The Reading List

I've got a good set of books I'm tackling this week. First up is "Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife" -- Counterinsurgency lessons from Malaya and Vietnam. The second book is 'The Sling and the Stone" -- on war in the 21st century.

I felt that with all the political debate on the war in Iraq, it might do some good to learn about insurgency warfare from some of the experts. So far, I've finished the first book and am starting on the second. There's lots of good material in here and perhaps I'll share some on the blog sometime.

I don't think it will change the political discussion, however. It's an election year, and as I've already pointed out Americans are going to argue a lot no matter what is going on. I do think it is good to know something about 4th Generation Warfare and COIN (Counter Insurgency) Operations as a citizen. After all, if we are paying these guys in the military to do it we should at least take some time to learn more about what they are doing, right?