Roger Trinquier

The below is from an Arab blog I often check out. But when he writes it's about the stuff that are the bigger picture and shows what we are missing here in USA News media. The above picture is Roger Trinquier. That is how important I feel his writings are and why I use his picture often. I woke up the day I read his writings. It illistrates best the use of terror as a tactic. I also have read and been interested in "Anarchists Cook Book" since age 15. Then "Gehgis Kahn" and his tactics since age 17, Hitler's "Mien Kumpf" age 18, and "Mao" age 20. (I am now in my 40's and still actively seek out historical and new information on tactics.

I grew up with and had friends who were and some still are Nazi, Anarchists, Thieves, gang members, surf punks(anarchists), surf Nazis (Huntington Beach and Newport CA), skate Nazi’s (from Sacramento), Zionists (Hollywood), Straight Edgers (Utah), and well you name it I know someone. Many of the people I have spoken with openly are high ranks, especialy when I was in jail for ... err... well I used to race my cars on the freeways. When in jail it would only take a day to days before I was under the umbrella of the current leaders in the jails I had the misfortune to attend. [a note: don't think I had to do any dasterdly deeds to get my protection. My asset was my knowledge and they can spot it a mile away. I am sure they made friends with me to learn rather than to use me........ or maybe they all just liked someone who would race illegally?]

Some were misguided, some were or are just dumb blind followers, others had something in their past or culture that created the hate, but all of which are spread by people who hate and they use disenfranchised people to do their evil deeds. Still today in the construction industry I work with many ex or current gang members some were/are very high ranked members. I have always been the chameleon that was able to get the fly on the wall view. I didn't share their views, but somehow they felt that they could speak very openly about their beliefs.

We currently teach John Nagl's tactics for counter insurgency but I really think the troops [and the public] are missing out. If you want to get inside a terrorists mind to understand why they use terror and how read Trinqueir. I made a link to Abu Muqawama's Blog at end of this article. I wish every good person in the world would read Triquier's writings. If only the bad people read it we are doomed. I am not overstating this. There is no doubt that if we don't act now we lose ground each day. - Ian Bach

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Roger Trinquier

By Abu Muqawama

"A slave to its training and traditions, our army has not succeeded in adapting itself to a form of warfare the military schools do not yet teach. Its valient efforts, sufferings, and sacrifices serve to obstruct the enemy, to slow down the execution of his plan, but they have been incapable of stopping the enemy from attaining his objective. " by Roger Trinquer

This might have easily been written about the U.S. Army in Iraq and Afghanistan but was instead written in 1961, by Roger Trinquier, on the French in Algeria and Indochina. Abu Muqawama has added Trinquier's La Guerre Moderne to the counterinsurgency reading list. Three notes on Trinquier:

1. Trinquier is controversial because he advocates the use of torture in interrogations as part of an effective counterinsurgency strategy. His argument is clear, logical, and grounded in Clausewitz's admonition against "moderation in war" but is, ultimately, unconvincing. Abu Muqawama remains unconvinced of either the effectiveness or the morality of torture. That having been said, Trinquier's work is invaluable for the following two reasons.

2. Trinquier understands terror is a tactic. A "War on Terror," thus, is absurd. Military professionals and civilian policy-makers need to understand that terror is simply a tactic that can be used and discarded by the opponent when he or she feels fit. The last suicide bombing Hizbollah carried out was in 1992. The last terror attack abroad? 1994. When a guerilla group sees terror as ineffective, it will cease to use it as a tactic. The fight against "terror" should not be the focus of the counterinsurgent.

3. Alongside his compatriot David Galula, Trinquier stresses the need for any effective counterinsurgent to focus on the population. Much of what Trinquier argues for can be found in the U.S. military's new field manual on counterinsurgency and can be seen in the day-to-day tactcis now being employed (too late?) in Iraq and (just in time) in Afghanistan.

Abu Muqawama highly recommends this invaluable little book. Praeger just re-released it with a foreword by Eliot Cohen and an excellent introduction by the late Bernard Fall.