed special hunter-killer counter insurgent units to deal with the rebels • During this time the insurgents were being hunted by the government forces • Between the government ground forces, the combat intelligence gathering and psychological warfare, the government was able to crush the rebellion

34. Map of Philippines

36. Vietnam • A Cold War conflict that began in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in November of 1955 • The war was primarily fought between the North Vietnamese and their communist allies and the South Vietnamese and the United States • However, for the purposes of this project I an going to focus on the Viet Cong

37. Vietnam • The United States Government initially viewed this as a way to stop a communist takeover of South Vietnam in accordance with their overall strategy of containment • In the 1950s, the United States began sending military advisors • However, by 1968 they began to mobilize and deploy full combat brigades to the region • U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the Case–Church Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress

38. Vietnam • The Vietcong, or the National Liberation Front (NLF), was both a political and a military guerilla unit • They fought against the South Vietnamese and their American allies • In the 1960s the NLF called for an overthrow of the South Vietnamese puppet government

39. Vietnam • The Vietcong was an irregular military force that was centered in South Vietnam and toward the Cambodian border • In December of 1965, the North Vietnamese ordered the Vietcong to avoid fighting the Americans in pitched battles unless they had a distinct numbers advantage over the Americans • This was the North Vietnamese counter to the build up and surge of American forces • Also, during this time, the Vietnamese focused on building safe bases for their troops in the south

40. Vietnam • They created massive underground tunnel complexes to provide safe havens for their troops • Along with that, they used various low level technologies to combat the overwhelming American firepower • They worked with booby traps and various other low technology solutions to beat the Americans

41. Vietnam • Other issues that arose from this conflict were that intelligence gathering and collection needs to of greater importance • It is not always important to out fight your enemy if you can out think them. • The Vietcong defeated us in the realm of intel gathering

43. Lessons Learned • The lesson to be learned from this particular example is to be wary of the examples of “hearts and minds” • If you don’t take the people’s hearts and minds seriously, the people will lose faith in their government, so the government needs to provide for its people • If the people begin to lose faith in their government, they will rebel and fight their government; that is why there were so many different challenging groups during this 20 year span

44. Lessons Learned • Another lesson that needs to be taken from this conflict is that the way the United States currently handles its intelligence has its shortcomings • If you can out think your enemy, you do not need to out fight them • Strength is something that can be built up; intelligence cannot be taught

45. Lessons Learned • The United States military learned a variety of lessons from the jungles of Vietnam • One of the major lessons was that the use of air power meant nothing during this war • The United States virtually destroyed the Vietnamese infrastructure and the capitals of major population centers • This did nothing more than strengthen the resolve of the North Vietnamese fighters.

46. Lessons Learn Cont. • This showed that the American strategy of “Bombing them Back to the Stone Age” • The United States underestimated the strength and resolve of their North Vietnamese enemies and South Vietnamese counterparts • The United States went in the war thinking that they were fighting the same type of war that they fought in Korea

47. Lessons Learned Cont. • Many of the United States diplomats never found the breaking point of the North Vietnamese; it was concluded that the only way to bring them to the table would be with the threat of total destruction. • However, during that war that option was completely off the table • Another lesson learned was that dead space is an extremely important consideration

48. Lessons Learned Cont. • Another factor that wasn’t taken into account was the effect the North Vietnamese forces were having on our troops • The designed their attacks to have maximum physiological effects on the American forces • They based their success on the amount of American coffins that were sent home • Essentially, the North Vietnamese fought a war of attrition and the Americans were unwilling to pay the price

49. Lessons Learned Cont. • What was meant by the Americans were unwilling to pay the price was that unlike World War II, there was no clear cut objective • When we were fighting in World War II, our aim was to stop the Nazis from taking over the world, but in Vietnam it was far more ambiguous • Because the mission was so convoluted, the American people as a whole were unwilling to shoulder the burden in the cost of human life and national treasure

50. Modern Insurgency • There are many different modern examples of Insurgency that pose a threat to United States interests • Some of these places include Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraqi, and Pakistan • For the purposes of this project I am going to focus on Iraq