Excerpt of interview with David Kilcullen [Senior Counter Insurgency Adviser to General Petraeus]

International Herald Tribune ^ | Monday, October 8, 2007 | Charlie Rose

[elfman2]

Quotes from David Kilcullen - a reserve lieutenant colonel in the Australian army, doctorate in political anthropology and senior counter insurgency adviser to General David Petraeus.

"... focusing the campaign on how to defeat one particular enemy is perhaps not the best way to approach

...the more we focus on the population and protecting them, the easier it is to deal with the enemy. The more we focus on the enemy, the harder it is to actually get anything done with the population.

... There has never been a successful counterinsurgency that took less than 10 years.

... It's evolution. You know, we kill the stupid ones. If you think about what has happened to the average Iraqi insurgent group since 2003, some of them had a personnel turnover in excess of 1,500 percent, right? … So we've -- we've killed the stupid ones by now. And those that weren't killed have learned. And I think adaptation is perhaps one of their most salient characteristics.

[stylin19a]

There has never been a successful counterinsurgency that took less than 10 years.

i've seen this quote time & time again...and historically, I can't find where this is true.

Freepers...any help ?

[elfman2]

Kilcullen details a couple of model counter insurgency operations that fit that 10+ year claim, but you can’t exactly “find where this is true”. All you can do is find where it’s false to discredit it. If you’re looking for an authoritative reference, you should be able to quote Kilcullen here.

[stylin19a]

thanks...I saw that, he mentioned a couple.
Maybe my idea of an insurgency is too narrow ?

Thanks again