The Irregular Warfare of the Somalian Nation
SSgt Patrick Sipplin
"Class name goes here"
24 March 2014
Western civilization, with our superior technology and organization, have been killed for a long time by primitives or “savages" whose style of war that we misunderstood and whose skills exceeded those of the West in irregular wars. Irregular warfare is the oldest form of warfare, and it is a phenomenon that goes by many names, including tribal warfare, primitive warfare, "little wars," and low-intensity conflict. The term irregular warfare seems best to capture the wide variety of these "little wars." Such wars plague much of the non-Western world, and they will increasingly claim the Intelligence Community's attention.
Since World War II, by one count, there have been more than 80 irregular conflicts. They include civil wars in Rwanda and Somalia, guerrilla wars in Sudan, and rebellions in Chechnya; they involve irregular elements fighting against other irregular elements, regular forces of a central government, or an external intervention force. The acquisition and use of modern military technology is often seen as a solution to the problems of warfare in the late 20th century, with information warfare the latest example. Irregular warfare, however, remains perplexingly unaffected by changes in technology. In an irregular conflict, sociology, psychology, and history will have more to say about the nature of the conflict, including its persistence and intensity.
One of the most apparent activities of irregular warfare in Somalia was the planning development. Typically, we engage in parallel planning which implies concurrent planning and simultaneous coordination among planners from the strategic to the tactical level...
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...nontraditional mission indicators. Future operations may suggest alternatives.
Addressing the issues raised here and answering the uncertainties outlined in reference to irregular warfare procedures may provide a more subtle analysis of the capabilities of modern and irregular forces. What is called for is a greater degree of attention and sensitivity to, and flexibility for, irregular forms of warfare. It requires the Community to preserve what expertise it has on areas where irregular warfare is under way or likely and to develop new skills and the people to use them for this form of war.
References
Allard, Kenneth “Somalia Operations: Lessons Learned (April 2002)
Arnold, S.L. and Stahl, David T., “A Power Projection Army in Operations Other Than War (Winter 1993-94)
Taylor, John M. “Somalia: More Than Meets the Eye,” Marine Corps Gazette (November 1993)
Insurgency is defined as a rebellion against an indigenous government or a foreign occupier. In an asymmetric war there are two sides a strong and a weak side which have two strategies each. The French, who were the “stronger” side used “direct attack” which aimed at destroying the weak actor’s (Algeria) armed forces and thereby their capacity to offer violent resistance. During the seco...
Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Tse-tung, “Che” Guevara, Osama bin Laden and others have professed unique qualifications as innovators and practitioners of Guerrilla warfare. However, in our relatively short military history, we have periodically had to use or defend against irregular warfare. During the French and Indian Wars as well as the Revolutionary War, we were the guerrillas. In the Civil War, there were the partisan operations of Mosby, Forrest and the outlaw Quantrill, who played a key role in the Confederacy’s ability to wage effective war against the numerically and industrially superior Union for over four years. It is often forgotten, that regular forces require a ratio of ten to one to prevail against a partisan operating on their native soil3. Nevertheless, one thing remains constant: the adaptability and courage of the American Soldier under the harshest of circumstances continues to allow them to prevail.
The world’s history is majorly shaped by mega wars that happen both inside and outside the boundaries of individual nations. Almost every sovereign state in the world had to forcefully liberate itself from its colonizers and oppressors mainly through warfare. For instance, America had to fight a long and exhausting revolutionary war against the British before it could attain its independence in 1783, likewise is the fate of many other nations. It is important to understand the two distinct types of wars that exist and their implications. Guerrilla warfare and the conventional military warfare are two types of war that are very different in their execution and military approach. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the similarities and differences existing between the American war in Vietnam and the American Revolution (Vetter, 1997).
Thinking historically while conducting counterinsurgency in the 21st century poses questions regarding how to develop political and strategic plans. This bibliographic essay will examine the political and military aspect of fighting counterinsurgent warfare by 20th century theorists Galula’s, “Counterinsurgency Warfare Theory and Practice” and Trinquier’s, “Counterinsurgency Warfare Theory and Practice”. Strategy in fighting guerilla wars will be discussed by comparing conflicts in battles and ideologies from the past to current day. Moreover, ways to avoid the one size fits all war mentality when combating modern day insurgents will be recommended.
