![]() The Vietnamese have a long history of insurgency it began as early as 40 BCE and has continued since. The change is a slow process that can either begin with junior officers and make its way up through the ranks, or begin with the commanders and trickle down. When the military is experiencing failure in previous doctrine whether it is through a series of defeats or stagnancy it will analyze it’s self and create a more effective strategy. Eventually internal and external pressures cause doctrine to change. This is because it has an attachment to previous success, but this does not mean that it cannot change, which was shown in Iraq. viii A major problem that faced America’s military is that it was highly resistant to change. vii The counterinsurgents have to fight a military and political battle simultaneously, because if the insurgents are destroyed but the roots of the insurgency are not then insurgents will return. To successfully defeat an insurgency three objectives must be completed, a government must provide security, establish a political system, and build an economic infrastructure. It was well received by all sides, the left approved of it because the tactic is not to kill insurgents but to turn them, and the right approved of its military effectiveness. This manual is extremely effective because it was the first official acceptance of counterinsurgency doctrine. Field Manual 3-24 Counterinsurgency was created and provided the military with doctrine to effectively fight counterinsurgency. A few of the fundamentals are “If the great mass of the population knows it will be protected by a strong, just government, it has no reason to cooperate with guerrillas.” vi There has been plenty of works that describe effective counterinsurgency tactics, but it was not until 2006 that the US military created one of their own. However it is believed that there are fundamentals that when applied can be effective. ![]() “Counterinsurgency is military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency.” v Because each insurgency is unique there is no set doctrine to combat a general insurgency. Insurgents are so successful because they “start with nothing but a cause and grow to strength, while the counter-insurgents start with everything but a cause and gradually decline in strength and grow to weakness.” iii Insurgencies began to increase after World War II for four reasons, first there was an increase of nationalism, second there was a decline of imperial power which led to new weak governments leading the countries, third a surplus of weapons that increased the firepower of the insurgents, and fourth an increased media presence that transmitted information that often helped the insurgents cause. ii Insurgency has been around forever but has only recently, in the past fifty years, become a threat large enough to reorganize military structure. The final one is Exhaustion this tactic is to use up resources and time of the counterinsurgency that does not help their purpose. The third is Protraction this is when the insurgent makes the conflict as long as possible while controlling their loss rates. The second is Intimidation this tactic terrifies people who work with the government. The first is Provocation, an attempt to push the government to take an action that it normally would not want. ![]() An insurgence uses four tactics in order to obtain its goal. During these movements the insurgents want power to flow out of the government and into their own hands. “An insurgency is an organized, protracted politico-military struggle designed to weaken the control and legitimacy of an established government, occupying power, or other political authority while increasing insurgent control.” i Insurgencies often conduct guerilla warfare because it is necessary. What tactics were used by both sides, and were they effective, are the main questions that are addressed in this paper. ![]() This paper is a comparison between the insurgencies and counterinsurgencies of Iraq and Vietnam. Because of the infamy of the Vietnam War, it is an obvious candidate for comparison to the war in Iraq. But it was not until the Vietnam War that America faced an insurgency that it could not defeat. Insurgency is not a new phenomenon for the United States, in fact by definition the American's built an insurgency during the Revolutionary War.
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