Counterinsurgency lessons from malaya and vietnam paperback by. Desilva was a proponent of a military strategy known as counter terrorism. Intelligence coordination and contemporary counterinsurgency. The phoenix program operated in south vietnam from 1968 to 1972. He is the author of the novel tdy, and a book of poems, a crows dream. Read online the phoenix program and contemporary counterinsurgency book pdf free download link book now. Chapter 9 insurgency, counterinsurgency, and democracy. Views of the doctrine contained in the manual has been mixed. The term was later used in the context of counter insurgency operations coordinated by colonel james steele, a retired special forces veteran who was nominated by donald rumsfeld to help organise shiite paramilitaries in an attempt to. The phoenix program and contemporary counterinsurgency rand. An insurgency can be fought via counter insurgency warfare, and may also be opposed by measures to protect the population and by political and economic actions of various kinds, as well as propaganda aimed at undermining the insurgents claims against the incumbent regime. Six requirements for success in modern counterinsurgency. John nagl was one of the most respected voices for reforming the us armys approach to counter insurgency. His final chapter on treating global extremist terrorism as a globallevel insurgency makes sense, as would his suggestions on how to tackle the issue.
In recent counterinsurgency operations, western military forces have been slow to adapt, and slow to adopt lessons learned in comparable prior conflicts. The phoenix program and contemporary counterinsurgency. As this study notes, according to the cia, antiinfrastructure operations including those carried out by the prus, the national police, and allied conventional military units were. John prados, author of presidents secret wars this definitive account of the phoenix program, the us attempt to destroy the viet cong through torture and summary execution, remains sobering reading for all those trying to understand the vietnam war and the moral ambiguities of americas cold war victory. To this end, a massive program of forced resettlement of malayan peasantry was undertaken, under which about 500,000 people roughly ten. Underlying such a practice was not only a selfserving debate in us political circles, academia and entertainment media on how a liberal democracy could justify such methods but also a history of counter insurgency techniques which owed much to french warfare in algeria.
In 1961, the government embarked on the strategic hamlet program, designed partly by robert thompson, a british counter insurgency expert. This new handbook provides a wideranging overview of the current state of academic analysis and debate on insurgency and counterinsurgency, as well as anupto date survey of contemporary insurgent movements and counter insurgencies. Insurgency and counterinsurgency in modern war takes a unique look at a subject that has become widely studied and written about in reaction to modern terrorism and insurgency. Phoenix has subsequently become highly controversial, and its lessons for contemporary counterinsurgency can be overdrawn. I therefore analyzed the program primarily from a historians perspective in the first edition of phoenix and the birds of prey. The phoenix program was a program designed and coordinated by the united states central. A counterinsurgency or counterinsurgency coin is defined by the united states department. The salvador option is an approach to counter insurgency warfare that was utilised by the united states department of defense during the salvadoran civil war. Popular counter insurgency books showing 150 of 225 learning to eat soup with a knife. Cia and counterinsurgency in vietnam, hayden peake. The personalities, politics and espionage intrigues that shaped the dea. This was the underlying theory of the strategic hamlet program and all the usaid activities. Civil operations and revolutionary development support.
While as a work of history the phoenix program is one of the most important books ever written on the cia and the military, on the birth of us counter terror policy, and government sponsored. This book provides an analysis of how to countermine insurgency and the elements that might hinder its defeat. Debacle in vietnam and the fall of saigon new york. A counter insurgency or counterinsurgency coin is defined by the united states department of state as comprehensive civilian and military efforts taken to simultaneously defeat and contain insurgency and address its root causes. Download the phoenix program and contemporary counterinsurgency book pdf free download link or read online here in pdf.
Foreign internal defense, insurgency, low intensity conflict, divide and rule and fourth generation warfare. In the mid1990s, the phoenix program was considered an artifact of historical interest but with little relevance to the contemporary world. Lessons for contemporary counterinsurgency operations. In moral dilemmas i asked how states may fi ght successfully against guerrillas who employ terrorism and fi ght from within civilian populations. Google scholar, the phoenix program and contemporary counter insurgency. In his preface to vietnam declassified, thomas ahern writes that when he left vietnam in 1965, i knew we were losing, but i had no idea why the saigon government was in retreat in the countryside, and the vc ascendant. Insurgencies, guerrilla warfarewhatever we chose to call this type of violence, it is, by far the deadliest threat to those who serve in uniform. His work could be a textbook for the dos and donts of counterinsurgency warfare. The phoenix program and contemporary warfare by moyar. The cias counterinsurgency in vietnam was brutal and.
