David Kilcullen
David Kilcullen is an adviser to the US government and a counterinsurgency writer.
According to briefings given in the US by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has 'been impressed by the work of' Kilcullen.[1]
His background is as an Australian army officer and social scientist: "Kilcullen is one of the most influential Australian military minds of his generation. He grew up on Sydney's north shore, the son of academics. He studied counterinsurgency as a cadet at Duntroon, served for more than 20 years in the Australian Army and was awarded a PhD in political science from the University fo NSW for a thesis on Indonesian insurgent and terrorist groups and counterinsurgency methods. He has been a military adviser to the Indonesian Special Forces in counterinsurgency, taught counterinsurgency tactics at the British School of Infantry, and served in peacekeeping operations in Cyprus and Bougainville. Kilcullen also commanded an Australian infantry company in counterinsurgency operations in East Timor and trained and led East Timorese forces after the independence vote in 1999. He was a special adviser for irregular warfare to the 2005 US Quadrennial Defence Review and is [Condoleeza] Rice's chief strategist on counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism, working in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Southeast Asia."[2]
He has worked with the US commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, on a handbook for the military on the ground to use as their guide. It has become "the equivalent of the Lonely Planet guide for an infantry fighting asymmetrical battles: a pragmatic, blunt and at times blackly humorous tract that has revolutionised the way the so-called war on terror is being fought." [3]His recipe for success in the Iraq morass seems to owe a debt to Lawrence of Arabia: "building local allies and forging partnerships and trusted networks with at-risk communities seems to be one of the keys to success – perhaps this is what T.E. Lawrence had in mind when he wrote that the art of guerrilla warfare with Arab tribes rests on 'building a ladder of tribes to the objective'." [4]
References
Resources
- Wikipedia David Kilcullen
- George Packer A Reporter at Large, Knowing the Enemy:Can social scientists redefine the “war on terror”? The New Yorker, December 18, 2006.
Notes
- ^ Matthew d'Ancona, Brown is leading the way in counter-terrorist thinking: On the road in the US, the prime minister revealed to us - and to Bush - a bold new strategy in the fight for hearts and minds, The Guardian, Thursday August 2, 2007. Available at http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/comment/0,,2139730,00.html
- ^ Rebecca Weisser, The Australian, August 18, 2007. Available at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22263435-31477,00.html
- ^ ibid
- ^ D. Kilcullen, Small Wars Journal blog, August 29, 2007. Available at http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2007/08/anatomy-of-a-tribal-revolt/
