To: carranza2 who wrote (23333 ) 4/3/2002 8:20:01 PM From: Bilow Read Replies (3) | Respond to Hi carranza2; Re: "Your suggestion that the lessons learned by the French in Algeria are relevant is not well thought out because it ignores a huge distinction, i.e., the fact that the French in Algeria were not fighting for their survival as a nation on their own soil. I rather think that the result would have been different had the French been fighting the Algerians for French survival on French soil, like the Israelis are presently fighting the Palestinians. "The destruction of Israel will require an enormous amount of conventional weaponry which the Palestinians do not have. "Counterguerilla Operations FM 90-8, USMC, August 1986 1-4. Prerequisites. Vulnerable population. For whatever the reasons — social, political, or economic — the population is generally open to change. The insurgents will offer hope for change and exploit dissatisfaction with the current government.Leadership available for direction. A vulnerable population alone will not support an insurgent movement. There must be a leadership element that can direct the frustrations of a dissatisfied populace along the lines delineated by the overall insurgent strategy.Lack of government control. Lack of government control may be real or perceived. The greater the control the government has over the situation, the less likely are the chances for insurgent success The opposite is also true: the less control the government has, the greater is the chance for insurgent success.1-5. Other required conditions. Popular support. Support can be passive or active. It is not necessary that the entire population actively support an insurgency, but the majority of the population must passively support it.Unity of effort. The overall thrust of an insurgent movement must provide a strength of unity that dedicates those involved to achieving the same goal.Will to resist. It is not enough for the population to resist their government passively; at least a portion must be willing to resist actively.Leadership. The activities and effort of the insurgent movement must be properly directed through the exercise of effective leadership.Discipline. The aspect of the movement must be strongly maintained to ensure security and obedience.Intelligence. Because the insurgent movement is usually inferior in numbers and combat power in relation to government forces, the intelligence effort must provide security for the insurgent organization and information to conduct successful operations.Propaganda. It is used to gain popular support and intensify the populace’s dissatisfaction with the government.Favorable environment. This includes attitudes of the people, the political environment, and the economic situation.External support. The preceding eight conditions are theoretically the only ones that an insurgency must have to succeed. Historically, however, there seems to be one additional condition that must exist the condition of external support. This support may be physical or psychological. Examples of physical external support are equipment, weapons, supplies, ammunition, sanctuaries, personnel, and combat units. Examples of psychological external support include the political support given to the resistance when a country recognizes that movement in the world arena and the pressure a government might exert politically or economically to influence world opinion in favor of the movement.1-7. Phases of development. Phase I: Latent and incipient insurgency. Activity in this phase ranges from subversive activity that is only a potential threat to situations in which frequent subversive incidents and activities occur in an organized pattern. It involves no major outbreak of violence or uncontrolled insurgent activity. The guerrilla force does not conduct continuous operations but rather selected acts of terrorism.Phase II: Guerrilla warfare. This phase is reached when the insurgent movement, having gained sufficient local or external support, initiates organized continuous guerrilla warfare or related forms of violence against the government. This is an attempt to force government forces into a defensive role. As the guerrilla becomes stronger, he begins to conduct larger operations.Phase III: War of movement. When the guerrilla attains the force structure and capability to directly engage government forces in decisive combat, then he will progressively begin to use more conventional tactics and may obtain combat forces from an external source. He may also begin to conduct more extensive defensive operations in this phase to protect the areas he controls.doctrine.quantico.usmc.mil In the film "Hearts and Minds," much anti-American propaganda use was made of General Westmoreland's admittedly clumsy statement to the effect that the Vietnamese people obviously had no respect for human life. But what is one to make of adults who will, as a friend of mine serving in Vietnam wrote, "hand a gap-toothed little six year old a grenade and send him out to `play in the traffic,' because they know that Americans are suckers for cute kids, and by the time they figure out he's not so cute they'll be dead?" I have trouble imagining parents of any nationality, no matter how committed to some cause, doing such a thing unless they were under the most dire duress. usafa.af.mil