Armymarine corps counterinsurgency field manual chicago. The hotel tacloban, the phoenix program, the strength of the wolf. The secret history of americas war on drugs, and the strength of the pack. The author makes many useful points that are worth serious pondering. This study explodes prevailing myths about the phoenix program, the cias. Douglas valentine on the phoenix program then and now. However, a careful assessment of phoenix does provide some suggestions for improving current efforts against insurgent infrastructure. He retired from active service to continue his agitation as a civilian, and among other things posted this list of best books and a video on amazon. Developed in 1967 by the cia, the phoenix program, called phung hoang by the vietnamese, aimed a concerted effort to neutralize the vietcong infrastructure vci consisting of south vietnamese civilians suspected of supporting north vietnamese or viet. South vietnamese counterinsurgency project called the phoenix program valentine.
The us phoenix program was a secret, large scale counter terrorist effort in vietnam. The main point of the modern counterinsurgency campaign is not simply kill and. July 16, 1927 december 9, 2002 was an american cia officer involved in many important and controversial cia operations during the 1960s and 1970s. He provides a brief history of the vietnam warera counter insurgency program and explains how phoenix is being implemented today both internationally and.
Without a clearer understanding of the truth about phoenix and its overall effectiveness, analysts risk drawing flawed conclusions about the program s applicability to contemporary conflicts. Counterinsurgency lessons from vietnam for the future pdf. Modernday advocates of the program argue that it was devastatingly effective, but detractors condemn it as a merciless assassination campaign. This article suggests that the war on terrorism is actually a campaign against a globalized islamist 1 1 in this article, the term islamist describes the extremist, radical form of political islam practiced by some militant groups, as distinct from islamic, which describes the religion of islam, or muslim, which describes those who follow the islamic religion. Both books question the moral and legal limits imposed on state and nonstate actors in modern warfare. Inspired by his military experiences as a french military officer and attache in china, greece, southeast asia, and algeria, the author realized the need for a compass in the suppression of insurgency, and he set out to define the laws of counterinsurgency warfare, to deduce from. Casebook on insurgency and revolutionary warfare, volume ii. The routledge handbook of insurgency and counterinsurgency. The violent geographies of the vietnam war and the rise of drone. From the ashes of the phoenix lessons for contemporary counterinsurgency operations by ltc kenneth e.
Casebook on insurgency and revolutionary warfare, volume i. The treatment of detainees at abu ghraib prison in iraq focused worldwide media attention on the us practice of torture. The phoenix program in vietnam schiffer book for collectors. A book that takes a pragmatic look at counterinsurgency.
All books are in clear copy here, and all files are secure so dont worry about it. Desilva was a proponent of a military strategy known as counterterrorism. Due to his light hair and mysterious ways, shackley was known to his colleagues as the blond ghost. A contemporary analysis of on strategy captain matthew collins, usmc, small wars journal, oct. Bloodbaths in fact and propaganda by noam chomsky and edward s. Nagl shelved 7 times as counter insurgency avg rating 3. It analyzes conditions under which insurgency and counterinsurgency occur from nuanced perspectives that have not previously received full consideration. The program failed due to peasant resistance, poor management, and disruption by the viet cong using guerrilla and terrorist tactics. Effective immediately, all south vietnamese counterinsurgency activities became part of a new program known as phuong hoang, a reference. The cias phoenix assassination program lewrockwell.
Counter insurgency is the use of all measures of the. Designed to destroy the vietcong infrastructure and ostensibly run by the south vietnamese government, the phoenix program in fact directed by the united statesdeveloped a variety of counterinsurgency activities including, at its worst, torture and assassination. The criminal laws of counterinsurgency consortiumnews. Opinion behind the phoenix program the new york times. This chapter offers a detailed discussion of existing approaches to contemporary counter insurgency, highlighting emerging discursive and practical shifts in. Counterinsurgency is normally conducted as a combination of conventional military operations and other means, such as demoralization in the form of propaganda, psyops, and assassinations.
The aim of this chapter is to provide a corrective to the postdated script writing which has characterised contemporary understanding of the british armys campaign in northern ireland. The phoenix program and the vietnam war lexington books, 1990. The cias counterinsurgency in vietnam was brutal and effective. Counterinsurgency operations include many different facets. The phoenix program and contemporary counterinsurgency santa monica. This paper argues that as part of its counterinsurgency effort against this threat, the. Insurgency, counterinsurgency and democracy 153 act of 2006, which aims to provide secure land tenure to adivasis, is of.
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