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magician · 11-12-2004, 22:32

the successful Thai campaign against the Communist Party of Thailand is an example of Hidden History, as it is not well-known, even among specialists of the subject, and very little has ever been published about it.

I am fortunate to work for a man who spent some 17 years in ISOC, Thai intelligence, who has shared many insights with me.

I would love to write about it...but just learning Thai is a long-term proposition, much less actually doing research in that language.

It is a truism of counterinsurgency doctrine that successful strategies depend on overarching contexts incorporating economic and political reforms. Oftentimes, there are racial components, and interestingly, a religious dimension.

The religious dimension is one that characterizes ancient counterinsurgencies, and very recent counterinsurgencies. The core of revolution studies, which is primarily the study of revolutionary Marxism in the 20th Century, is fairly mute on the religious aspects of those revolutions and their antitheses. Even accounts of the longrunning campaign against the Moro in the PI only mention the Islamic element of that conflict in passing.

But I think that a larger criticism that can be made is that professional counterinsurgents end up giving lip service to the concept of the context. They all agree that social reforms, economic reforms, political reforms, are all necessary. But they often end up saying just that, and then moving on to the sexier tidbits which they somehow find more fascinating.

In the case of Iraq, there is an undeniable religious aspect to the conflict. It is far more than just another Crusade. If we are smart, we will foment Sunni vs Shia disputes, which are historical and virulent, and exploit them to weaken our enemies until we can get allied Iraqi forces up off their knees. And we will recognize, sooner rather than later, that the context is the real war, in Iraq. Killing bad guys just addresses the symptom. It does not address the underlying syndrome.

11-12-2004, 22:32	#24
magician Quiet Professional Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bangkok Posts: 856	the successful Thai campaign against the Communist Party of Thailand is an example of Hidden History, as it is not well-known, even among specialists of the subject, and very little has ever been published about it. I am fortunate to work for a man who spent some 17 years in ISOC, Thai intelligence, who has shared many insights with me. I would love to write about it...but just learning Thai is a long-term proposition, much less actually doing research in that language. It is a truism of counterinsurgency doctrine that successful strategies depend on overarching contexts incorporating economic and political reforms. Oftentimes, there are racial components, and interestingly, a religious dimension. The religious dimension is one that characterizes ancient counterinsurgencies, and very recent counterinsurgencies. The core of revolution studies, which is primarily the study of revolutionary Marxism in the 20th Century, is fairly mute on the religious aspects of those revolutions and their antitheses. Even accounts of the longrunning campaign against the Moro in the PI only mention the Islamic element of that conflict in passing. But I think that a larger criticism that can be made is that professional counterinsurgents end up giving lip service to the concept of the context. They all agree that social reforms, economic reforms, political reforms, are all necessary. But they often end up saying just that, and then moving on to the sexier tidbits which they somehow find more fascinating. In the case of Iraq, there is an undeniable religious aspect to the conflict. It is far more than just another Crusade. If we are smart, we will foment Sunni vs Shia disputes, which are historical and virulent, and exploit them to weaken our enemies until we can get allied Iraqi forces up off their knees. And we will recognize, sooner rather than later, that the context is the real war, in Iraq. Killing bad guys just addresses the symptom. It does not address the underlying syndrome.
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