Dirty Wars: A Century of Counterinsurgency

Who is the enemy? This is the question most asked in modern warfare; gone are the staged battles of the past. Twentieth and twenty-first century conflict is dominated by counterinsurgency operations, where the enemy is almost indistinguishable from innocent civilians. Battles are gunfights in jungles, deserts and streets; winning 'hearts and minds' is as important as winning territory. From our struggles in Ireland, to the Malayan Emergency, operations in India, Yemen, Kenya, Aden, Palestine, and of course Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan - this book covers the strategy and doctrine of counterinsurgency and how often these operations have been spectacularly unsuccessful, leaving us embedded in a hostile population, immersed in costly and dangerous nation-building. Through the experiences of Special Forces operatives we learn what it is like to fight a war in the shadows, against an enemy that can disappear as quickly as it is located.