Terrorists Tactics the hows and whys

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/trinquier/trinquier.asp

The above link is a brief overview of Roger Trinquier's writings from 1961.

I saw some News on TV about an al qaeda attack in iraq and then checked my Email to find great articles by Mr. Michael Yon. here is my comment on his latest article, a portion of one of my old articles about Roger Trinquier, and portions of Michael Yon's latest article and one about Yezidi in Kurdish Region of Iraq.

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Ian Bach Says:

I had just seen the al qaeda style attack on the News when I got home from visiting with a friend who just returned from Iraq. of course my first thoughts were of my friend I had just seen and of our many friends who put themselves in harms way to preserve our freedoms here at home and to help bring a new government, military and police into being in Iraq.

It is hard to imagine the reasons why terrorists specificaly Jihadists use to justify their evil deeds. Read Trinquier, he sheds a light on this very well.
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/ianbach?tag=.trinquier

The News here of course did not mention the Yezidis had been one of the targets. I had to hear it from Michael Yon. For those who don’t know yet about Yazidi I recommend reading up on it. They are the chameleons of religion. It is very interesting stuff. They have parts of greek, christian, muslim and even hebrew practices within their culture. They keep their faith secritive especialy outside of the kurdish areas - Ian Bach

August 16th, 2007 at 4:50 am

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Roger Trinquer - Ian Bach

".......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), Stright 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. [Note: please 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, then read Roger 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 Trinqueir's writings. If only the bad people read it we are doomed. I am not overstating this............" - Ian Bach -
Please read my Full Article click here
(Thursday June 28, 2007 - 11:17pm)

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Michael Yons Articles - click links below for full articles

Into the Sea

It was after midnight and there was to be no sleep. Thinking of the war. I stepped out of bed already dressed, pulled on the shoes without socks and walked a minute or so to the beach. August 15 had begun. On the beach the small stands selling skewers of cooked meat, soft drinks, beer and water were closing. I sat in the dark looking out at the dark sea. Some light shined from behind and to the right, but mostly there was darkness, the sea, and scattered Balinese people. No moon. The sea was mostly quiet, the waves gentle. Thousands of stars twinkled above the Bali Sea. The Milky Way was clear. - Michael Yon - Full Article click here

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Lost in Translation

Yezdinar Village, Iraq

Dohuk is a welcoming place. After walking or taking taxis inside and around the city for two days, I covered enough ground and talked with enough people to see that while the welcome is clear for American, British, and other visitors, troublemakers can expect an entirely different greeting. People in Dohuk say they have no intentions of going back, or of carrying useless boulders from the past as they move forward.

After being in a war zone for nearly half a year, a few days in Dohuk becomes a chance to reconnect with civilized society, bustling with a people in hurried pursuit of progress. Seeing a little girl tucked away in a corner of her family’s stall in the marketplace, absorbed in a book she’s reading about the solar system, it’s easy to peek over her shoulder and peer into her imagination, and see it take her into space as Iraq’s first astronaut. In her young life, never having known the fiery cage of war, the possibilities are still limitless...............

......An Iraqi. A Kurd. A Yezidi. A village Headman. Whatever the label, more than forty years after his birth, this man came home. Only now, after the latest war, does Mr. Qatou finally have confidence in the peace, after more than a half century of life lived under orders or under sentence.

This seemed like the moment to ask the question, “What do you think of the United States?”

“We cry when America loses one soldier. We pray for the soldiers every night.”

Many Kurds had expressed the same sentiment. One had said poetically: “For every drop of American blood, we shed one thousand Kurdish tears.”..............

- Michael Yon - Read his full Article here - it is an excellent read. - pre February 19th, 2007

One of my favorite parts was hearing Michael talk about a young girl reading a science book about space. Michael in his minds eye saw much the same picture I would see if I witnessed this. Michael upon viewing this could see this child growing up and being the first iraqi astronaut into space.

I often think about Iraqs (and Afghanistans) possibilities in the future and how much the Nations and the people have to offer the world.

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.