Accidental Guerrilla. Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One

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David Kilcullen, a leading expert on counterinsurgency and modern warfare, served as a Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq, significantly influencing America's military strategy during the surge. In this insightful exploration of the War on Terror, Kilcullen offers a fresh perspective, delving into the realities of modern warfare and its connections to various global conflicts, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Africa. He identifies a complex interplay of local social networks and global movements, traditional and postmodern cultures, and local insurgencies versus broader pan-Islamic campaigns. Kilcullen warns that U.S. actions have often conflated these dynamics, obscuring the distinction between local and global struggles and complicating the challenges faced. He argues that the U.S. has misidentified insurgents with limited aims and legitimate grievances—whom he terms "accidental guerrillas"—as part of a coordinated global terror network. To address these issues, he emphasizes the need to disentangle these strands, develop effective strategies for global threats, avoid unnecessary local conflicts, and succeed in those that are essential. Rich with gripping battlefield experiences from diverse regions, this work will fundamentally alter perceptions of war and is essential reading for those invested in understanding the complexities of the war on terror.