Olson: Counterinsurgency Ops Should ‘Involve Countering the Insurgents’
Olson: Counterinsurgency Ops Should ‘Involve Countering the Insurgents’ – John T. Bennett, Defense News.
The U.S. military’s counterinsurgency tactics increasingly place too much emphasis on protecting local peoples and not enough on fighting enemy forces, said U.S. Special Operations Command chief Adm. Eric Olson. While the U.S. military has adopted a population-focused strategy in Afghanistan, Olson said May 26 he “fears counterinsurgency has become a euphemism for nonkinetic activities.” The term is now to often used to describe efforts aimed at “protecting populations,” Olson said during a conference in Arlington, Va.
The military’s top special operator, in a shot across the bow of modern-day counterinsurgency doctrine proponents, then added: “Counterinsurgency should involve countering the insurgents.” Olson also made clear he thinks U.S. laws give him the authority to craft and implement doctrine for America’s special operators. Olson said doctrine is important for fighting wars, and “should be carefully written – but we should not fall in love with it.”
In a blunt statement, Olson called “COIN doctrine an oxymoron.” …
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