Tzu, Mo. Against Offensive Warfare. Ed. Michael Austin. Reading the World: Ideas that Matter. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2010. 254-255. Print.
___. Army Doctrine Reference Publication The Operations Process May 2012. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 2012.
“a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant population(s). Irregular warfare favors indirect and asymmetric approaches, though it may employ the full range of military and other capacities, in order to erode an adversary’s power, influence, and will.” This definition is broad and has led many military leaders to simply describe irregular warfare as anything that is not regular war. If leaders turn to this over simplified definition, then one can logically and incorrectly infer that non-violent operations such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief are forms of irregular warfare. The problem with classifying irregular warfare as a distinct and separate form of warfare is that stakeholders must in turn dedicate resources solely for the purposes of dealing with...
Jalali, Ali Ahmad, and Lester W. Grau. Afghan Guerrilla Warfare - In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters. St. Paul: MBI Publishing Company, 2001.
“[…] While it shews a great proportion of the Inhabitants of those Countries disposed to pursue the path of Duty, shews also, that there is a larger and violent Party which can only be controlled by the application of Force – This being the result, it is become the more indispensable and urgent to press forward the forces destined to act against the Insurgents with all possible activity and Energy. The advanced season leaves no time to spare, and it is extremely important to afford speedy protection to the well disposed, and to prevent the preparation and accumulation of grater means of Resistance, and the extension of Combinations to abet the Insurrection – The President counts upon every exertion on your part, which so serious and eventful an emergency demands.
In the Novel by Robert M. Epstein, his military background was identified and how he planned his attacks were broken down so that the average person could understand them. He was the individual who introduced the ideas of modern warfare to the global affairs. The de...
The U.S. is facing a future of irregular warfare conflict where victory comes through by controlling and influencing the population via the land domain.
When comparing and contrasting U. S. military operations and capabilities with regard to regular versus irregular warfare it is important to understand the definition of irregular and the spectrum of conflict. In recent history, the term “irregular warfare” has been used interchangeably with or alongside insurgency and counterinsurgency warfare. This usage and comparison is too narrow. ...
The large variety of insurgent movements around the world has demonstrated that each of them belong its identifiable roots. Furthermore, instead of similar patterns in tactics, techniques and/or procedures used to achieve their ultimate goal, insurgencies are unique depending of their nature. This is the reason why each insurgency presents a dissimilar group of characteristic or principles that identify them. As a matter of fact, those characteristics should be managed with circumspection by any insurgency. The insurgent success or failure may depend of the manner as the organisation manages such important aspects. This work will study the Philippine ‘Hukbalahap Rebellion’ which provides interesting patterns of inadequate development of key characteristics proper of an insurgent movement. Furthermore, the main purpose on this paper is to provide in a critical manner an analysis of three significant characteristics of insurgencies. By analysing firstly the purpose and motivation, secondly the popular support, and finally the leadership and recruitment exercised in this egalitarian insurgency, this work will bring comprehensive arguments to understand the vitality of those characteristics.
In modern military theory, the highest level is the strategic level, in which activities at the strategic level focus directly on policy objectives, both during peace and warfare. In the study of modern military strategy, there is a distinction between military strategy and national strategy, in which the former is the use of military objective to secure political objectives and the latter coordinates and concentrates all the elements of national...
All living things need the resources provided by our natural world to live, leading to them adapting to specific environments. Animals in particular are mobile creatures that move from place to place searching for the best environments for their survival. The most intelligent creatures in our animal world are human beings and like other animals, they moved from place to place while organized into races in search of the elusive desirable environments. However, there is always the likelihood of finding fellow humanity already thriving in that environment. This resulted to conflict as competition for the inadequate resources arose. Consequently, human beings formed nations, allegiance to the national system meant loyalty to the governance, and regions and they formed military groups to defend their resources. However, the military warfare has changed with international understanding, though the idea still rests heavily on fight for resources. Further, international politics illustrates the causes and effects of modern military war have changed due to chan...