What those in the Pentagon think is a must-read

Inside the Pentagon Newsletter recently collected a list of must-reads for the coalition forces in Iraq. Seven Pillars of Wisdon by "Lawrence of Arabia" seemed an interesting choice at #2, apparently different from most of the other books on the list. Since I don't subscribe to Inside the Defense or Inside the Pentagon, I have no idea what the other 99 books were. If anyone reading this does, I would be interested in at least the Top 10.
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Jen Ambrose said…
I had read in the CS Monitor that there were several books on counterinsurgency which surprised me because I thought (at least from what I have heard and read in the past few months) is that counter-insurgency is a non-textbook tactic. The rules are there are no rules. Can you ask the Boy what is to be gained by CounterInsurgency books.
Dec 9, 2004, 1:20:00 PM
The Boy said…
I agree with you on there being no rules for the counter-insurg fighting, it is a "make-up as you go along, use whatever you have" type of fight. The tactics are not those passed along by regulations and manuals. So you can't really hope to read about them and try to learn them. The books suggested go after the basic ideas behind theses tactics, to see what it is they hope to accomplish with their attacks. The basic idea behind fighting a force you can't hope to beat in a shoot out ( such as we have here)is to kill off morale and communication and such. If you understand what the enemy is trying to accomplish, you can be better prepared to defend against it. That is why I believe they they made the reading list.
Dec 10, 2004, 9:07:00 AM
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